sunfish trailer updates

while visiting with my in-law’s over Memorial Day weekend, I took advantage of having a father-
in-law that likes to fiddle with fixing up old cars and has made many friends with unique tools
(thanks Larry and Doyt!). we pulled my beat up rusty old boat trailer out into the country farmland
to Doyt’s house to use his heavy-duty air compressor and sand-blaster. all I had to do was pay for
the blasting sand, and then sweat like crazy in the sun doing the actual work. why did we pick a
ridiculously hot day to spend several hours in the direct sun, though?!? it was a hot messy process –
I ended up covered in sweat with little bits of the blasting sand and probably flakes of old paint and
rust.

here is a picture just before we started sand-blasting. I had removed most of the hardware – the
bunk boards and holders, the roller guides, trailer lights, and had tucked away the trailer wiring
harness so we wouldn’t damage it. Larry had offered to spray-paint a coat of black paint on it as
well, but I was already so dirty and exhausted, plus I wanted to get a coat of primer on the trailer
too. I trailered it back home and spent the next couple weeks randomly spending a few hours in the
evenings brushing on first a coat of Rustoleum Rusty Metal Primer, followed by 2 coats of black
Rustoleum High Performance Protective Enamel (sounds amazing, doesn’t it?). I realize brushing
might not look as pretty, but I wanted to have a heavy coat of primer and paint, and didn’t want to
deal with cans of spray paint — and it’s a trailer for crying out loud! it doesn’t need to be pretty!

here is a
picture of
the newly
painted
frame. I
still need
to wire
brush and
paint a few
of the

miscellaneous attachments (fenders, bunk board brackets, etc). I have been upgrading some of the
boat hardware as well – new bolts/washers/nuts in a few places, new Z-clips to hold the trailer lights
wires to the trailer frame. I haven’t tried to wire brush the tire rims, so they still are a rusty white
color… looks a bit out of place.
when I was trailering the Sunfish to a lake for a sail a few weekends ago, the rubber Y-bow stop had
one of the branches of the “y” break off – it had some serious dry rot, so I’m not surprised.

I picked up a new Y-stop and a new bunk roller as well (it had somehow fallen off while driving
down the road! – I think the cotter pin must have been too loose).

this is the new roller, towards the front of the boat, at the locking pin for the folding trailer.

I’ll post more picture of the miscellaneous hardware that gets repainted as I get around to actually
doing the work! I’m also still toying around with a new method to stack 2 Sunfish on the same
trailer. my old method got the job done, but I think there is a ton of room for improvement.
Trailer axle position? This is a good question. Unfortunately, there is some popular, but misleading
information around. So, how do you know proper trailer axle position? Here’s the whole answer,
from The Mechanic.
If you’re looking for a simple — maybe misguided or incomplete answer — this is not the right
article. If you really want to know about trailer axle position, then you’ve come to the right place.

Trailer Axle Position Goals

For this discussion, we will focus on trailers with a traditional tongue attached to the rear of the tow
vehicle. 5th Wheel (and Gooseneck) trailers are mentioned, but are not the focus.
To determine trailer axle position, we must first understand what drives the decision. The Goals:
1. Stable, predictable towing.
2. Proper weight balance for both the tow vehicle and the trailer.
There is a lot that goes into these goals including construction (straightness, flatness,
perpendicularity, etc.), proper stiffness and more. However, with respect to axle position, we follow
some well proven guidelines.
1. Follow manufacturer specifications for the tow vehicle. Note: there are 2 different limits —
trailer weight, and tongue weight. Don’t exceed tow vehicle limits. Enough said.
2. In general, more weight on the tongue is better for stability. Example: Over-the-road
trucks (ie., a Semi or Lorry) trailers have roughly half the trailer weight on the hitch. It
works because the tow vehicle is built for it.
3. For a 5th wheel (or gooseneck) trailer, weight at the tongue should be in the 20% – 30%
range of total trailer weight. (Perhaps we’ll dive into this in a future post.)
4. For rear connecting trailers (traditional), weight of the tongue should be in the 10% – 15%
range of total trailer weight. (10% minimum, 12% is OK, and 15% is great.)

Stable Predictable Towing

The guideline above for 12-15% of trailer weight on the tongue is time tested for dynamic towing
stability. If tongue weight is too low, the trailer will buck more over bumps, and wag around
corners.
I won’t go into all the engineering, but the summary is inertia. If there is not enough tongue weight,
a change like a bump or turn or steering correction leaves the trailer mass pivoting, and it takes
additional energy to get things back to stable. What you, as a driver, feel is a bucking or a wagging
of the trailer. In bad cases, it is very unnerving. In severe cases, a crash can result.
If there is significant tongue weight (above 10ish %) gravity serves to settle things back to stable.
The more tongue weight, the faster stability is achieved, because the Center of Gravity is further
from the axle.

