Need brakes on boat trailer?

Mile High wrote:

Bamaman1 wrote:
Surge brakes work better for boats, as they're mechanical. Water and electrics don't work so well together. And a 19' boat needs brakes and tandem axles.

You're a braver man than me. I'd never consider double towing, and many states prohibit it for a reason. I'd rather rent space in a storage lot for either the boat or the RV close to where I usually camped.

A 19 ft boat could be a fishing boat with a 25 hp outboard, which may not need either! Weight is the criteria, not length.

Only saltwater is an issue for electrics because of corrosion. For freshwater electric is fine and far superior to surge, especially for mountain driving. Surge brakes overheat descending long passes. Converted mine to electric several years ago.

Some (many) brake controllers support additional axles. Just run new 10 gauge all the way back to the truck from the boat, dont tap the RV trailer brakes or you will have too much voltage drop through the factory RV brake wires.

The brakes on my dad's 20' Reinell trailer don't overheat when going down a grade. Surge brakes, in good working order, =should= have some sort of device that puts some back-pressure on the cylinder to keep this from happening. If it didn't, you couldn't even back up. We had an old water-wagon with surge brakes that =didn't= have this feature and had to make a U-shaped collar to slip into the slide to be able to back the trailer up since any movement backwards would lock up the brakes.

Lyle

Bamaman1 wrote:
Surge brakes work better for boats, as they're mechanical. Water and electrics don't work so well together. And a 19' boat needs brakes and tandem axles.

You're a braver man than me. I'd never consider double towing, and many states prohibit it for a reason. I'd rather rent space in a storage lot for either the boat or the RV close to where I usually camped.

A 19 ft boat could be a fishing boat with a 25 hp outboard, which may not need either! Weight is the criteria, not length.

Only saltwater is an issue for electrics because of corrosion. For freshwater electric is fine and far superior to surge, especially for mountain driving. Surge brakes overheat descending long passes. Converted mine to electric several years ago.

Some (many) brake controllers support additional axles. Just run new 10 gauge all the way back to the truck from the boat, dont tap the RV trailer brakes or you will have too much voltage drop through the factory RV brake wires.

Surge brakes work better for boats, as they're mechanical. Water and electrics don't work so well together. And a 19' boat needs brakes and tandem axles.

You're a braver man than me. I'd never consider double towing, and many states prohibit it for a reason. I'd rather rent space in a storage lot for either the boat or the RV close to where I usually camped.

If you double tow, most states require brakes on the boat. Check your DVL regs.

I would not even consider towing a 19 ft boat behind a 5th wheel without boat trailer brakes.

Most boat trailers in the 19 ft range have surge brakes and they should work fine if they are in good condition and set up properly.

Most all boat trailer over 3K have brakes or are supposed to. you will need a second brake control for electric brakes behind your 5vr, or use surge brakes.

agesilaus wrote:
Your state will have regulations/laws on what they require. Usually trailers above a certain weight must have brakes

In AZ, you =must= have brakes on any trailer with > 3k GVW. Doesn't mean electrics; can be surge brakes.

Lyle

The requirements for brakes on the boat trailer is dictated by the weight of the boat and boat trailer, regardless of how you tow it. If it doesn't have brakes now, it doesn't need them and visa versa.

agesilaus wrote:
Your state will have regulations/laws on what they require. Usually trailers above a certain weight must have brakes

This is true. Most single axle trailers tend to not have brakes but can help if you have the dough to have them installed. Your 19' is right on the edge. If it is at all heavy or a glass boat, I'd consider adding brakes.

If you go with brakes and do a lot of mountain driving, consider electric over hydraulic brakes as opposed to surge brakes that can easily overheat bearings on long down grades.

Your state will have regulations/laws on what they require. Usually trailers above a certain weight must have brakes