Has anyone tried R5 Surf on R6 Surf Trailer?

[dwjones125]

I’ve exhausted a search for a R5 Surf Trailer. I have found an EZ Loader for an R6 Surf. Anybody had experience with fitting the R5 Surf on the R6 Surf trailer?

[Snowman8]

I believe the dead rise is different from an R5 to an R6 and I’m sure someone can confirm this. The chines are probably different too. Also another this to watch for is the GVWR of the trailer. I know from experience that EZ Loader doesn’t allow much extra load carrying capacity on their trailers designed for a specific boat and the R6’s are heavier than an R5 so you would likely be over the axel weight ratings for that trailer. You would want to see what the axels are rated for before purchasing if everything else matches up.

[Holy Smokes]

He's wanting to put an R5 on a R6 trailer. Overall capacity should be fine. Trailer axles are "typically" either 3500# or 6000# rated. Likely, most tandem axle trailers would be 7000# minus trailer weight capacity.

Weight distribution and bunk location is a different story.

[stifflkd]

Trailer data attached. Different strakes and chine dimensions as well as deadrise. Being a custom trailer probably best to reach out to EZ Loader themselves

[Snowman8]

He's wanting to put an R5 on a R6 trailer. Overall capacity should be fine. Trailer axles are "typically" either 3500# or 6000# rated. Likely, most tandem axle trailers would be 7000# minus trailer weight capacity.

Weight distribution and bunk location is a different story.

I read the OP’s post wrong and thought he was trying to put an R6 on a R5 trailer. Either way the hulls are different.

Not that it really matters but they make trailer axels in nearly any weight configuration a trailer manufacturer wants. My EZ Loader trailer that I originally had came with 2 - 3700lb axels under it. My R5 with half a tank of gas on the trailer weighed 6800lbs. The next trailer up in size that I was supposed to get for my R5 had 2 - 4200lb axels under it. When I asked EZ Loader why they would put a boat on a trailer and have it at max capacity with almost zero room for extra weight their response was, the trailer you have is rated to carry the listed weight of your boat, if you overload the trailer your warranty will be voided. I sold my EZ Loader and ordered a Loadmaster with 2 - 6000lb axels.

[bruceb58]

I read the OP’s post wrong and thought he was trying to put an R6 on a R5 trailer. Either way the hulls are different.

Not that it really matters but they make trailer axels in nearly any weight configuration a trailer manufacturer wants. My EZ Loader trailer that I originally had came with 2 - 3700lb axels under it. My R5 with half a tank of gas on the trailer weighed 6800lbs. The next trailer up in size that I was supposed to get for my R5 had 2 - 4200lb axels under it. When I asked EZ Loader why they would put a boat on a trailer and have it at max capacity with almost zero room for extra weight their response was, the trailer you have is rated to carry the listed weight of your boat, if you overload the trailer your warranty will be voided. I sold my EZ Loader and ordered a Loadmaster with 2 - 6000lb axels.

That's very interesting....I always estimated my R5 to be around 6500# with no fuel. I did weigh my tongue with my Sherline scale and it came out at 600#. Assuming you had 25 gallons of fuel, that would be 150#. Based on your weight of 6800# with half fuel, I would be at 6650# with no fuel.

That would also mean that the weigh on the axles is actually 6650#-600# tongue weight which is 6050#(around 5 gallons in the tank).

Seems that 3500# axles would be sufficient. I need to look at what my axles are rated for. I have 15" tires so they may be higher than 3500#. Trailer is in storage.

Very common for trailer manufacturers to calculate what the tongue weight would be, since that weight doesn't get carried by the axles, and size the axles accordingly.


Did you actually put it on a CAT scale and weigh it? What did your tongue weight come in at?

PXL_20210111_194133652-453x604.jpg

[Snowman8]

I read the OP’s post wrong and thought he was trying to put an R6 on a R5 trailer. Either way the hulls are different.