Measuring Tongue Weight

Of course, the easiest way to know tongue weight is to measure it. Most of us don’t have a scale
that will go high enough, so take the trailer to a vehicle scale.
For an existing trailer, load it for travel. (This is difficult for utility trailers because you never know
what will be hauled.) Drive onto the scale with your vehicle enough that just the trailer wheels are
on the scale. Take the measurement. For example, 2250#. Unhook the trailer on the scale so it
measures the full trailer weight (tongue and axle). For example, 2600#. Subtracting: 2600# –
2250# = 350# tongue weight. For percentage, divide: 350/2600=13.5% which is great.
When building a trailer, one of the easiest ways to measure is to set the axle in place under the
trailer, but don’t permanently mount it. Clamp it in place, then measure as above. Move the axle
position forward or back as needed, then verify loading. This technique works well when you have
a defined load for the trailer — like a boat, for instance.
On the other hand, for something like a Tiny House Foundation or a Utility Trailer, this method for
trailer axle position doesn’t help much because you don’t have the actual load when constructing
the trailer. See the Calculation Method below.
That said, using the measurement technique can help when setting bigger loads like a battery pack
or water tank for a Tiny House. You can set an axle position that suits the overall design, then place
the bigger loads where they measure out to give proper tongue weight.

Calculating Tongue Weight And Trailer Axle Position

We can also calculate tongue weight and trailer axle position. I’ll give an example, then if you need
more detail, please contact us, or do some searching on the internet. For existing trailers (if you
want to check the axle position or maybe move the axles), please read this follow-on article also
about Calculating Axle Position.)
We use a balanced lever approach to calculate loading. First, we sum forces in a vertical direction.
There are only 2 points that support the vertical loads (tongue, FT; and axle(s) FA). Then there are
several “loads” (depending on your trailer):
 Trailer Weight — WF — Weight of the trailer including frame, sides and flooring can be
measured or calculated pretty easily. You will also need to know the center of that weight.
(Measure this by placing a board on edge under the trailer frame, then move it till the frame
balances on the board.)
 Evenly Distributed Load — WD — Loads that can be assumed as even along the length of
the trailer bed. For a utility trailer this may be rocks, or firewood. For a Tiny House, this is
the walls and roof. A good estimation is OK, but more accuracy gives a more accurate final
answer. The location of this load, L5, is the center of distribution.
 Points of Specific Load — WT — These are big loads at specific locations. For a utility
trailer this may be an ATV, or lawn tractor, or tank, or toolbox. For a Tiny House, this may
be water tanks or battery packs or kitchen cupboards.
Measurements are center of the hitch ball to the load centers. If any of these are not present, just
leave them out. If you have more point loads, just add them in as illustrated. Obviously, Tongue
Length L2 has a big effect, so it’s worth reading this article too about Choosing the Right Tongue
Length
Now we know the loading if the tongue has 12% of the load. If that works for the tow vehicle, then
we can move to the next step.
On the other hand, let’s say our tow vehicle can only handle 300# tongue weight. By dividing the
max tongue weight, 300#, by the total trailer load, 3000#, we get 300/3000 and that yields 10%
tongue load. That is on the margin, but can work.

Summing Moments (Load by Position)

Now we know the force values, the next step is to figure out where the axle goes so all those forces
balance. We do that by summing the moments — basically, to sum the loads multiplied by their
distance from the tongue load. By setting the moments with forces up equal to the moments with
forces down, we can solve for axle position.
From the example above, if we remove the toolbox, the calculated axle position changes to 100.9″
Or, using the example, if WT is 15% (instead of 12%), the axle position becomes 97.6″
When building your own trailer, run the calculations a few times with different load scenarios.
Design for the maximums. After evaluation, make a judgement call for the final trailer axle
position.
That’s it. Now you know how to calculate proper trailer axle position.

Proving Or Disproving The Common 60% Rule

On the internet there are several websites and YouTube videos saying to place the axle at 60% of the
trailer bed. What do you think?
In our example above, the trailer axle position is ~55% of bed length. If we put it at 60%, the
tongue weight becomes 501 Lbs, ~16.7%. Or, if we take the toolbox off and went to 15% tongue
weight, the desired trailer axle position is 65% of the bed. These examples show that the 60%
guess-of-thumb is not always best.
In some cases it makes the tongue load below 10% which borders on dangerous. Other situations it
can make the tongue load too high.
All that being said, I recommend biasing the trailer axle position a little farther back for trailers
where the load will change — like utility trailers. It improves towing stability, maneuverability, and
safety. You can place the load appropriate for the conditions. Just make sure you have the right
materials and design safety factors for the loads you intend to carry.
And now you have the trailer axle position figured out, we invite you to read Trailer Axles 101 and
some extra tips on mounting a leaf spring suspension.