Trailer Brake Actuator Slamming

[klewis]

I have an 08 with the Boatmate Trailer. From day one the brake actuator has slammed on take off when trailering the boat. I had a similar issue on my previous boat, bled the brakes and the problem was fixed. I have bled the brakes myself with no change. I had the dealer take a look, they bled the brakes, inspected it and couldnt find anything wrong. They also say they cant really replicate what I am experiencing. I know I'm not crazy, it is very obvious and other people that ride with me notice it too.

I am wondering if the dealer cant get it to happen since they arent taking it out for long drives. It seems to work fine the first few brakes out of the dealership, but once on the road for a bit it starts again. I'm not an expert on the inner workings of the actuator, but wonder if it "warms up" after more than 2-3 brakes and then starts slamming.

I'm just wondering if anyone with the same trailer has had this problem and if they were able to find a fix.

This coupled with the fact that Boatmate should have put another support under the boat closer to the bow to help guide the boat up into the Boat Buddy on steep ramps has started to leave me not so stoked on their trailers. The last steep ramp I was at I had to put the trailer deeper than I would have prefered just to get the boat on and ended up coming into the boat buddy too low hitting it head on, the rubber split exposing a nice piece of metal that put a lovely hole through the gelcoat all the way to the fiberglass. The boat buddy is handy, but very limiting on the angle of ramp it is successful on without heavily powering onto the trailer.

[Salty87]

have you seen the actuator compressed all of the way when you've stopped? does it compress when you go in reverse? should be obvious if the actuator is moving too much.

any chance the coupler/pin on your truck is sloppy?

[Blackntan90]

Mine does it also, the coupler returns to the extended position after taking off from a stop- I have a sweetwater trailer w/ attwood brakes. I have just learned to take my foot off the brake and let the coupler return to the E.P. before touching the throttle, it works for me!

[klewis]

Salty87-I havent been able to do a full compression stop and then get out and look at how far it is into the travel. I'll have to make a point of doing that in the neighborhood next time its out of the garage. That's a good idea, I'll check it when I go into reverse. If it has slop there then something must be wrong with the actuator. No it's not the hitch, I have checked that by having the service guy at the dealership watch it.

Blackntan90- Ya I've been doing little tricks like that to try and avoid it, but I've experienced enough other boat trailers to know this is not normal and points to poor quality. I know there will always be a little bit of noise, but this is way beyond that. It has so much slop in the travel that I swear it sounds like it's going to rip itself apart. Like I said my previous trailer was doing this and it was just air in the lines. I feel like at this point it has to be something faulty in the actuator from the factory. I guess I'll keep pushing on my dealer to try and figure it out.

[FoiltechLaunch21V]

Mine did the same thing I added more brake fluid and sprayed dry-lube on the actuator slider. Mine has NOT done this since.

[jonyb]

Mine was doing this until they bled the brakes AT Boatmate when they rebuilt my trailer. Maybe the guys at BM can offer a suggestion?