Installation of trailer hitch for boat is critical

Rich from Woodstock had big plans this weekend. He was headed to the Greater Chicago Boat Show at Renaissance Schaumburg Convention Center. He wasn’t just going to the show. He planned to check out the boats with his eye on a purchase before the coming boating season.

When the boating season hit, Rich planned to buy. But the show was cancelled because of the coronavirus. His scouting trip was cancelled with it.

All the major manufacturers would be there: Lund, Avalon, Crest, Cobalt, Everglades, Rinker, Veranda, Lowe, G-3, Suncatcher, Princecraft, Bentley, Centurion, Supreme, Crestliner, Robalo and more and more. Having all the boats in one place, at one time, was a boat-buyer’s dream. But the event was cancelled so Rich would have to head out to marinas individually for multiple recon missions.

Get a hitch for that boat

Choosing and buying a boat was only part of the process. He would have to register the boat with the state of Illinois while also receiving his Illinois Boating Safety Certificate. The other question was how to get the boat to and from the water.

Rich might arrange storage at a marina by the water but, since he might want to launch the boat on different rivers and lakes, some outside of Illinois, it didn’t make as much sense to store the boat at a location somewhere away from Woodstock. Better to simply keep the boat in the garage at home.

Clearly, Rich would need a hitch on his pickup truck. And if he had a hitch, he would need a trailer for the boat. The latter was probably something he would buy with the boat.

Install that boat hitch on your car, truck or SUV

The first step when installing a hitch on his pickup truck was choosing the right hitch. There were several questions to consider:

• Towing system maximum weight rating
• A hitching system that was rated higher than the maximum rating of the hitch. In other words, if yoiiu have a ball rated at 3,500 pounds, if the maximum trailer weight is rated at 2,000 pounds, the later is the maximum weight you can pull.
• A hitch ball that is equal to the diameter of the trailer coupler
• The hitch ball’s shank diameter must be equal to the hole diameter where it’s installed.
• The length of the shank needs to be long enough that two full threads are visible after the hitch ball is installed.

Then you have to install the ball so that, when the trailer is connected, it rides level. You need to install the hitch to the vehicle securely. The brakes and lights on the trailer need to operate properly. And the vehicle needs to have the pulling capacity to handle the weight of the trailer and the boat with room to spare.

But, if all these things are done right, and if Rich from Woodstock makes a wise choice purchasing a boat and trailer, he should have a great time boating this summer, even though the Greater Chicago Boat Show was cancelled.