towing heavy boat with Chevy 1500

[acassidy]

I am towing a 95 24' Whaler which I am guessing weighs around 5000-5500. Truck is rated to tow 9400. Problem is i get a little to much squat on the rear axle.
How much tongue weight should I have on that trailer and what can I do to the truck to help support the weight of the boat?
thanks
Archie

[Sgrem]

7%-12% tongue weight is ideal.

I tow a 26ft Southshore that weighs 6700 pounds with a BMW x5. Every day. I'm a full time guide. I have 117k miles on that BMW towing that boat.

Your truck should be fine.

[acoastalbender]

Brake checks ...

[bwguardian]

I towed a classic 84 25' Whaler Outrage with twin Mercury 150's back in the 90's early 00's with a regular cab short bed Chebby 1500 that had the 350 power plant. Picked the boat up in Mobile, Alabama and towed it back to H-town and kept it for many years. It did fine until one day after a light rain it pushed me into an intersection. I then sold the truck and bought a 96 F250 with the 7.3L power plant and never looked back. Make sure you have good tires to handle that load! Sgrem is correct about the tongue weight and I would tend to be on the heavy side of that scenario unless you have 4x4. For more support you could add air bags which you inflate when loaded to help. You could also add another leaf to the leaf pack for better support, but you will feel the stiffer ride all the time when not loaded. Without seeing any pictures, you might be able to adjust the boats position on the trailer, moving it aft. One other option would be to install a weight distribution hitch setup.

[acassidy]

I should have mentioned that the truck is a 2019 Z71 with 5000 miles on it so it is 4 wheel drive.

[Cozumel Annie]

Stabilizer bars or distribution hitch will solve that problem.

[Saltwater Soul]

Folks mentioned what you can do to the truck. Maybe it is working as designed. Check that trailer tongue weight and boat position on the trailer. Might be that you can just move the boat back a tad to lighten it up a bit.

[Jerry713]

That's just a tongue heavy boat. Airbags will help with the squat. If the boat is pushing your truck around in winds a stabilizer bar will help with the sway. You could go weight distribution hitch but those are a pain to hook up everytime (especially without an electric jack) and that hitch won't do a lot for the sway (again if you have any).

[Momma's Worry]

Originally Posted by acassidy

I am towing a 95 24' Whaler which I am guessing weighs around 5000-5500. Truck is rated to tow 9400. Problem is i get a little to much squat on the rear axle.
How much tongue weight should I have on that trailer and what can I do to the truck to help support the weight of the boat?
thanks
Archie

I put a scale under the jack ....have trailer level

200lbs minimum 20' -----600lbs maximum 30'

move hull forward or rearward on trailer to achieve tongue loading...
but what do I know could have all wrong....
our tow vehicle is a 5.3L Chevy 1500 Z71.....boat is a 28' Grady
all up total 14,580 lbs no fuel or ice ....8-9mpg at 55mph

[TXanalogkd]

As mentioned, your truck should be fine. Add airbags if you want the piece of mind.