Trailer Tongue Weight
- Thread starter Styx
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Tongue weight for any trailer should always be 10 to 15 % of the total load. Too little and the trailer will fishtail, too much and your vehicle will experience steering problems due to being too light in front. A weight distributing hitch should also be considered to even out the load across the entire length of the tow vehicle and trailer.
Displacement on a Catalina 320 is 11900 lbs. 10 % = 1190 lbs., 15 % = 1785 lbs.
My 0.02
Cheers.
Cadeuses
Displacement on a Catalina 320 is 11900 lbs. 10 % = 1190 lbs., 15 % = 1785 lbs.
My 0.02
Cheers.
Cadeuses
Load characteristics matter too.
Frontal area and height of the center of that area affect trailer stability too. The air flow against the front of a trailer tries to push the front back and therefore up. The force increases as towing speed increases. You also get vortex shedding which generates random side to side forces. (You may notice the buffeting of your vehicle, especially a light one, caused by vortex shedding from a semi-trailer truck you are closely following at 70 mph.) So even a properly balanced trailer will become unstable if you tow it fast enough.
Frontal area and height of the center of that area affect trailer stability too. The air flow against the front of a trailer tries to push the front back and therefore up. The force increases as towing speed increases. You also get vortex shedding which generates random side to side forces. (You may notice the buffeting of your vehicle, especially a light one, caused by vortex shedding from a semi-trailer truck you are closely following at 70 mph.) So even a properly balanced trailer will become unstable if you tow it fast enough.
assuming you have a decent tow vehicle and a 22 foot sailboat, go with 150 to 400 lbs. tongue weight and you will be ok. I like the lighter number because when you start adding gear in the cabin of the boat, it will increase quickly....
Don't forget the trailer weight...
Cheers,
Brad
Rule of thumb is 10-15% of gross weight, so don't forget to include the weight of the trailer (and gear) in that calculation! I'd imagine that a trailer capable of hauling a 12000lb 32' sailboat might be a bit on the heavy side
Cheers,
Brad
When my C320 was moved, the dealer said it was the largest Catalina that could be moved by a one ton dual wheel wheel diesel pickup...350/3500 series. Any larger Catalina would take a low boy and medium duty truck/tractor. Having hauled RV trailers for years with a Chevy Duramax diesel 3500 truck, the 10% to 15% tongue weight is normal, and well within the capability of a DRW one ton truck. The distributing hitch would add stability.
10 to 15% is good for loads under 8,000, but you do have to take account of the vehicles load capacity as well as the hitch capacity, too. Many vehicles can pull a great deal more than they can carry. A 1 ton dually still has limits, as do receiver hitches, and thats in a "perfect" world. If Goobers son Harold installed it on the truck, all bets are off. Check the attachment. Once you have a half ton on the ball, you can start moving the CG aft so tongue weight doesn't continue to climb. You certainly dont need 15% of 20K tongue weight on a receiver hitch ball.
sorry.... I thought i read it as you had a 22 ft boat.....
I will revise and say you will be fine somewhere between 750 and 1000 lbs..... with a boat that size, you probably wont be towing far or fast, but you need to have enough weight on the tongue so when you take off on a hill, such as a wet boat ramp or wet pavement, you can maintain traction and dont spin out..... too much weight and your front wheels may be too light for the braking to work properly(front wheels will skid when braking)..... unless you have a weight distributing hitch....
I meant the front brakes on the towing vehicle.... when you hit the breaks the load moment shifts forward from the boat axles to the tow vehicle.... loading the hitch with a greater amount of force both downward and forward.... this can cause the front of the tow vehicle to lighten, yet with more forward momentum.... causing the front wheels to lose braking traction
backing down a boat ramp, you can have the reverse effect with the same results..... you have momentum going down the ramp but when you hit the brakes the front wheels of the tow vehicle slide causing your rear wheels to be left doing all the work.... and if they are drum type brakes, they arent very efficient in reverse by thenselves.....
this is where the weight distributing hitch will save you... it keeps the right amount of weight distributed to the front axle of the tow vehicle, it will ride better, drive better, and it actually allows the tow vehicle to carry a lot higher percentage of the trailer weight than normal.....
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