Speaking to liability and to the point made by 62Blazer, last year I offered to tow the trailer in the event a driver from the school didn't show up and we were in a pinch. The band director, understandably, said no because of liability concerns (POV tow vehicle and school owned trailer). This time around, the conversation somehow came up between him and the school's principal and the principal apparently agreed which is why the band director reached out to me. Working with the director last year, I know he would not have asked if he didn't have some type of blessing from a higher up official. Last year, he wouldn't even give me a copy of the key to the trailer....I had to wait until the buses showed up and he walked over to unlock the trailer. I technically was the "volunteer" equipment manager/builder/assembler/and so on
. I think the two of us are of same mentality with respect to liability concerns.
I have already asked the director to ask the principal the liability questions but with 62Blazer's suggestion, I will ask to talk to the principal myself so nothing gets lost in the translation between me, the director and the principal.
Going back to the physics of trailering, I'm well versed in the weight limits of my truck and that is why I made the post because I felt the 10-15% rule definitely applied in this case. With that rule and knowing (worst case) I could be dealing with 900-1000# tongue weight, I knew I could not have any additional payload/passengers in my truck. I guess I've been a little spoiled with only trailering boats. I've towed the 6x12 UHaul trailers but those things have a GVW under 5000#.
Other than liability, the panic stop was my other big concern because you just never know how your rig will behave. Unfortunately, the other week, I had to do panic stop from around 50MPH with the boat in tow and man those trailer brakes did their job! I've had 2 boats in the last 6 years and I swear I think I spent more money on the trailers than the boat itself. The first trailer was tandem but only brakes on one axle. I took care of that only to find out that NJ law required brakes on every axle anyways.
The one funny thing out of all this, the band trailer has electric brakes so this gives me the excuse to buy a controller. I want to go electro/hydraulic on the boat so I'd have to buy a controller anyway.
I really appreciate everyone's input and now I just need to hash a few things out and decide yes or no.