[Capt Dan Medina]

bought a trailer down in miami and she is approx 29" too short for my boat (hangs off of bunks). I want to extend the tongue by about 3 ft. The current coupler is welded to the tongue.... SO here comes the dilema...

The current length fits into my garage perfectly. Ideally Id like to keep it that way.... Is it possible to have/make either a break away or swing trailer that is several feet long? Can this be done through just bolts or am I going to need to have it welded?

 

[Brett]

http://www.trailerpartsdepot.com/items.asp?Cc=A-TONGUS

 

[Capt Dan Medina]

The issue is that I need to move the boat further up the trailer/I need more boat to be on th trailer....Right now as she sits approx 29" is hanging off the rear.... I actually am hoping to extend the tongue and move the front winch bracket so limit the amount of boat hanging off.... I know I can get maybe 6-8" more by extending the bunks (which I want to swap out anyways)....
The tongue right now looks like it is held in place by a single bolt that it swivels on for the break away....
Now rather than buying a new tongue (money is very tight), do you think by moving the existing tongue "forward" a foot and putting bolt in would have any negative effects on the trailer? I keep playing it in my mind and it seems like it would work out perfectly fine.... anyone else ever done this?

 

[Taterides]

A foot longer tongue should have minimum effect if even noticeable. My concern would be how much bunk is hanging past the rear crossmember? Are these 3 x 8 vertical drive on bunks or 2 x 6 flat bunks?

 

[richg99]

A few years ago, when I was in need of a shorter trailer for my garage...yet a longer tongue for easy launching... I bought a four or five foot long galvanized insert.

I mounted the coupler on the insert; slid the long length of the insert inside of the trailer's main "tongue" and fastened it with two very large "slip pins".

All materials were purchased from a local trailer manufacturer. It worked just fine.

When I returned home from a trip, I first backed the boat into the garage...then I pulled the pins and withdrew the insert from the main trailer. Laid it on the floor next to the boat and all was well.

What I cannot see from your description is whether or not you have enough original, strong, tongue length left to move your riser and winch to. I would NOT consider having the riser and winch on the insert. Also, if you extended your bunks..can you move your axle back so that you will still be in balance?

As much as I love to DIY everything. .sometimes, buying a proper trailer is the best answer.

Rich

 

[Capt Dan Medina]

I can mov the axel back another foot or so.... THe weight is pretty well balanced as is.... I am going to try pulling the bolt and moving the tongue up about a foot. That and extending the bunks should give me the answer Im looking for...

Ideally, yes, buying a new trailer would be best, but in my neck of the woods and with my financial situation, its just not a possibility right now.... got to make due with what ive got.....

 

[paint it black]

This is not a problem.
We did this on my buddies Jon boat earlier this year.
Me, Alonzo, and Chris did it.

I only helped out installing the new tongue while taking breaks from buffing Alonzo's Maverick. lol

But anyway, it was very easy.
We went to the local metal supplier and picked up a 4x4" galvanized box tubing in the length we needed.
We extended the tongue.
You think, by extending the tongue that it's going to make the overall rig longer.
But in fact it's not.
Because you will need to move the winch up further on the new tongue.
This pushing the trailer section further back to support the hull.

What we did was put new, longer bunks with new hardware to distribute the load across further and it was done.
It didn't take very long at all.
Longest part was removing some old rusty hardware holding on the old tongue.

 

[richg99]

re removing old rusty parts.

I used to bang up my knuckles and swear at projects like that. Then, I went to Harbor Freight and bought a cheap electric grinder with a few cutoff disks.

Lots of sparks and some noise...and zippppp .. the old stuff was cut off quickly. Rich

 

[Capt Dan Medina]

paint it Black- so thats why Alonzos maverick always looked so shiny... ;D

RIch, I have my angle grinder ready if need be, but everything looks like itll go smoothly.... tomorrow is "D" day.... will let everyone know how it goes....