Just setting up a new trailer for our boat and have a Q about nose weight.
Car has a maximum nose weight of 140kg. Boat’s current position gives 120kg – about right or a bit less?

I wouldn’t overly worry about a 20-30kg difference! I tend to always set my trailers up with around 80kg on the nose. Not died yet.

YOu are under so fine

It not like 141 kg will break everything so I assume the manufacturers underestimate by about 20% anyway

My car is 50 kg and I regularly carry more than that on the bike rack without issue and its a tiny tiny car.

At 140 its a big estate type anyway I assume so i really would not worry up to abut 160 kg personally – YMMV

It will be fine its within what they say

Other thing to check is total weight to make sure you will get up hills !

I once collected a boat we’d bought and found the nose weight roughly zero. It was a VERY interesting drive home and I’m sure the odometer would have read at least 4 miles further than normal for that trip! Sold the boat a few weeks later for a cool £1k more than we paid, then did the same with another boat, then finally got one nice and small and towable with the astra.

Now my trailers go up to 3ton depending on the work I’m doing. The front’s definitely too heavy to pick up once the front axle leaves the ground.

I never liked when a trailer was heavy on the hitch, the extra bucking made me car sick.

TBH, it really depends on the levelness of the hitch to ball height.

Whilst staying in the range 75kg to the max manufacturer rating, i also aim to get the trailer as level as possible, so when braking or accelerating the longitudinal force doesn’t try to either pick the rear of the car off the ground, or ram it into the ground!

As i weigh 75kg, i load the towing vehicle with it’s load (which could be nothing or it could be a whole boot full of trolley jacks, spare wheels and other important rallying cr*p (like plenty of KitKats…..)) then i just stand on the tow ball, note how far the ball drops, then i couple on trailer, and position it’s load to get the same or a little bit less ball height. I have set my trailer hitch height to be pretty much level (with shims under the hitch plate) under this condition.

Stability increases with noseweight, as long as you are within the limit of the towbar and hitch. The only caveat is that increasing noseweight by asymmetrically loading the trailer doesn’t work very well…

120 sounds just right – it gives you a little margin just in case the scale is out. It is illegal (C&U violation I think) to exceed the nose weight rating of either car or trailer.

If it’s easy to adjust I would move the boat forwards as it will reduce the weight behind the axle and therefore the pendulum effect.

But also check the nose limit on the drawbar of the trailer, (the S value) if it’s a light trailer the hitch might be rated lower than 140kg. Mine is a 3 ton trailer and the hitch is rated at 150kg. (I think)

5-7% of trailer weight, is generally the thing. At least with caravans. For my light van that gives about 50-70kg. I had previously been advised to load to the max noseweight which is 85kg on my car. The ride and handling are much nicer with 70kg on it.