Hi Sheppie62!
Nice work on the trailer!
From a tongue load aspect moving the center line between the axles aft is a better direction than fwd.
Have you ever done a tongue weight check?
I do ours with a heavy weight bathroom scale (for convenience) but it can also be easily done with a regular bathroom scale and bit of lumber.
Accurate axle loading is a little bit more involved.
A first pass is a simple visual dimensional check of the leaf spring midpoint deflections (assuming new springs for both axles). A properly loaded axle set should generally have the same midpoint deflection for all 4 leaf spring sets. It should raise a flag if one axle’s leaf springs are more compressed than the other axle set (it means that the more compressed axle is doing more load carrying than the other). I wouldn’t expect them to be exactly equal but reasonably close to each other.
Unequally loaded axles have the potential to transmit more load to the relevant tire set leading to unequal tire loads, bearing loads and tire wear.
It’s a little more complicated if the leaf spring sets are of different vintages.
Note: We check ours with the boat empty and after loading before each long distance trip. Given the cost of and lack of availability of trailer tires we want to maximize our use and potential mileage. Checking them alerts us to potential adverse loading issues before we get on the road.
We also just had the bearings and hubs professionally cleaned out, degreased, inspected and repacked pre-emptively while we are up here on Lake Champlain and Over Easy was afloat. It wasn’t cheap but given my back issues it was money well spent to have it done before a problem arose.
We have personally traveled in excess of 3000 miles so far with Over Easy. We didn’t know for certain what kind of mileage or specific maintenance had been done by the POs for the axle bearings. We replaced all the trailer tires upon purchase as there were intra-tread and sidewall cracks evident on the tires. The date codes were also indicating that they were past their use dates. That is no reflection on the POs in any way, it is just a fact of life. Tires simply age out.
Best Regards,
Over Easy
Build a custom gas tank/ with walkable top (deck). I have already moved my engine back with a setback plate and hydraulic steering, steering lines can now go thru near shift cables. I have figured a way to hook up sailing rudders/ motor with the tie rod backwards. This opens up the space where there normally is the step down and hole where motor tilts into (forgot what it’s called). My goal was to put a flat deck across entire back area level with the cockpit area. I have the Spector 6 gallon tanks I purchased recently, but I’m not real happy with the handle sticking out and the pressure thing that makes them swell up, but liked that they are portable for fueling up. I was thinking I was going to make 2 aluminum tanks to fit precisely into the compartments. Now I’m thinking I could put a custom shaped gas tank In the area the deck was going, using the motor tilt hole as well. And use the Spector 6 gallon tanks 1 per side, towards back that the seat mostly covers, so feet won’t be hitting the tank handles. That would open up the front of the gas tank area for much needed storage up top. I estimated tank size to be 28”x28”x6” or could be a slight step up with 8” height. Floor drainage would need to be addressed past tank.Tank Volume would be about 20 gallons if it was 6” tall and 27 gallons if it were 8” tall.
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