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Question - Tongue Load on Boat Trailer

Printed From: The Fishing Website
Category: General Forums
Forum Name: The Boat Shed
Forum Description: Discuss all things boating.
URL: https://www.fishing.net.nz/forum/forum_posts.asp?TID=15429
Printed Date: 21 Jun 2026 at 11:49am


Topic: Question - Tongue Load on Boat Trailer
Posted By: docdoc
Subject: Question - Tongue Load on Boat Trailer
Date Posted: 02 Aug 2006 at 1:16pm

Does anyone know if there is a correct weight for the Tongue Load on a boat trailer? On my new boat the current load is well over 120kg, and that's without petrol on board. The boat, motor, batteries, and fuel are approx. 1200kg.

 

I think that I have read that the Tongue Load should be between 10 - 15% of the total weight i.e. between 120 and 180kgs. Can anyone clarify this?
 


Replies:
Posted By: Tagit
Date Posted: 02 Aug 2006 at 2:15pm
I am not too sure, but I believe that there is a legal weight limit that is much less than 120kg. 120kg on your towbar will feel pretty uncomfortable on an average 6/8cyl car, but not too bad on a decent 4x4.
 
If you have 120kg on a 1200kg boat, my feeling is that this is too heavy. One thing to think about however is the position of your petrol tank. If it is behind your trailors 'pivot point' the addition of fuel will lighten the tongue load, not increase it. Another thing to think about is how your towbar is attached to your vehicle. It might tow heavy weights horizontally really well, but does the way it fits to the car support a constant 120kg vertical load, plus all the other gear you throw in teh cabin when you travel away from home?
 
As a final comment, I had a boat with a similiar tongue weight. Was a pig to move around by hand and get on and off the towbar etc. Towed really well after I put airshocks in the back of the vehicle to carry the weight and stop the arse dragging in the car. After a couple of years of this I got out the welding gear and shifted the axle arrangement to get a better balance. Still towed really well, and I finally stopped worying about ripping the towbar out of the car.

Posted By: Finatic
Date Posted: 02 Aug 2006 at 2:28pm
Try not to put too much of the load on to the rear of the trailer though. You should try to position most the load as close to the axle as you can.

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What's the cheapest type of meat? Dear balls. They're under a buck.

Posted By: docdoc
Date Posted: 02 Aug 2006 at 5:20pm
Thanks guys.
 
Tagit, the towbar on the commodore says that it is capable of handling a Tongue Load of 160kg, which I think is in the current weight range. I only have to tow the boat for a couple of minutes to my local boat ramp so the car should be fine. I'm just a little concerned with longer trips.
 
The fuel tank is basically bang in the middle of the boat so this may even add more weight to the tongue load.
 
I was considering moving the axle forward slightly to reduce the weight on the tongue but was unsure of what target tongue load weight I should be trying to acheive.
 
Cheers.

Posted By: Tagit
Date Posted: 02 Aug 2006 at 7:38pm
From memory, I adjusted my trailer to give a tongue load of around 40kg. By the time you throw a few holiday goodies up front for a longer trip, you can get back up to 80kg or so without thinking about it. Do that on top of your 120kg static load and the 160kg limit is reached pretty fast.
 
If you go and lift the front of a few similiar sized boats/trailers in a boat yard, I expect you will find that many are around that 25 - 40kg weight (i.e.you can lift them reasonably easily, but not to easily). I still think that there may be a legal max for this and from memory it isn't very many kg's.

Posted By: of2fsh
Date Posted: 02 Aug 2006 at 9:42pm

We got checked by cops and weighed they didnt check tongue weight just over all weight for towbar ratings. Reason for pulling us over was looked visually out of ballance(rear of ute too low) due to ballast i put in to drag boat out of sandy boat ramp.

So if i empty out ballast it becomes too light and dangerose,especially in wet and i get stuck at hatfields beach at low tide
ah the laws an ass but its there to protect us (or spray us with peperspray) and give out bulk tickets.
After being checked drove off realizing hadnt put flag on prop , glad he missed that .
So any hoo ive checked tongue pressure ,on my 6m ramco got 60kgs pressure tows like a dream behind 4wd ute

Posted By: Tzer
Date Posted: 03 Aug 2006 at 5:43am
I'm sure I have read somewhere in the LTSA rules that the requirement is 50kgs? did a search on their web site but couldnt find any reference.

Posted By: Naki
Date Posted: 03 Aug 2006 at 7:54am
What is the best method to check the weight on your tow ball?
 
 


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President of the "Pontoon Owners Club".
I started off with nothing and now I still have most of it left!!!

Posted By: docdoc
Date Posted: 03 Aug 2006 at 10:39am
I used my bathroom scales. These go to a maximum of 120KG. I then got one of the local guys in who can lift Sh$t loads and he could just lift it. So that is how I know its between 120kg and 160kg(as he doesn't think that he could lift more than 160kg)! Very scientific !!
 
Anyway, TZER, I contact LTSA and they have know legal requirements. They said to phone the trailer manufacturers. I did this and they said that they target 100 - 110 kgs. They thought mine was to heavy and said to bring it in and they would move the axle forward. 1 hrs labour and $60.00. Sounds okay by me.
 
Cheers

Posted By: Tomsta
Date Posted: 03 Aug 2006 at 1:54pm
Generally anywhere between 20-50 Kgs is what we recommend. (depends a lot on combo of trailer/towbar and towing vehicle)... You want to be able to lift the trailer on and off easily enuff.... but not so much weight that it is taking the load off the front of your wagon and your steering control... otherwise loosing control can become a harsh reality (it happens surprisingly frequently)... the other thing to think about is if your towbar is rated to 120Kg and you adjust the load to this, when you are traveling down a slope there will be a lot more weight coming to the front of your trailer and loading the towbar up way past the recommendations.... 
 
If you have a "Best Bar" tow bar though you can't really go too far wrong....


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