How to weigh a trailer and a boat?

Hi everyone!

How or where do I weigh a trailer, how do I weigh a boat? This is just my curiosity.

I see people talk about tongue weight. How do you measure this too?

Thanks!

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Yuri
Hobie 16
Laser Vago

Try a recycling center that has a drive on scale. Measure vehicle with trailer/boat, then unhook and weigh vehicle only.

Two bathroom scales is a method to weigh a catamaran. Your 16 weighs awfully close to 320. Don't know of an easy method to weigh a mono. Unless you've done repairs, boat should weigh close to manufacturer's spec. Same for trailers.

Bathroom scales in the driveway, subtract your weight from total weight of you holding the tongue at the approximate hitch height.

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Sheet In...Max Out
www.fleet297.org
sailflatlands at gmail dot com

Anticipating the next question, What is the correct tongue weight.

Answer appx 10% of the total weight of the trailer and its load.

In example,
Hobie 16, 320#, Guessing @ Average trailer weight, 250#, Sail Tube, other stuff carried on the trailer, life jackets, beach chairs, sand screws, beach wheels, etc, 150# (once again a guess)

Total weight of trailer, boat & Stuff 720#

Tongue weight should be in the neighborhood of 72 pounds

If you get your trailer's tongue weight very much lighter than that, the trailer will tend to dance around a bit behind the towing vehicle.

If it is heavier than that, it is unnecessarily heavy, and difficult to move around and/or hook up to the tow vehicle.

On some trailers you can adjust the axle forward or back to adjust the tonge weight, on others you can adjust placement of the boat forward or aft, or change where you carry some of the heavier items from in front of the axle to aft of the axle to shift the tougue weight. For example, I have my spare tire attached to the trailer behind the axle in order lighten the tongue weight.

Hope that helps.

Stephen

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If the grass is greener on the other side of the fence, maybe it is time to water your own lawn.

This is just my opinion but I like to have as much weight on the tow vehicle as possible/logical. I agree you don't want to get carried away but a trailer tracks better the farther the axle is away from the hitch. It's also easier to back with a longer wheelbase.

I weighed my new trailer with the boat at a local grain elevator. At 1140lbs with out gear, jetski, or a sail tube I've got probably close to 125lbs of tounge weight. But I also pull it with a 3/4 diesel pickup, not a Lumina! With that much weight it can be a hassle to move around by hand.

The trailer you have Yuri tracked very well for me, and the tounge weight seemed about right. Another thing to consider would be that the trailer is level when attached to the vehicle. The suspension is designed to work up and down. If it is tipped tounge down/up it won't be working properly and can get squirrely unecessarily.

Another place to get the boat / trailer weighed (that might be available in places that don't have grain elevators) is a moving company.

In MI, we have to have our trailers weighed to get a license plate. Secretary of State's office directed me to the moving company that has a scale accurate to within 50 lbs. Good enough for the state, I guess.

Also, many truck stops have public Cat scales. I would think you could get it weighed there as well. Another thought is farm and ranch/feed stores. I always remember the one in our town having a scale when I was a kid. We used it quite frequently.

Thank you guys for all recommendations.

I don't have any troubles with my trailer or with towing it. I was just curious about this whole thing.

BTW, my Lumina is no longer is service - needed new engine. It has been very good to us in the past 9 years and almost 200K miles!

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Yuri
Hobie 16
Laser Vago

And for the stinky option try the local landfill. All loads are weighed before dumping.

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1989 Hobie 18 Worlds Boat, Magnum Wings & Spinnaker
1987 Hobie Holder 20 #273

dale.vanlopik"at"att"dot"net

Also try any place that sells bulk stone and gravel.

Here is a simpler way to approximate your weight without having to get to a scale: every trailer should have a label with the maximum load capacity and the maximum vehicle weight. simply subtract the two and you have your trailer weight. Boat weight is easy, a new H16 is approx. 320 lbs. add your estimate for your gear, and off you go. My (big H20) trailer weighs 370 lbs, the boat about 320 (incl sails etc), my box is 40, so the whole thing weighs about 730 lbs, add some pounds for gear, and it is still under 800 lbs, easily towed by my little Mazda Protege5. The smaller the car, the less tongue weight you can have, and is also depends on what class hitch you have. My pop-up camper has about 250 lbs (indeed 10% of the total max weight of the camper), and there is no way I can put that much tongue weight on my small car, but I cannot tow that much weight anyways. I never measured by trailer tongue weight, but I can lift it by myself without much difficulty, so I estimate it at about 70 lbs. It behaves very well behind the Mazda, but that might also be helped by the fact that my trailer is longer than the typical H16 trailer.
as to weighing your tongue weight, take a piece of 2x4 (about 12 inches or so), place it under the tongue and onto a ordinary bathroom scale. should give you a close enough number.

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Arie
H 16 107568

Thank you all for all additional comments.

A slightly different question then. New H16 is about 320Lbs. Mine is new.
What goes in this weight - boat, mast, sails, rigging, tiller, rudders - all of that or is 320 is the boat only, i.e hulls and trampoline?

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Yuri
Hobie 16
Laser Vago

320 lbs will be the complete boat. Sails, blocks, etc.