Swing toungue question...

[Krebber]

I just picked up a Skeeter ZX1775 with Skeeter swing-tongue trailer. (The tongue breaks between the boat and the crank.) Granted, I'm still figuring things out, but...when I go to reconnect the tongue, it's really been a struggle to get it back together so that pins/holes align. The bow of the boat hits the roller, which leaves the holes anywhere from 1 inch to just one-eighth of an inch off of alignment. Any tips on how to help this go back together easier would be appreciated. (Previous owner did not use the swing tongue.) SO far I've tried lubing the entire mechanism. just cranking the snot out of it (bad idea) and even releasing the stern straps thinking the boat might slide back enough...none helped a great deal. Thanks for any tips!

[Capt. Don*]

I am not familiar with the type of winch stand on that trailer, but, if possible could you move it back slightly? Say move the boat back an inch or so on the trailer and hopefully relieve the pressure on the bow stop. As I think about it, that doesn't seem like it would help. The winch stand moves with the swing portion of the tongue? If thats the case the only solution would not have the bow tight against the stop or fashion some sort of lever attached to the tongue and use it to get some leverage on the tongue to make line up easier.

[Deitz Dittrich]

Can you take a picture and post it?.. that might be able to help us out a little better.. you know the whole. Pict worth 1000 words kind of deal?

[luckyc]

I believe what is happening is you crank the boat up tight to the roller, sometimes even lifting the boat a little on the roller, then once you break it the boat settles back down and the tongue won't come back in place. Cure is to move boat back a little each time before you break the tongue, which if you are on bunks could take a little umph on your part.