Swing-away tongue

[SkunkedAgain]

I am planning to upgrade my boat this summer, something in the $5k range. I need a trailer with a swing-away tongue but am assuming that most boats in my price range won't have one. Does anyone know how willing a boat shop might be to swap trailers? What other options might I have?

[Pat K]

I know someone who bought a kit online, he's pretty sure it was from Northern Tool, for a swing away tongue and had a local welding shop install it for him. The trailer had surge brakes and in the 7 or 8 years he had the trailer he had no trouble with it other than pinching and breaking a brake line one time. He blamed that on operator error not the hinged tongue.

[PerchJerker]

Many trailer manufacturers have kits to convert their trailers from fixed tongue into swing tongue as well. One of my previous boats came on a fixed tongue trailer that I had the dealer convert to a swing tongue, and I used it for many years without any issues at all.

[JimBuck]

I converted my trailer to a swing-away a few years back.....you can buy kits at Northern Tool and it's not very difficult if you have the right tools.

[Ralph Wiggum]

I did mine last fall. I made a post about it. I'll see if I can dig it up.

[Ralph Wiggum]

Here's a link for you to check out.

[SkunkedAgain]

Thanks Ralph. I didn't know that you could safely convert a standard tongue to a swing-away.

Last night, a buddy told me that the latest trick is to use a smaller tongue that slides into the main trailer (like the hitch does on your truck receiver). Lots of great solutions out there.