22' Pontoon on Trailer built for 21' boat

[18pontoon]

I currently have an 18 foot pontoon boat on a tracker trailer designed for a 21' sun tracker party barge. To make the 18' fit just right, I moved the front tower back some so the pontoons would match up to the end of the rear bunks.

If I put the tower back to the intended position with a 22' boat, I would imagine the pontoons would be hanging off the back of the bunks about 1 foot or so. I may be able to move the front tower forward more than the intended 21' position but I haven't looked into that yet.

Will I be able to use this trailer with a 22' boat if it hangs off the back by a foot? I could see this affecting tongue weight which can be accounted for in various ways (ballast, etc) but is there any issue with the pontoons not being fully supported by the bunks?

Should I get a welder to add supports to make longer bunks?

[ToonGuy]

I doubt you would have an issue with a foot or less of the toons hanging over, provided you have enough tongue weight to safely tow. The bigger issue I see is the GVW of the package. As I recall a lot of those were single axle units, and depending on how your toon is outfitted you may be asking for disaster. Single axle trailers are also much more susceptible to sway if not loaded properly (i.e. tongue weight).

[Crab Island Cruiser]

My toon is sitting on a single axle trailer. Both toons hang about a foot off the back. The PO jack knifed it and did a good bit of damage to the tongue. Luckily it's a tilt trailer so I bought a new tongue 1 foot longer and moved the tower fwd a few inches. Before the tongue change the front of the toons wouldn't make good contact with the front of the bunks. After the new tongue and tower move it rides perfect. I'm towing mine with a chevy silverado Z71 and it tows perfect. I don't take it on the hwy. Lucky for me the boat ramp is 2 miles from my house.

Hope this helps.

[Bamaman]

If you're boat is hanging off 1', it's no big deal. Tongue weight is what's really important.

Move your winch tower forward, put your boat on it, and see how heavy the weight on the hitch ball is. You'll want 10% of the weight of the boat and trailer on the ball.

I once had a skidsteer trailer on a trailer sitting too far back. When I looked in the rear view mirror, it was swinging 45 degrees one way and 45 degrees the other way. That's when I figured out how frightening it is to not have sufficient weight on a hitch.

[RcgTexas]

My toon is sitting on a single axle trailer. Both toons hang about a foot off the back. The PO jack knifed it and did a good bit of damage to the tongue. Luckily it's a tilt trailer so I bought a new tongue 1 foot longer and moved the tower fwd a few inches. Before the tongue change the front of the toons wouldn't make good contact with the front of the bunks. After the new tongue and tower move it rides perfect. I'm towing mine with a chevy silverado Z71 and it tows perfect. I don't take it on the hwy. Lucky for me the boat ramp is 2 miles from my house.

Hope this helps.

What he said, its all about the tongue weight if your boat has enough support

[18pontoon]

Thanks for the info! I have plenty of room to move the tower forward if need be. Lets hope I get a good price for the trade in tomorrow!

[HandymanHerb]

Single axles max out with a loaded 20 footer on it, unless you get a real light 22 footer, you will need two axles

[MH Hawker]

What Herb said, the max trailer load capacity, a 20 footer is OK on a single but a 22 footer needs to be on a duel wheel trailer.

[dodger]

Does your state require that the back of the toon be strapped down securely for trailering. Our does so we have to able to attach the the straps from the toon to the trailer. Just a thought.