Trailering a Tiki 26: proper weight distribution?

[Randall S Anselmo]

Trailering my new (to me) Tiki 26 home last weekend behind my 1999 Jeep Cherokee, I could not go over 52 mph without inducing side-to-side oscillations.  My guess at the tongue weight was about 100lbs.  Does anyone have advice on how to prevent oscillations?  I'm a fairly decent sailor on the water, but am realizing that I don't yet have a lot of experience with sailboats on land.  Thanks in advance.

[Ann and Neville Clement]

Hi,
I just asked Nev about your problem - he has driven trucks, trailers, heavy loads, oversize loads, etc back in Britain. He wonders wher your outboard is in all of this. If it is aft, he would take it off the bracket and bring it forward. His first attempt to correct the problem is to bring weight onto the forward part of the load. But towing a vehicle behind a car is something to do slowly and maybe 52 mph is good enough? Ann and Nev

[Randall S Anselmo]

Ann & Nev,

Thanks. It's great to have Nev's experience on this question. The outboard is pretty little (Nissan 6hp), and was on the cabin floor, midship, with a lot of other gear that came with the boat. What may have been a bigger factor was the heavier building cradles strapped to the after decks. But it sounds like Nev's advice is to adjust the weight forward, which I will certainly try.

And yes, you make a very good point about safe highway speeds. The most challenging and harrowing part of the entire operation was driving through New Jersey, where the ambient speed seems to be around 85mph. Puttering along at 50mph, I heard the squeal of brakes behind me several times, not to mention a complete disregard for turn signals when I tried to enter the whizzing traffic from on-ramps.

Thanks again,
R


Ann and Neville Clement said:

Hi,
I just asked Nev about your problem - he has driven trucks, trailers, heavy loads, oversize loads, etc back in Britain. He wonders wher your outboard is in all of this. If it is aft, he would take it off the bracket and bring it forward. His first attempt to correct the problem is to bring weight onto the forward part of the load. But towing a vehicle behind a car is something to do slowly and maybe 52 mph is good enough? Ann and Nev

[boatsmith]

The trailer swaying side to side is commonly called fishtailing and is almost always caused by the weight being to far aft on the trailer. The weight should be centered fwd of the axle or the center of multiple axles. Glad you made it OK. Driving a new rig, especially one that is not towing right is nerve racking. David

[kim whitmyre]

Randall,

I trailered my tiki 26 Vaea from Puget Sound to Southern California...The tow vehicle was a 1990 Chevrolet Caprice, equipped with airbags in the rear coils. 55mph was more than fast enough! Going through urban areas was a nightmare, due to the complete lack of sympathy from the other drivers, as you experienced.

I did not experience any wobble, but then I had a purpose-built trailer:

Nev's suggestion sounds good.

[boatsmith]

That's a pretty nice trailer Kim. I have had an idea perking in my cerebral cavity similar to this for the T8m. I am thinking that if the inboard pivot tubes were angle fwd at the bottom the when it rotated out it would drop as well and make it easier to ramp launch. Do you have a tongue extension?Looks like your trailer is pretty well made. Pretty challenging backing a 15' wide boat down the ramp. David

[Brandon Gamble]

I'm guessing this is what you meant... A very nice example...

Kim, nice Trailer!

[kim whitmyre]

No tongue extension: I did look at getting one for future use. I used a local boatyard to crane Vaea into the water.

The trailer has a new home. . .Bill and Houston Barker convinced me to sell them the trailer so they could pick up a tiki 26 in South Texas and take it home for a refit. Since Vaea is always in the water, I was paying $125 per month to store the trailer. I was still torn, though. It is a great trailer.

Bill actually took the time to draw up a dimensioned plan of the trailer in Google's SketchUp drawing program, and he will freely give a copy of the drawing to anyone. You will just need to download SketchUp (free last I heard) to open the drawing.

[kim whitmyre]

Found a picture from the trip down from Puget Sound:

[Russell and Janet Puryear]

I'd love a copy of the sketchup drawing.

Thanks

Bill actually took the time to draw up a dimensioned plan of the trailer in Google's SketchUp drawing program, and he will freely give a copy of the drawing to anyone. You will just need to download SketchUp (free last I heard) to open the drawing.

[Randall S Anselmo]

Sooo...we just successfully trailered our boat from Vermont to Florida with the help of all your suggestions. Seems the solution was packing it with the weight forward. She sailed I-95 elegantly at 65 mph without a hint of fishtailing. Thanks everyone!

[Andrey Georgiev]

How long(miles or kilometers) you have to trail your boat?

I have to travel 2000 km and i know this is not good for her!

[Randall S Anselmo]

Hello Andrey,

I trailered my boat 4,608 Km several years ago...from Vermont to South Florida and back.  I had no problems with the boat or trailer.

Cheers,

Randy