Re: Bunk vs Scissors Trailers
Posted: Fri Feb 13, 2009 2:27 pm
dunbar> It was strapped with 2 ratchet straps on the rear. Both broke. The trailer went over too but the boat was
off the trailer before the combo hit the ground.
yeah, i should have stronger straps, too. i use two in the back and two in the front, plus the winch strap and safety chain.
dunbar> No one pulled anything through a ditch. The toon landed in one but the truck and trailer never left the shoulder
of the road, until the trailer went over.
i don't understand how it rolled over then. i've eased mine onto a shoulder but you have to take it easy.
i think the issue was doing a u turn with a pontoon trailer on two narrow of a road. i've gotten myself into
some wrong places and just back out with a spotter. i do one u turn every time we bring the boat home,
but that's out on my grass and it's a nice level area.
did your bro-in-law have the boat loaded more heavily to the right side? i always try to load things so that
it's about equal left-right and the tongue weight is right (right height at hitch ball). i agree that a scissors
trailer is more sensitive to left-right misloading than a bunk trailer, but any trailer will be happier with even
loading. i recently switched from a 12 gal (72 lb) fuel tank to a 50 gal (300 lb), which is on the left rear of the
toon. for any distance i tow it with 20 gal or less, then if i want more i put it in as close to the launch as possible
and take her nice and easy from there. my fresh water tank is about 15 gal (120 lb) and used to be on the same
side as the fuel tank, so now it's in the center of the boat inside island cabinet. i try to fill that at the destination,
too, but not every place has a hose.
dunbar> I strap my toon down to my trailer every time.
me, too. i would be way too nervous otherwise.
fb
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off the trailer before the combo hit the ground.
yeah, i should have stronger straps, too. i use two in the back and two in the front, plus the winch strap and safety chain.
dunbar> No one pulled anything through a ditch. The toon landed in one but the truck and trailer never left the shoulder
of the road, until the trailer went over.
i don't understand how it rolled over then. i've eased mine onto a shoulder but you have to take it easy.
i think the issue was doing a u turn with a pontoon trailer on two narrow of a road. i've gotten myself into
some wrong places and just back out with a spotter. i do one u turn every time we bring the boat home,
but that's out on my grass and it's a nice level area.
did your bro-in-law have the boat loaded more heavily to the right side? i always try to load things so that
it's about equal left-right and the tongue weight is right (right height at hitch ball). i agree that a scissors
trailer is more sensitive to left-right misloading than a bunk trailer, but any trailer will be happier with even
loading. i recently switched from a 12 gal (72 lb) fuel tank to a 50 gal (300 lb), which is on the left rear of the
toon. for any distance i tow it with 20 gal or less, then if i want more i put it in as close to the launch as possible
and take her nice and easy from there. my fresh water tank is about 15 gal (120 lb) and used to be on the same
side as the fuel tank, so now it's in the center of the boat inside island cabinet. i try to fill that at the destination,
too, but not every place has a hose.
dunbar> I strap my toon down to my trailer every time.
me, too. i would be way too nervous otherwise.
fb
.