Towing boat behind 5th wheel

I have towed tandem behind my 5er for going on 15 years now, so I do have some experience on this.

In my experience, boat trailers are lighter on the tongue weight than a typical travel trailer. They seem to be closer to 7% - 10% of total weight. I have seen very few that are heavier, not saying that your's won't be.

My worst experience was my first set up, with a boat that weighed close to the weight of the 5er, and too little tongue weight. I fixed that very quickly.

My current set up is about 17,000 pounds over all. My boat is a 21' bow rider that weighs 5060 pounds. I would love to go up to a 24' boat, but I have no desire to tow more weight behind my 5er.

Personally, I think you are likely to have a very unpleasant towing experience. A poorly balanced 2nd trailer, and a 5er that is very light just doesn't seem like a winning combination. It may seem counterintuitive but I think you would be much happier with a bigger, heavier 5er.

For comparison, here is my set up. Photo taken this weekend.

just for the heck of it whats the max length for combination ?

Brian,

I have a Yamaha 242 and the tongue weight is 500-600 pounds. A good approximation is 10-15% of your total weight of the boat and trailer. If a tandem axle and long tongue, boats tend to be a bit lighter on the tongue than say a travel trailer. That's still a lot of weight for the back of a 5th wheel trailer. You will need to seriously reinforce the rear structure of your trailer to accommodate a proper hitch setup.

You will also need to be sure to have proper wiring for the boat trailer's electric brakes (hopefully it has them).

The whole thing is problematic and generally not a good idea, but probably legal where you live. That is not the case everywhere, so research the law where you plan to travel, as you'd not want to get pulled over where it's forbidden.

your neighbor is right