Sway bars for boat trailers

[hillbilly]

Hi guys,

We towed a boat up to Bemm river for the weekend and had a little problem with the boat swaying so was wondering if you can put sway bars on to prevent this happening, years ago we had a caravan that had the same problem but after fitting sway bars the problem was gone, dont know if there is such a thing for boats.

Karren :wink:

[Mr__Bean]

G'Day Karren,

Before considering sway bars, lets have a look at the current setup for a minute.

Most sway is caused by too much weight behind the axle(s). I am not familiar with your boat and trailer, but medium sized trailer boats should have around 10% of their weight on the towball.

So, first of all what do we think the empty weight (including safety gear) of the boat, motor and trailer would be?

Can we guess or should we search the web for specs on yours or similar size boats.

Once we get the weight it is just a matter of placing the bathroom scales under the tow hitch and checking the download.

If it is around the 10% mark, then it is a matter of watching how you load the rest of your gear when you travel.

If the sway hasn't happened before, and you had a fair bit of gear in the boat for the weekend trip, it may just need the heavy stuff put further forward next time.

Long answer I know, and yes they are available for boat trailers, but if setup right and loaded right you shouldn't need them.

Let us know how you go.

- Darren

[hillbilly]

Thanks for that info Darren, we did pull over to adjust the load but did not put a great deal of thought into it , so will take your advice and give it another go and see what happens.
cheers
Karren :wink:

[seaeagle]

Karren that brings back memorys of the old familiy trips to lakes entrance 20 years ago. the old man had a 16 foot halfcab bonwood with all the camping gear in it going up the old hwy, b4 the new roads were there. the boat used to sway , we'd pull over pull everything out then repack it on the side of the road then set off again....good fun..
i do recall him getting a set of level riders which i think they are also called sway bars, but having the boat packed with 10 days off camping and 4 kids there was alot of gear, it still had to be loaded right or would still sway

[grant]

I had to rebalance my baot doing exac tly as above and it tows perfectly now.

I also now empty the fresh water tank and try and run down the fuel in the tank. That saves me 130kg on the trailer. (90kg for fuel and 45Kg for water.

I also only take the saftey gear I need for the trip. I remove excess life jackets and alike. I dont comprimise my saftey though in the process.

g./

[Dekka]

Experienced the same trouble with mine on a trip so now I let Rosie (my wife) sit in the car with us.

Hahahahahahahahahahahahahahahah..................g ee I'm glad she never reads these things. :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol:

[Mr__Bean]

Experienced the same trouble with mine on a trip so now I let Rosie (my wife) sit in the car with us.

Hahahahahahahahahahahahahahahah..................g ee I'm glad she never reads these things. :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol:


Hey......

Come on fella now lets be honest here, who carries the most kilo's Des or Rosie????

I know where my money would be put.

- Darren

[Dekka]

Now Darren,

I might carry more kilos but Rosie has a lot more baggage! :wink:

How's things Darren?

[Mr__Bean]

Things are getting much better here as we get more organised for our move, as previously mentioned the house has sold and we have recently bought our next one up in Brisbane.

We move just after Christmas and we are just about on top of all the preperations.

A big one for me was to clean out my garage and sell off machinery I had in it. I used to work from home in a small engineering capacity. All machines have sold except for one milling machine so I am doing OK.

This will now free up a bit of time for a last Victorian fish here and there before we go. I promised Alan I would take him out into Bass Strait for a day on the sharks before we go as I don't think we will get that sort of fishing up north. He keeps telling me he is going to miss Westernport, I think he really enjoyed the variety of fishing and the nights we spent out there.

- Darren

- Darren

[TedR]

Darren, although we have never met, you have become very familiar to me via your postings in various sites.
All the best with the shift, and the new workplace. Hope it all works out.

Are you taking that beautifull boat, or are you selling it as well?

Regards Ted

[Mr__Bean]

G'Day Ted, (and others)

Yeah, boat is going with us.

I am looking forward to actually using it up there, assisting with the coaching of a junior footy team cost me heaps of fishing time this year (but was very rewarding).

- Darren

[Dekka]

Darren, good to hear preparations for your move are going well. Still sad to see you go from both Vic and Fangers.

Would love the opportunity to meet up one last time and say farewell.

Should you get to head out for one last fish and you don't mind me tagging along, let me know when and I will endeavour to join you.

If not, all the best to you, Sharon, Alan and James.

[grant]

I hope you stay with us here at Worshippers.... It would be a crying shame to loose a good member like yourself.

g./

[hillbilly]

Des, you are a dag, never met your lovely wife but she must be a top lady to put up with your antics, lol.
Darren, Im so glad you are all ready and packed for the big move but sad that I never got to know you outside of the posts, you have been a bit of a hero to me with all of your great advice and fishing adventures and I will miss you, I only wish I had fished with you just once, but if you are ever back this way and want a crew for the outside please let me know as it would be a real privlege.
Take care and all the best with the move and the job, I hope you pop in here now and then and keep us updated on your fishing adventures.
All the best.
Karren :wink:

[Dekka]

Des, you are a dag, never met your lovely wife but she must be a top lady to put up with your antics, lol.:

Not sure what you mean Karen. Rosie is well aware that she cannot cook, clean, sew like normal women. Only reason I married her was the fact that she was a bank manager and I figured she must have money.

Boy what a let down..........................no money either..................spent it all travelling the world, then met me who hasn't been anywhere. Good match I guess as I wouldn't trade her for anything.....................except someone who can cook, clean and sew perhaps hahahahahahahaha.

I'm dead if she ever works out how to turn the computer on.

[Mr__Bean]

Agree Des, we need to get out and have a session before we head off.

The clock is ticking but it is very high on the list of must do's. I will first have to get down to the local fishmonger for some scraps then stink out the back yard as I put them through the garden mulcher to mince up 40-50 litres of berley.


Karren, (ya dag) not sure about the hero bit. I obviously haven't disclosed how many times we have returned to the ramp with zilch whilst the kids on the adjacent jetty have a bucket load of fish. Jeez I hate that.

Grant, no intention to leave PW just cause we are moving house. Hopefully I can share some of our learnings from Brisbane fishing experiences.

Alan and I agree that the biggest thing we will miss is the ability to overnight on Westernport Bay on a warm summers night. Sure you can drop a boat in anywhere and stay overnight, but Westernport offers such a variety of night fishing in relative safety and you are never far from a slow motor back to shore.

Well that is unless you are like another member who chose to anchor right up next to the channel when the bloody great tankers were coming through in the dark.

Anyhow enough rambling, cheers all.

- Darren