Solution for Boat Trailer to Add Tongue Weight to Prevent Sway

Updated 04/23/2020 | Published 04/22/2020

Question:

I am towing a 25 sailboat with total weight incl. equip of 6300 Lbs. Straight tongue, 2 on the ball. My vehicle is a Ford F150 w/max towing package. Truck feels like the front end is skating at highway speeds. I just came up with a tongue weight of 450 Lbs. using scale and beam. What can I do to correct the problem?

asked by: Bob

Expert Reply:

Your ride quality issue is caused by not having enough tongue weight like you mentioned. You need the trailer tongue weight to be between 10 and 15 percent of the total trailer weight. Your tongue weight being 450 lbs while the trailer weighs 6,300 lbs verifies this. The best solution would be to move the axle(s) of the trailer back so that more of the trailer weight is in front of them. Unless you can come with with an easy way to add about 180 lbs to the nose of your trailer.

I attached a help article on axle position for more info on that as well.

expert reply by: Jameson C