Any idea how much tongue weight I need?

[Scott Amato]

I have a 12' tunnel hull with a 50 horse Merc, and I am fitting it to a new trailer, does anyone know approximetly how much tonngue weight I need on the hitch? I know it is whatever tows the best, but I am looking for a starting point. I can slide the boat quite a bit to get alot, or none at all. I have to set up the bunks, and tie down location so I was hoping to get a rough number to start with. Any help would be great.
Scott

[Syd Marsden]

The old rule of thumb was 10 percent of the load. The new teaching is 7 percent. If there is not enough weight on the tongue the trailer will fish tail. So if you have a motor box on the back end, it need to have everything in it ( this includes fuel and any extras besides the motors that you plan to carry in there.

[Scott Amato]

Thanks, I will weight the whole set up and see what the total weight is, and then start at 7% on the nose. I can tow it as is, so I might try 10% and then 7% and see witch is better.

[pat]

Scott, you could go with 10% first if you have a truck or SUV and then down to 7%. Use a bathroom scale. It should be around 200 lbs at hitch level.

[Scott Amato]

Thanks, I will do that.

[T Chance]

It is better to have too much tongue weight than too little. It is not fun to have the tow vehicle (in my case a brand new 1969 Buick Wildcat Convertible) and the trailer decide to swap ends.

40 years ago - seems like yesterday. Not enough tongue weight, but I thought I could "worry about it later". We were on the way to the races when the trailer came around. It wiped out the whole side of the car and the car ended up pointed the direction we came from and the trailer was still connected to the hitch and pointed the opposite way. The funny thing is, is that I wasn't driving at the time, my racing partner was at the wheel; and here is the funny part: he was also my Insurance Agent.

After that day I had so much tongue weight that it took three people to hitch and unhitch that trailer.