Adv. & Disadv. for a long draw bar on trailer

From my experience the longer tow bar helps tracking & is much easier to reverse.
Obviously it may give you more storage/bolt-on space on the draw bar too.
The longer bar may flex if its not stiffened correctly.

A longer drawbar make backing way easier. You can see the trailer as you go around corners and jack-knifing is less of an issue as the body of the trailer is more likely to miss the vehicle body. Stability is not effected from my experience, however longer drawbars are on the tandems that I own rather than the box trailers.

Also the longer draw bar gives you better off road ability espescially when entering/exiting difficult terain etc - the longer the bar the better departure/entry angle etc.

Karl.

Wouldn't a longer draw bar reduce ramp over angle and increase the chance of getting hung up??

A longer bar is more comfortable over broken ground, the trailer can be on good ground while the car goes through, then the car is through when the trailer hits the obstruction.

I have never felt an issue with high speed stability regardless of draw bar length, the only instability I've felt was with badly built or badly loaded trailers.

Our canoe trailer at work has a long drawbar (obviously) and it rides really well, it has been all over Fraser Island, up into various lakes, but it does bottom out over large humps, so you can't place anything on the drawbar, ours is just open all the way to the "box". This trailer was designed for this job however and has pretty beefy stell in the draw bar, so that it won't flex.