Boatmate Trailer Modification Roller and Boat Buddy

[SupraTamu]

I know there have been many questions on this issue. I have an 2008 24 SSV Gravity Games Edition boat. I have three different boat ramps in my neighborhood and all are extremely different in steepness. I replaced the boat buddy with the roller which has helped. I still would like to lower the roller by 1.5" to help with loading the boat. Does anybody that has done this modification have any pictures that would show what they did?

[08 sacked supra]

where did you get your roller? my 22ssv has the boat buddy on it to and i recently tried to replace it with a clear roller and bought a generic one and the insinde piece of the roller way to small. it was not a tight fit.?

[Rusty Griswold]

Same here. Any one have any advice on this would be great. I also have a 24 and getting the thing on the trailer is a real hassel. I had a correct craft and that was real easy to get on.

[Diggs]

I hate to say it, but if you are not hitting your boat buddy or roller, your trailer is too deep... Don't be scared to drive on your bunks. Dip them in the water and get them good and wet and drive on your bunks. If your boat is on the bunks it will hit the boat buddy or roller every time....

[SupraTamu]

Steepness plays a definite role and on a steep ramp your trailer is pretty far out of the water and really have to goose it to get it on. It is tricky. The roller has helped alot but still am wanting to lower the roller about 1.5". I have talked with Jerry Jones at Boatmate and they have done this to alot of trailers it just helps and makes the loading easier. The part number for my trailer which I ordered through Boat mate is a Stoltz Roller part number 55-1202BR it was pretty cheap and only took about 5 minutes to replace. If you order through Boat Mate the form ask for the vin number of the trailer which they will make sure they send the right roller. You can go to boatmates website and pull it up and it will give you the price and I went ahead and ordered the starbrite tie downs for the trailer which are pretty sweet. You can shoot Jerry an e-mail at [email protected]. He is a great guy and responds very quick.

[Rusty Griswold]

Do you have any pic's by chance of what you have done?

[iwakeboard]

I had my bow-stop lowered 2" but I had it done at Boatmate! I think you'd have to cut it down and reweld it, if I'm not mistaken? More work than I'd personally want to take on. I think JonyB had his done at Boatmate too.

[KY Steve]

I did it myself but unfortunately did not take any pics during the process. I was trying to get it done quick while the boat was off the trailer and sitting unattended at the ramps dock.

First I removed the boatbuddy and with a grinder and cutting wheel cut 2" off the top of the two metal plates on top the bow stop along with the rear corners. Then ground the edges down with a grinding wheel and re-drilled the holes for the roller axial. Then painted and installed the roller, all in less than 10 min. I bought the roller at Bass Pro. A rough drawing is below along with finished product.

The other thing I had to do was lower my winch because the handle hit the bow of the boat, but that's going to depend on your winch and its factory installed location, just keep that in mind.

Jerry at Boatmate offered to do the mod at no charge but it was easier for me to do it myself rather than drive 4 hours each way to drop it off and another 4 each way to pick it up.

Another reason I did the mod was the two front bunks, and 1/2 of the middle bunks, were 2" from touching the boat. So, all the weight from the front half of the boat was resting on the boatbuddy which destroyed it along with messing up the gelcoat below the bow. If you do the mod yourself just be aware of all your measurements so everything will fit correctly. Others trailers could have different dimensions, this is just what worked for mine...my disclaimer.

Hope this helps, Steve

http://i840.photobucket.com/albums/zz327/toolsail/Launch24/BowStop.jpg
http://i840.photobucket.com/albums/zz327/toolsail/Launch24/DSC04303_small.jpg
http://i840.photobucket.com/albums/zz327/toolsail/Launch24/Bow_1.jpg
http://i840.photobucket.com/albums/zz327/toolsail/Launch24/Boat_Buddy.jpg

[iwakeboard]

It's amazing how much easier getting rid of the boatbuddy and lowering the bow stop made loading my boat. The bow eye will go right up to the roller and I just strap her in. Makes me less nervous, annoyed, and scared to load my boat, and certainly makes my wife feel 100% better not having to do anything :D

[Rusty Griswold]

Steve, what ramp to you go out of, I think you are on cumberland correct. Who does some of your work around the lake area. I got my boat from Denny's Marine

[jonyb]

I hate to say it, but if you are not hitting your boat buddy or roller, your trailer is too deep... Don't be scared to drive on your bunks. Dip them in the water and get them good and wet and drive on your bunks. If your boat is on the bunks it will hit the boat buddy or roller every time....
Hate to say it, but that's not totally true. I've tried all angles and all ramps. The bow-stop was so high, the boat was lifted off the front of the bunks to get all the way up on to it. That's not right. That also means that all of the weight of the middle to bow of the boat is resting on that BB. It was bad engineering, and Boatmate has stepped up offering repairs for free because they know it's not right either.


I had my bow-stop lowered 2" but I had it done at Boatmate! I think you'd have to cut it down and reweld it, if I'm not mistaken? More work than I'd personally want to take on. I think JonyB had his done at Boatmate too.
Exactly, me too! I pulled my boat 5 hours to Boatmate to have this done. I can load the boat now at any ramp with no problems. The BB did nothing but aggravate me from day one. Not saying that a roller would've fixed the problem totally, but with all the weight of the boat pulled back on the pin, I could never get the pin pulled out.

