Solid ballast
 

Those of you who use solid ballast (sand, lead, pops, concrete) instead if or in conjunction with liquid ballast, how much is too much?

My thoughts are mostly regarding towing and tires, do you spread it out more to tow? Leave it in the nose (or where ever)?

Any thoughts, examples and experiences would be great!

Most trailers are pretty near capacity when the boat is full of fuel and you have your average lake gear in there. Unless someone ordered a lot heavier rated trailer with your boat you don't have a ton of wiggle room. Easy way to know is look at the capacity sticker on the trailer, fill up your tank and load the boat with your average gear and then go weigh it at a truck stop. Subtract the weight of the trailer which should also be on the tag and there you have it. I bet you will find you have less than 500 lbs of wiggle room left.

If your trailer doesn't list the capacity - you can basically make an assumption based on spindle and/or size of axle. Most boat trailers comes with one or two 3500lb capacity axles. There are 2K, 3.5K, 6K and 7.5K lb capacity axles that are common for trailers. If it is torsion - you need to look at the spindle. If you drive past any boat or trailer place they could look and tell you immediately the capacity of your axles.

I am not convinced that most trailers are at capacity (I could be wrong) with fuel and gear but you have a lot of variety in trailer quality between manufacturers.

I leave my pop bags in place, as most are hidden away out of sight. Moving them around would defeat half the purpose of having them, convenience. I'm right at my trailer limit, and haven't had any issues as of yet. Have had them in there for four seasons.