Not that it really matters but they make trailer axels in nearly any weight configuration a trailer manufacturer wants. My EZ Loader trailer that I originally had came with 2 - 3700lb axels under it. My R5 with half a tank of gas on the trailer weighed 6800lbs. The next trailer up in size that I was supposed to get for my R5 had 2 - 4200lb axels under it. When I asked EZ Loader why they would put a boat on a trailer and have it at max capacity with almost zero room for extra weight their response was, the trailer you have is rated to carry the listed weight of your boat, if you overload the trailer your warranty will be voided. I sold my EZ Loader and ordered a Loadmaster with 2 - 6000lb axels.

That's very interesting....I always estimated my R5 to be around 6500# with no fuel. I did weigh my tongue with my Sherline scale and it came out at 600#. Assuming you had 25 gallons of fuel, that would be 150#. Based on your weight of 6800# with half fuel, I would be at 6650# with no fuel.

That would also mean that the weigh on the axles is actually 6650#-600# tongue weight which is 6050#(around 5 gallons in the tank).

Seems that 3500# axles would be sufficient. I need to look at what my axles are rated for. I have 15" tires so they may be higher than 3500#. Trailer is in storage.

Very common for trailer manufacturers to calculate what the tongue weight would be, since that weight doesn't get carried by the axles, and size the axles accordingly.


Did you actually put it on a CAT scale and weigh it? What did your tongue weight come in at?

PXL_20210111_194133652-453x604.jpg

I put my trailer on a certified scale at the local feed mill a few miles from my house and I just got a total weight of boat and trailer.
If you are okay with your trailer running close to max load all of the time 35-3700lb axels would be sufficient. In my line of work I’ve seen so many things break when running at max capacity that I like to see a little extra fudge factor. It would be a real downer if I was 600 miles from home on a family vacation and have something break on my trailer. Heck it would ruin a good day if something broke on the way to or from the water if I was only 50 miles from home.

[Lifelongbtr]

I have put an R7 Surf on a R8 Surf trailer, while it's not perfect it worked. Main issue is where the bow stop is, since the even R's are slightly longer the strap position on the back is not lined up. Normally wouldn't be an issue except the surf tabs require fairly precise placement. Also, most trailers place the drive beyond the back of the trailer, if too far forward the prop is right above the cross member meant to protect the drive, when floating on/off the prop can hit it if too far forward on the trailer.

In my case the bunk placement worked fine for support, and missed the chines and inlet/outlets on the bottom of the boat, that is something I would check first though, there's a lot going on with the bottom of the surf boats for ballast and the head if you have one.

[bruceb58]

I put my trailer on a certified scale at the local feed mill a few miles from my house and I just got a total weight of boat and trailer.
If you are okay with your trailer running close to max load all of the time 35-3700lb axels would be sufficient. In my line of work I’ve seen so many things break when running at max capacity that I like to see a little extra fudge factor. It would be a real downer if I was 600 miles from home on a family vacation and have something break on my trailer. Heck it would ruin a good day if something broke on the way to or from the water if I was only 50 miles from home.

I do agree with you that running the axles close to max capacity would be something I wouldn't do.

If your tongue weight is close to 600# like mine is, that would mean the weight on the axles is 6200# or 3100# per axle. For a 3700# axle that's a 17% margin. What margin would you prefer to have?

[Snowman8]

I’m sure 17% is fine. Those numbers are based on my half a tank of gas and nothing else in my boat while on the scale. 25 more gallons of gas, a couple coolers full of lemonade, food and ice that 17% shrinks. I am now running with two 6000lb axels so I could put an R3 on top of my R5 and still be fine. Since I was having a custom trailer built there isn’t much difference in price for axels so I just went with the recommendation of Loadmaster and had them use 6000lb axels.

At work we use Towmaster trailers with two 7000lb axels to haul our Cat skid loaders. Those trailers are always running at or close to max load and we have had 3 or 4 of them with bent spindles or axels in the past. I just figured if I had the option to make it better I would.

