Swing Away Tongue

I am looking at a new-to-me boat that is longer than my old one. The new one does not have a swing away trailer. I was wondering if anyone has ever put a bolt-on or weld-on swing kit on a trailer and your opinion on it’s success.

Garage space might squelch my options to upgrade.

Thanks in advance.

Yep. Not too hard of a job. I did a post about it several years ago when I put one on my trailer. You can probably dig it up if you look.

Here you go.

We did it on our boat last year. it took some time drilling the holes in the trailer but it wasn’t a tough process. It works great, saves space and is a simple add on.

Just make sure that you plan out how you want to tongue to swing prior to drilling. make sure the swing works with your spare wheel, winch, and wheel crank. (this sentance sounds inappropriate)

The Fulton one has worked for me on a 17′ aluminum boat. If I had a larger rig I’d proabably have crystal welding do it. They do their own after having problems with warping on the kit ones.

I had to install one,so I went with the Shorlander style.I also had to use the Shorlander winch stand,the old one interfered with the garage door.It is very tight,I have about 2″ of clearance.

Check out the Bear Trailer.

Pull Out Tongue.

Nice

I upgraded boats a few years back. Got the new rig home and had that O Crap moment when the garage wouldn’t close because of the tongue. Never gave it a thought while looking at boats. It’s a Shorelander trailer, so I contacted Shorelander for a replacement tongue with the swing option built in. I didn’t want to deal with cutting the original tongue and bolting on a bracket. I figured this way if something went wrong with the swing option it was on Shorelander and not me. I had heard there can be issue with alignment. It’s worked out great though Shorelander would not sell me the new tongue directly. I had to have it shipped to a local dealer and picked it up there. The only issue was that the locking pin that they sent was undersized. It allowed a little play and at highway speeds the trailer seemed to sway back and forth slightly. I also noticed the hole getting worn a bit oblong which made the fit even looser. I went to Farm and Fleet and bought an implement pin with a larger diameter that fits snug and now things are fine.

Like someone mentioned above, I have almost no clearance. The motor is touching the back wall and the tongue gets rotated 180 degrees. When the door comes down there is less than 2 inches of clearance, but it all works.

Don’t you love it when a plan comes together.

Hope things work out so you can get the new rig.

Dave

If you any minor mechanical skills and can read instructions you install a swing away tongue your self.

Like others here I have also done my trailer too ,it took me approx 1.5 hrs.

Good luck and share your results