Blog post # 1
I may take some liberty with truths to illustrate what I feel are important points.
Mike and Tom, both own trail-able sailboats and have decided to take family vacations in the San Juan Islands.
Tom has been burning up the internet downloading and printing everything he can find. Mike and his family are making supply lists and discussing parks to visit. The appointed day finally arrives and their little two rig caravan heads north on Interstate Five. Within a few minutes Mike’s cell phone is ringing, Tom is having problems controlling his SUV and trailer. Several times he has had dangerous swaying episodes; one time so bad the car swerved out of its lane and almost collided with another vehicle. He was lucky to be able to slow down and get it under control. They agree to pull into the next rest stop a few miles ahead. At the rest stop, Tom is visibly shaken, his wife and kids don't want to continue, sure that they will have a bad accident. Tom says he has never experienced anything like this before. Mike as usual, calmly assesses the situation and begins asking Tom questions while holding his hand next to one of the trailer tires which is too hot to touch. How much pressure is in your tires? What is the maximum trailer weight your car is designed to tow? Do you have good brakes on the trailer? Mike then shoves on the SUV noticing how soft the suspension is. Tom brags about how great his little truck is, and how it smoothes out the roughest roads. Tom has no answers to any of Mike’s questions, especially the last one about tongue weight. In fact Tom offers that when they were loading gear in the boat they had to pull down on the hitch to get it attached to the car. They climb up into the boat and what a sight. Tom and family have brought everything they own, three ice chests, a cast iron Dutch oven, cases of pop, cases and jugs of water. The back of the boat is stacked full across the back end. Mike says, this is your problem, come on, we need to move some of this weight forward. Tom is fortunate this time. The experts say you should have about 10-15% or your total weight sitting on your hitch. Inadequate tongue weight is a major cause of losing control. Shortly both rigs are back on the road and looking for a service station to get some more pressure in Tom’s tires. Tom doesn't have trailer tires like Mike, the maximum psi marked on the side of his tires is 42 lbs. Under inflation and overweight loads cause the tires to run hot and could eventually lead to a blow out. Mikes tires are running just a little warm to the touch, he has trailer service tires and are marked maximum 85 psi.. Back on the road again Mike wonders to himself, what’s next?