[Big Block Power]

I’m sure 17% is fine. Those numbers are based on my half a tank of gas and nothing else in my boat while on the scale. 25 more gallons of gas, a couple coolers full of lemonade, food and ice that 17% shrinks. I am now running with two 6000lb axels so I could put an R3 on top of my R5 and still be fine. Since I was having a custom trailer built there isn’t much difference in price for axels so I just went with the recommendation of Loadmaster and had them use 6000lb axel

How about putting a 220 on top so I don't have to trailer it anymore

[bruceb58]

I’m sure 17% is fine. Those numbers are based on my half a tank of gas and nothing else in my boat while on the scale. 25 more gallons of gas, a couple coolers full of lemonade, food and ice that 17% shrinks. I am now running with two 6000lb axels so I could put an R3 on top of my R5 and still be fine. Since I was having a custom trailer built there isn’t much difference in price for axels so I just went with the recommendation of Loadmaster and had them use 6000lb axels.

At work we use Towmaster trailers with two 7000lb axels to haul our Cat skid loaders. Those trailers are always running at or close to max load and we have had 3 or 4 of them with bent spindles or axels in the past. I just figured if I had the option to make it better I would.

When I see my trailer again in a couple weeks...going to look at the axle specs. Since I have 15" tires, pretty sure it's probably more than 3.5K or 3.7K

[Snowman8]

I’m sure 17% is fine. Those numbers are based on my half a tank of gas and nothing else in my boat while on the scale. 25 more gallons of gas, a couple coolers full of lemonade, food and ice that 17% shrinks. I am now running with two 6000lb axels so I could put an R3 on top of my R5 and still be fine. Since I was having a custom trailer built there isn’t much difference in price for axels so I just went with the recommendation of Loadmaster and had them use 6000lb axel

How about putting a 220 on top so I don't have to trailer it anymore

Let’s try it. I’m game! That would mean that you would have to take your boat out of your garage. I thought I read that you are trying to get on the water full time?

[Snowman8]

I’m sure 17% is fine. Those numbers are based on my half a tank of gas and nothing else in my boat while on the scale. 25 more gallons of gas, a couple coolers full of lemonade, food and ice that 17% shrinks. I am now running with two 6000lb axels so I could put an R3 on top of my R5 and still be fine. Since I was having a custom trailer built there isn’t much difference in price for axels so I just went with the recommendation of Loadmaster and had them use 6000lb axels.

At work we use Towmaster trailers with two 7000lb axels to haul our Cat skid loaders. Those trailers are always running at or close to max load and we have had 3 or 4 of them with bent spindles or axels in the past. I just figured if I had the option to make it better I would.

When I see my trailer again in a couple weeks...going to look at the axle specs. Since I have 15" tires, pretty sure it's probably more than 3.5K or 3.7K

It’s possible, my EZ Loader had 14” C rated tires new & I upgraded to a D load range right away because the C’s looked like squashed marshmallows.. I went with load range E 15” tires instead of load range D. I also didn’t feel the need to go up to a 16” wheel & tire. My Loadmaster trailer is already about 3” taller than my old EZ Loader trailer so I really didn’t want to raise the boat any higher if I didn’t need to. When the river I launch at gets low I end up quite a way into the water with the truck already. Loadmaster makes an extendable tongue but I did feel like I needed that either. I did opt to make my trailer 2’ longer than what Loadmaster suggested so that helps a little with launching and it tows like a dream!

[Big Block Power]

I’m sure 17% is fine. Those numbers are based on my half a tank of gas and nothing else in my boat while on the scale. 25 more gallons of gas, a couple coolers full of lemonade, food and ice that 17% shrinks. I am now running with two 6000lb axels so I could put an R3 on top of my R5 and still be fine. Since I was having a custom trailer built there isn’t much difference in price for axels so I just went with the recommendation of Loadmaster and had them use 6000lb axel

How about putting a 220 on top so I don't have to trailer it anymore

Let’s try it. I’m game! That would mean that you would have to take your boat out of your garage. I thought I read that you are trying to get on the water full time?

I have to air up the tires to get it under the garage door so nothing hits
Always looking for slips. But not holding me breath on that one.