Cut the back of a trailer off?

[tjspiel]

Just bought a new (to me) boat few weeks ago and the trailer, though very nice, is not the original.

It's very long for a sailboat trailer. Most sailboat trailers I've seen end just before the bunks end. This one keeps going and going. The last 4 feet seem to have no purpose other than to hold the lights.

And since it's wider than the boat, it makes parking in my tight space that much more challenging and I've almost caught my leg on the lights while walking by more than once. It's a matter of time.

Any structural reason for not just lopping off 4 feet after the next to last cross member?

Would that weaken the trailer? Obviously I'd need to find another place for the lights.

Not exactly a high priority. I haven't even launched the boat yet, but I have all winter to think about stuff like this.

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Note: The boat has a "lifting keel" or daggerboard. There's a rest for it on the trailer, so when it's on the trailer the dagger board is lowered a couple inches so it's sitting on its rest but you raise it all the way when launching or retrieving.

[Roland of Macatawa]

Ouch! That does look like a shin banger.

[Charles Brennan]

tjspiel, I sure can't see any good reason, to keep such an ungainly appendage on the back of your trailer.
If it were me, I'd lop it off in a heartbeat.  It would even marginally improve your tongue weight, from the metal aft of the wheel having that useless weight, no longer counterbalancing the tongue weight as much.
I say: Go for it.

The sole thing I would do perhaps, is to keep about 4-6 inches or so past the last cross member, so you could add an eye-bolt and use it to help secure the aft end of the hull with tie-down straps, like I did on a boat I formerly owned:
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One guy's opinion,
Charles Brennan

[tjspiel]

tjspiel, I sure can't see any good reason, to keep such an ungainly appendage on the back of your trailer.
If it were me, I'd lop it off in a heartbeat.  It would even marginally improve your tongue weight, from the metal aft of the wheel having that useless weight, no longer counterbalancing the tongue weight as much.
I say: Go for it.

The sole thing I would do perhaps, is to keep about 4-6 inches or so past the last cross member, so you could add an eye-bolt and use it to help secure the aft end of the hull with tie-down straps, like I did on a boat I formerly owned:
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One guy's opinion,
Charles Brennan

Thanks Charles,

Tongue weight was one of the things I was wondering about. Presumably (hopefully) the boat was positioned on the trailer to provide an optimal tongue weight and if I remove some weight from the back of the trailer I was wondering if I'd have to move the boat back a smidge to compensate - which I could do.

Not sure how to figure out what the current tongue weight is though. What's the best way to figure that out?

[Charles Brennan]

tjspiel, Your question:

Not sure how to figure out what the current tongue weight is though. What's the best way to figure that out?

Is a tough question, for a guy who tends to be overly literal.

Good Enough - Better - Best,
If Better is the enemy of Good Enough, then Best must be the enemy of Better, but here goes:

BEST:
The BEST way to figure tongue weight is to tow your rig to a commercial scale, put the tow vehicle, but NOT the trailer (still hooked up, though) on the scale.
1) Record that weight.
2) Pull off the scale and park somewhere you can disconnect the trailer.
3) Drive onto the scale again and record the tow vehicle weight.
4) Subtract the second weight from the first weight and the result is your tongue weight.

This is useful for longer heavy-duty trucker type scales (within limits, which we'll get to in a minute).   

BETTER:
Another slightly quicker method, is to pull the tow vehicle onto and then just off the scale, leaving only the trailer on the scale.
1) Record that number.
2) Disconnect the trailer from the tow vehicle (using the trailer jack stand) and record that number.
2) Subtract the first weight from the second weight and the result is your tongue weight.

I can give you some real numbers from last July, when I was doing some trailer work. (I did not have the SCAMP I am building, on the trailer at that time.)
The weight of the trailer, while hooked up to the tow vehicle, was 300 pounds.
The total weight of the trailer (disconnected from the tow vehicle) was 380 pounds.
My tongue weight was 80 pounds.
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GOOD ENOUGH:
Unless you're blessed with a level driveway (I'm not) drive out to the street and disconnect your trailer.  Keeping the trailer level, get the tongue (if possible) onto a scale smuggled out of the bathroom.
In practice, you'll probably only be able to get the base of the tongue jack on the scale, which will not be the exact tongue weight but will at least get you in the ball park.

