Trailering Advice  Posted By: Tom Galyen  1. Remember that you will have a much larger turning radius so be careful, especially in gas stations. It is easy to  catch the corners of the fueling islands wth the trailer wheels. 2. When hooking up make sure that your trailer hitch matches the ball on your tow vehicle. One fellow I met this  summer did not do this. Fortunately nothing serious happened. 3. Again when hooking up make sure you cross the tow chains. This makes a cradle for the trailer tongue to be  caught in if the unseen should happen and the trailer comes unhitched. The fellow mentioned above had this  happen when he backed up to park the boat and trailer and he didn't have the chains crossed. I saw what  happened and yelled at him quick enough that he stopped before any damage was done. 4. Make sure the boat is properly balanced on the trailer. You should have about 110 pounds of weight on the trailer  tongue. You can measure this on a standard bathroom scale. Too little is as bad as too much. This should be  checked after you have all the stuff you are going to carry stowed in the boat. 5. An easy way to back up is to look out your back window and put your hand on the bottom of the steering wheel,  and then turn the wheel in the direction you want the boat to go. Take your time, even at a crowded ramp. When I  begin to back up I lower the tailgate of my truck, it gives me a much better view of what’s happening. 6. Make sure all is clear behind you before you back up. Last summer I backed into a car at the boat ramp who had  pulled into the lane behind me while I was getting the boat ready. I had seen him in the lane to my left and  thought that he had backed straight back into the water when instead he backed into my lane. I put my rudder  through his front license plate. No damage to my boat and only his plate damaged. He never asked for any  damages, so I think he knows he screwed up, but I still could have checked better, if I had looked at his lane I  would have noticed he was not where I thought he was and should have stopped until I knew for sure where he  was. Once I start backing up I cannot see directly behind the boat and neither will you with your boat which is  wider than my Sun Cat. See note 5 about gaining a little more viewing room. 7. I have included a photo from an earlier post of a mirror that I got from an RV dealer that hooks on the tailgate of  my pick up and allows me to see the trailer hitch while hooking up. Even with someone with me to help I prefer to  use this set up. I can see what’s happening and react faster than when someone is yelling at me. I also have a  metal plate that slips into a holder between the ball and my truck to prevent me from going to far and bending up  my license plate with the trailer hitch. 97