trailer size weight for 20sf
 

what size weight trailer for a 20sf?

I would look for a 3500-4000 lb capacity dual axle trailer even though thats a little overkill:
1600 lbs dry hull weight +
1200 lbs motor and gear +
700 lbs trailer
totals 3500 lbs.
If you get a dual axle trailer it trailers real nice, the wheel bearings are very lightly loaded and with enough weight capacity a flat is not a total disaster. The biggest drawback I know of with excess capacity like that is having stiffer torsion axles/springs; martinis in the cooler get shaken, not stirred.

BTW - I love your thread; beautiful work thats totally worth standing on my head to look at. :D

I know I know it will be the last time I get lazy and post from my phone!


I have a line on a 2400 trailer but I though it might be to light.

I had a 3500 lb under my 74 20 when I had it. That would be as light as I would go.

Murphy's law has a tendency to visit me more often than not though.

I have a 3500 lb. single axle under mine - I've towed form Cape Cod to the Keys and back 4 years running for the winter and have had no issues. On long tows I make sure little or no fuel in tank and no extra weight in the boat.

You need a 3500 lb single axle trailer. More is nice, but not necessary.

In Florida, if your trailer is fairly recent manufacture, you also MUST have brakes on a trailer of that size or larger.

SC also. Rear tie downs in Fla too.

I have a dual axle with surge brakes. For tax purposes it has a 4990 lb rating. But with the 4 13" tires I think it would do 6200? It is overkill but if something goes wrong, the extra capacity is a huge bonus. Salt water eats steel trailers. It is nice if you don't have to worry if the rusty looking springs will fall off going over expansion joints. I don't know what the cost differential is for used twin versus single axle, but I like having dual axles.

Also, I just got electric brakes for the 25 footer trailer. I am an INSTANT convert. They are amazing and very effective. It was $70 for a timer controller. Now I get 13000 lb to stop on a DIME. And no goofy backing up lockout mechanism. The local boat place told me to try it, as hydraulic brakes rot out or bind up in a few years anyway. Plus the parts are cheap and no bleeding lines.

Hey Bill I'm with Stretch on the dual axles. 13" tires with duals is great for the 20'er, if you go single you will have to go with 14" tires. Last time I put springs on my trailer for the 23'er I upgraded to the 2000# springs versus the original 1750# springs, what a difference. It is more stable and tows much better. A lot depends how far and how much you trailer, to and from the boat ramp at let's say ten miles a single is OK, towing long distance go with dual axles.

For what it's worth I have used a single torsion axle float on trailer with the 10 ply 20 inch doughnut tires and a wire loop and latch instead of the winch stand for years and really like it. I load the in a flash! It keep the boat close to the ground (aerodynamic) and tires last a long time. Tires are harder to source, but i seldom need them. It's as close to maintenance free as one can get.

Although float-on trailers are very popular here, and I don't disagree with the extra stability of a tandem trailer and the low CG advantages of torsion axles and tiny wheels and tires, I'd like to offer an alternate and possibly cheaper and lower maintenance solution that's worked extremely well for me for nearly 30 years . . . a properly set up HD single axle roller trailer with powerwinch!

I bought the 4000 lb capacity single axle galvanized steel EZ Loader pictured below in 1985 for about $1800. It has a HD 6000 lb axle and the big 225-75D15 tires have a load capacity of 5080 lbs. As the second pic shows, that roller system has so little friction that I don't have to dunk the trailer to load or unload it, so I'm still running the original springs and I think I've only packed the bearings about 3 times since I've owned it! (I repack the bearings about every 10 years, whether needed or not!) With those big slow turning 27" diameter tires, the bearings only run about 170-200F when rolling down the road at 65 mph, well within the capability of the synthetic bearing grease I use. In addition to the original cost, I've added a PowerWinch, disk brakes, spare tire/wheel & mount, extra rollers on aft X-member, and I finally replaced the aft X-member last year for a little over $200 because the rust on it had gotten ugly although it was still over 1/8" thick. (The center of it is the only part of trailer that normally touches salt water.)

Unless you're just making trips of a few miles to the local ramp, there is much to be said for having some margin on load capacity! Small items of gear have an amazing way of accumulating to add a surprising amount of weight, so when I was preparing for a long cruising trip a few years ago I took the time to actually weigh a bunch of gear as I loaded it on the boat. See attached .PDF file for weight tally. Who would have believed my 1800# boat actually weighs over 4600 lbs when it's rolling down the road! I've towed it all over Florida in this configuration with zero problems, including numerous trips down the turnpike to the Keys. With nylon bushings on aluminum axles the roller system is virtually zero maintenance; with 24 rollers supporting about 3800 lbs, the average load per roller is less than 160 lbs, and you can wiggle each individual roller with the boat sitting on it, so I have no concern with local bearing stress/deflection on the hull. The only disadvantage with EZ Loader roller system is that it has so many degrees of freedom that, if the boat lists to one side in the water, it will tend to come on the trailer the same way! However that's easily corrected by properly adjusting the rollers, and my boat always loads consistently regardless of cross wind or cross current, on virtually any type of ramp.