All the Auguste, Learned Experts will tell you, the tongue weight needs to be between 5% and 15%, which is a misleading statement, when taken out of context.  They are talking about a range between 1000lbs and 12,000lbs.
The lower percentage is for the higher weight trailers and the higher percentage is for the lower weight trailers.   
For example 5% would be 600 pounds tongue weight for the 12,000lb rig, but would be only 50 pounds for the 1000 pound rig, which would fishtail all over the highway, at speed.
Conversely, 15% of 12000lbs would be 1800lbs of tongue weight and would materially affect the vehicle's steering and suspension;  whereas 15% of 1000lbs would be 150lbs and would tow just right.
Boat US thinks total trailer tongue weight for most small boaters, should be in the 7% to 10% range and I have no quarrel with those numbers.

Let's look at my (empty) trailer weight with those numbers. 380lbs total trailer weight, versus 80lbs tongue weight. That gives me a 21% tongue weight, outside all recommendations; over twice in fact, for Boat US recommendations.
However, that does not have a boat on it. (Yet!) 
SCAMPS have an empty weight with all spars, mast, sail, rudder and rigging, generally between 420 and 460 pounds. Taking the outside weight, I'll have 840 lbs total for trailer and sailboat.
THEORETICALLY, I should be Golden!    At 9½% tongue weight.
I know better.
The hull weight past the axles, will affect that number slightly, but at this point, I'm not concerned with that theoretical number, since it's going to be affected again when I have a pair of lithium batteries ahead of the ballast tank (more tongue weight) and three or four anchors and lines in the stern lazarette locker (less tongue weight) and other gear stowed in other locations.
Once the boat is fully loaded and ready to go, I'll repeat the tongue weight process and evaluate from there.
I firmly believe:
"If You Can Put A Number On It, It's Science; If You CAN'T Put A Number On It, It's VooDoo!"   

SCALES:
Scales range from municipal trash/recycle facilities, to state agricultural weigh stations, to commercial truck stops like: TA Travel Center and Love's Travel Stop, etc.
Some of them have minimum weight capabilities and a small tow vehicle and boat/trailer, they will not bother to weigh.  For example the 2nd method described above might not meet their requirements, but the first method would. Also, they bill you every time you're on the scale, so to use the methods described above, you will have to pay twice.  Further, they cater to their premium customers (long-haul truckers) and may become annoyed, if you try and get your rig weighed, when they are busy.

State agricultural weigh stations are a mixed bag, depending on the state and the personnel. A lot of times, catch them on a slow day, and they are happy to accommodate you (especially, if you use the 2nd weight method described above) just because, hey! It's a boat! 

Many municipal recycle trash facilities allow residents to drive onto the scales with their (for example) truck with junk in the back.  They then recycle/remove their trash and drive out onto the scales and get charged a nominal fee for the weight difference, between when they pulled in and when they pulled out again. (Weight of the trash.) Once again, on a slower day, you can usually explain and talk them into letting you weigh your vehicle with boat/trailer attached but not on the scale and then just the vehicle weight.

From 30 to 45 minutes of my home near Gainesville, Fl. are three truck stop scales, two agricultural scales and two municipal scales.  Most people have no idea of how to find a truck scale . . . . . . until they start looking.

If you don't have these options available to you, you can always use the bathroom scale and if your tongue weight gets to the more serious side (i.e. more than the scale can weigh) you can use the beam method described in this link:
https://www.boatus.com/expert-advice/expert-advice-archive/2013/june/tongue-weight-diy

Hope this helps,
Charles Brennan

[Krusen]

That is too complicated, you do not need accurate numbers.

On level pavement, measure the exact height of your tow vehicle bumper.

Unhitch the trailer, and jack the hitch clear.

Measure the height again.

Have someone with a known weight stand on the bumper, and measure a third time.

Convert the known person's weight and inches to pounds per inch.

Using that pounds per inch, convert the inches for the tongue weight to pounds.

What is the tongue weight limit for your tow vehicle?  Do you have a problem?


General rule is that the more tongue weight, the more stable the tow, within the limits of  your tow vehicle.

I agree with Charles, on where to cut, for the reason he gave.

On the other hand, most states require the trailer lights be at the very end of the trailer, at full width.

The lights on his trailer will satisfy nearly every officer, and meet the intent of the law.

I had an extra set of lights on a board that I could lash to the transom, just in case.  They plugged into a Siamese plug, parallel to the trailer lights, and only used them when towing across Washington DC.