Broke The Cherry
Senior Member
Joined: Nov 2013
Posts: 4,059
Likes: 396
From: Kansas
Well considering the military trailers come with surge brakes.......M1101 trailers is what I'm talking about. And they still have all of the older ones with the same technology.
Senior Member
Joined: Jul 2014
Posts: 1,162
Likes: 213
Just wanted to chime in here. I have been towing boats large and small for over 20 years and would agree with OP on boats being lighter in tongue weight. The boats tend to sit far back on the trailer to facilitate launching keeping the tow vehicle out of the water as much as possible. My 4k boat(trailer and boat loaded for a week)is a good example. I can pick up the tounge not super easy but can pick it up and move it around. My guess is its about 200lbs. This seems to be standard percentage wise for boats of 7% or less. This is why boats tend to sit down in the trailer as much as up on it, and have wide tracks compared to other trailers to help prevent sway. As for surge brakes its standard boat trailer fare as well. Very few boat trailers use electric brakes due to the environment they are used in not being real compatible with electric systems(complete immersion in water).
I am guessing he is pretty close to on with his estimated tounge weight at about 500lbs.
I am guessing he is pretty close to on with his estimated tounge weight at about 500lbs.
Last edited by 5.0GN tow; Aug 23, 2014 at 07:12 AM.
Thread Starter
Senior Member
Joined: Nov 2012
Posts: 600
Likes: 128
From: Highlands, NJ
Just wanted to chime in here. I have been towing boats large and small for over 20 years and would agree with OP on boats being lighter in tongue weight. The boats tend to sit far back on the trailer to facilitate launching keeping the tow vehicle out of the water as much as possible. My 4k boat(trailer and boat loaded for a week)is a good example. I can pick up the tounge not super easy but can pick it up and move it around. My guess is its about 200lbs. This seems to be standard percentage wise for boats of 7% or less. This is why boats tend to sit down in the trailer as much as up on it, and have wide tracks compared to other trailers to help prevent sway. As for surge brakes its standard boat trailer fare as well. Very few boat trailer use electric brakes due to the environment they used in not being real compatible with electric systems(complete immersion in water).
I am guessing he is pretty close to on with his estimated tounge weight at about 500lbs.
I am guessing he is pretty close to on with his estimated tounge weight at about 500lbs.
Thank you!
Tired of being lectured by guys who never towed a boat. Electric brakes and salt water, or any water, aren't a smart combo.
Weighing the tongue in a few days and will have to move the axles up if necessary. Target weight is 400-500 lbs as per Load Rite's manual.
Senior Member
Joined: Jul 2013
Posts: 1,337
Likes: 282
From: Slate River, ON
Thank you!
Tired of being lectured by guys who never towed a boat. Electric brakes and salt water, or any water, aren't a smart combo.
Weighing the tongue in a few days and will have to move the axles up if necessary. Target weight is 400-500 lbs as per Load Rite's manual.
Tired of being lectured by guys who never towed a boat. Electric brakes and salt water, or any water, aren't a smart combo.
Weighing the tongue in a few days and will have to move the axles up if necessary. Target weight is 400-500 lbs as per Load Rite's manual.
I live on the largest freshwater lake in the world and have towed more boats then I can remember from 100 mile trips with little inland boats to large sailboats.
You should never assume anything.
FWIW there is nothing wrong with well set up surge brakes.
Senior Member
Joined: Feb 2014
Posts: 653
Likes: 103
From: Minnesota
A couple weeks back, I broke cherry on mine as well. I pulled a 5 yard dump trailer loaded with clay for two full weekends. I figure the total weight around 10,000 with about 850 or so TW. I have an FX4 5.0 with 3.55s. I know I was grossly exceeding what I should have been towing, but I didn't have any choice. I got quite a bit of squat, but the 5.0 handled it much better than expected. I had about 2800 miles on it when I started, and put on over 600 miles pulling the trailer. The factory brake controller in these trucks is magnificent!