Trailer - swing-away tongue vs standard

[clark]

By getting the swing-away tongue trailer does it make it safer from people who had rather steal a boat than buy one. With my other boats, I had the regular tongue and used a lock that would slide up inside where the ball goes and a lock on the latch that secures the hitch to the ball. I was wondering if the swing-away tongues have a way to lock them and would this discourage someone from trying to get it..... bottom line, is one any safer than the other?

Clark,
I have the swing-away tongue option on our Boatmate trailer and it does not have a lock feature to hold the tongue in the "swung" position. It does have a hole that allows you to place a lock through the coupler. So I guess to answer your question, one is not "safer" than the other. That would be pretty cool if they had put an option like that on the swing-away version.

[Ed G]

I would have to say a boat with a swing away tongue is much more secure...given that it is designed so the boat can be stored inside a typical residential garage.

If you store the boat outdoors, you really don't need the swing away.

[Yellowmobius]

I would get it either way, better resale value

[clark]

Ed,

You said that it much more secure, so I would think that if you store it outdoors, you would want the swing-away, but not for the space, for the safeness.

Clark

[clark]

Is there a good way to lock up a swing-away?

[Ed G]

Clark, I think you may have misunderstood me.

The swing away tongue was designed to reduce the overall length of the trailer so one could store the trailer inside the average residential garage. It is not designed as a security feature.

In reality, the swing away tongue would be less secure on a boat that is stored outdoors. Any would be thief could easily disassemble the hinge (only two pins) and drag your boat off .

If you want to go with the swing away, get yourself a couple of cable locks and run them thru the wheels and around the frame. The trailer could only then be moved a half rotation of the wheel.

[clark]

Ed,

Yeah, I knew that it would make it shorter for storage in a garage. Thanks,

Since I never owned a wing-away trailer I didn't know if it was also a security feature. Thanks for that clarification.

I already thought about the cable locks. My brother uses one on his boat trailer.

Thanks again for the info. I am looking forward to getting a Mobius LSV in January.

Clark

[brentburtrum]

I just use a pad lock while the tounge is swung away.

Pull the pin, swing away, throw a lock where you removed the pin so it can't be put back in.


Brent Burtrum