Boat behind a fver

[Rick B]

I've been looking at new fver's and also want to pull my small bass boat behind. Some units are not rated for a hitch on the tail end and if you mounted one it would void the warranty. Who is doing this and can you pass along some advice for me. I really need it.

 

[Big A]

I've been pulling a 21ft ski boat behind a 30ft 5th wheel for 6 years. Keep your speed down to have control in case of an emergency. Make sure 5er puts enough tongue weight on truck. And last but not least, you have a 3500, buy a cabover instead. After having the 5er, it's hard to go to a cabover. The new cabovers with slide are really nice. But they are a little heavy for my 2500.

Big A

 

[Foil Freak 1211]

This is the third year that I've pulled a boat behind my 5er. My new boat is heaver than my old (new is about 5k), but pulls better. Higher tongue weight on the boat is better to reduce fish-tailing. Does your boat have a tandem axle? If not, you may want to consider adding another axle



When I bought my Sea Hawk 5er 4 years ago, I was told most manufactures would void warranty if I added a hitch. My dealer told me not to worry about it. According to him, the only way the manufacturer would know about the hitch is if you had to send the trailer back to where it was made for repair. Not very likely to have to do that, and in that case, he advised that you could remove the hitch before sending it in. I can't imagine that you would have difficulty with the set-up you are suggesting. I'm happy pulling this way.

 

[SHobbs]

I have always had this question in mind on this subject. Let's say your 5er weighs 13,000 and your trailer or whatever behind the 5er weighs 5,000 as stated above. You have a 15k 5er hitch in the truck. Does this put you over on the hitch capacity? You will have 18,000 behind you. Is it even a factor to consider? Inquiring minds are wondering.

 

[The Adjuster]

I have always had this question in mind on this subject. Let's say your 5er weighs 13,000 and your trailer or whatever behind the 5er weighs 5,000 as stated above. You have a 15k 5er hitch in the truck. Does this put you over on the hitch capacity? You will have 18,000 behind you. Is it even a factor to consider? Inquiring minds are wondering.

The tounge weight of the boat will actually lessen the pin weight of the 5er in the bed, it is all mathmatics and all depends how far back the wheels are set on the 5er etc etc ... every setup is different.



I had a friend that had a 5K boat and trailer behind his hitchhiker and it towed great, but put the same boat and trailer behind my Jayco and I could not keep it all in a straight line even at 50mph, I ended up pulling over, moving everything I could out of the boat and stacking it all up on the front bed in my 5er, also moved whatever I could find at the rear of the 5er and moved it forward also ... towed a lot better after that ... but was still a slow trip.



Kevin

 

[Foil Freak 1211]

I have always had this question in mind on this subject. Let's say your 5er weighs 13,000 and your trailer or whatever behind the 5er weighs 5,000 as stated above. You have a 15k 5er hitch in the truck. Does this put you over on the hitch capacity? You will have 18,000 behind you. Is it even a factor to consider? Inquiring minds are wondering.

A 15k hitch is rated to tow 15,000 pounds total. If you had 18k towed weight, you would be over the hitch rating.



One other thing to consider before towing tandem is state regulations. Each state has different requirements, some do not allow towing tandem, most have an overall length limit. Trailer Life mag puts out an annual report with each states laws. It's a great resource.

 

[SOLER]

A 15k hitch is rated to tow 15,000 pounds total. If you had 18k towed weight, you would be over the hitch rating.



One other thing to consider before towing tandem is state regulations. Each state has different requirements, some do not allow towing tandem, most have an overall length limit. Trailer Life mag puts out an annual report with each states laws. It's a great resource.

Lots of good advice so far. Check the state laws. When I was in Delaware, it was a pain to pull my motorcycles behind the 5er. I could do it in DE, but there was nowhere to ride in DE, so needless to say I had to go ride out-of-state. MD had an overall length limit (55 ft), and VA said "Absolutely Not. " It wasn't a big deal in Oklahoma, where I bought our 5er. I took it to a welder two days after I bought it and had a hitch welded on, and towed a boat to the lake that weekend. As far as my truck was concerned, no problem. That was with my Y2K truck with an automatic transmission and no mods. Needless-to-say my next two trucks did it even easier!



18,000lbs with a 15K hitch... Yes, you are over the hitch rating of the 5er hitch.



Tongue weight. Your 5er is set up to have a certain balance. The weight needs to be distributed properly. A bumper pull trailer needs to have 10% - 15% of the weight on the tongue, and a 5er needs 20%-25%. Lets say you have, as stated above, a 13,000 lb 5er. You need 3000-3250 lbs on the hitch. When you put your boat on the back, the math gets skewed. As above, if you're putting a 5,000lb boat there, you will have about 500 lbs on the hitch on the back of your 5er. This effectively doubles the weight taken off the pin on your truck. Where you had 3250 on the truck, you now have 2750 (3250 minus 500), but now you have an additional 500 lbs on the back, thus messing up your distribution. This will cause handling problems. What you have actually done is effectively taken 1000 pounds off the truck hitch. You need to put AT LEAST 500 lbs of stuff up front. Or if you take 250lbs of stuff that is already in the back and put it up front, this will work, or 500 lbs of additional stuff that isn't already in the equation. And when I say "front" and "back," I mean in front of the axles of the 5er or behind them. Also, when you are moving the weight, the distance from the axles makes a big difference. If you have 100 lbs loaded 4 feet in front of the center of the two axles, and you move it 8 feet behind that center, you now have "400" lbs effective weight distribution. There is a formula for this, but I'm just wagging it because this is already getting complicated I flew C-5's in the Air Force, so believe me, weight and balance was a BIG DEAL!



In short, you need the right amount of weight on the hitch to keep it from wandering on ya. And it's bad enough if you have one trailer out of balance, but now, if your 5er is wandering, and you have a trailer behind that , it compunds your aggravation! Been there, done that!



Now, as to the original post, a small bass boat is going to be negligable. It will be hard to get your rig out of balance with a small boat, but just keep an eye on where you load your gear.



SOLER

 

[Foil Freak 1211]

Soler, I agree with almost all of your post except your statement about the tongue weight on boats. It is pretty standard on travel trailers to have 10% tongue weight, but the rule does not carry through to boats, where they usually have around 5%, creating much less problems with the balance of the whole rig. As I said, my boat is about 5k. I can (barely) lift the tongue by myself. It tows great that way.

 

[SOLER]

Soler, I agree with almost all of your post except your statement about the tongue weight on boats. It is pretty standard on travel trailers to have 10% tongue weight, but the rule does not carry through to boats, where they usually have around 5%, creating much less problems with the balance of the whole rig. As I said, my boat is about 5k. I can (barely) lift the tongue by myself. It tows great that way.

Good point. You probably have tandem axles though. And as for boats, you usually don't change the weight distribution of them, so what you say is correct. The most weight is actually carried right on the trailer axle.



SOLER