Rusty, that's where my boat came from too. You're best bet is to take it to Maryville and have Boatmate do it. Great people to deal with.

[blaze5012]

I guess theres not really any option for those of us who live down in Texas to get this fixed for free without driving 1000+ miles?
________
YL1 (http://www.cyclechaos.com/wiki/Yamaha_YL1)

[jonyb]

it's worth the drive. You should be able to find someone locally that can do it. The right person can look at the trailer and see what it needs. It won't be a boat dealer, it'll be more like some sort of fab shop.

[KY Steve]

Steve, what ramp to you go out of, I think you are on cumberland correct. Who does some of your work around the lake area. I got my boat from Denny's Marine

I launch out of Jamestown, we have a place above the marina. My boat came from Knoxville Watersports who is now out of business, they were great to work with. I talked to Denny's several times but they only had 22's in stock when I bought mine.

Knoxville is the only dealer I've taken mine too. Next time that it needs to go to an Indmar or Supra dealer I will probably look Denny's, the dealer in Cinci or the one in Indy.

[tre]

I also Have a 24SSV and removed the boat buddy. That thing never lined up properly and left marks all over the front of my boat (which I did get off). I tried all different depths. I purchased a black rubber roller and caps from Overtons and re-used the long Screw and hardware that held on the Boat Buddy. Now everything lines up perfectly and we can drive the boat right onto the trailer with ease. I got the 3" rubber roller: http://www.overtons.com/modperl/product/details.cgi?i=20607&pdesc=Bow_Roller&aID=603G&merchID=4006
I'm 98% sure I used these end caps:
http://www.overtons.com/modperl/product/details.cgi?i=74019&pdesc=End_Cap&r=view&from=grid

Total cost = $10 and the Rubber roller does lower the area where the boat sits a bit (can't remember how much but everything lines up as it should now)

[Rusty Griswold]

Jonyb, do you know who you talked with at boatmate, and are you saying they are close to the supra factory. Do you also do stereo's or am I thinking of someone else
thanks

[jonyb]

Jonyb, do you know who you talked with at boatmate, and are you saying they are close to the supra factory. Do you also do stereo's or am I thinking of someone else
thanks

You can talk with Jerry, or I've also heard that Owen is good to talk to as well. They are right next door to the Supra factory, both at the end of a dead end road.

[iwakeboard]

Jerry handled all of my work for lowering my bow stop and replacing it with a roller, as well as fixing a bunk that got destroyed during a rough-water load. Terrific guy to deal with.

[Rusty Griswold]

I did it myself but unfortunately did not take any pics during the process. I was trying to get it done quick while the boat was off the trailer and sitting unattended at the ramps dock.

First I removed the boatbuddy and with a grinder and cutting wheel cut 2" off the top of the two metal plates on top the bow stop along with the rear corners. Then ground the edges down with a grinding wheel and re-drilled the holes for the roller axial. Then painted and installed the roller, all in less than 10 min. I bought the roller at Bass Pro. A rough drawing is below along with finished product.

The other thing I had to do was lower my winch because the handle hit the bow of the boat, but that's going to depend on your winch and its factory installed location, just keep that in mind.

Jerry at Boatmate offered to do the mod at no charge but it was easier for me to do it myself rather than drive 4 hours each way to drop it off and another 4 each way to pick it up.

Another reason I did the mod was the two front bunks, and 1/2 of the middle bunks, were 2" from touching the boat. So, all the weight from the front half of the boat was resting on the boatbuddy which destroyed it along with messing up the gelcoat below the bow. If you do the mod yourself just be aware of all your measurements so everything will fit correctly. Others trailers could have different dimensions, this is just what worked for mine...my disclaimer.

Hope this helps, Steve

http://i840.photobucket.com/albums/zz327/toolsail/Launch24/BowStop.jpg
http://i840.photobucket.com/albums/zz327/toolsail/Launch24/DSC04303_small.jpg
http://i840.photobucket.com/albums/zz327/toolsail/Launch24/Bow_1.jpg
http://i840.photobucket.com/albums/zz327/toolsail/Launch24/Boat_Buddy.jpg

Hey Steve, just complete the following modification like yours and it works great. Much better. Thanks for the help on this one

[SupraTamu]

I ended up replacing the boat buddy with a roller and have not had an issue at all since then using different ramps. It is still a two man operation for loading the boat which is not that big of a deal. I back the trailer back in the water and get all the bunks wet, then pull the trailer forward to where half of the front bunks are in the water and half of the front bunks out of the water. Then the boat is driven on the trailer and I power it up a little and it stops about 8" to 10" from the roller. I then have someone back the trailer down further in the water while I winch it on the rest of the way. It took me a while to figure this out. When the boat hits the fron half of the bunks that are out of the water the nose rises up and like I said not an issue for me anymore. The roler has helped alot and does not leave any mrks on the boat.

[Richard-SSV]

I too used to have issues with the Boat Buddy on my 2004 SSV. I replaced it with a roller, but still continued to have issues so I went back to the Boat Buddy. I then figured out what the secret was to getting the boat trailered correctly with the boat buddy.

First off, you cannot have any weight in the bow. If you have ballast full up there you need to empty it first. If you have passengers up there they need to move to the back.

Secondly, the trailer bunks must be thoroughly wet. As mentioned previously, you first must dunk your trailer all the way in the water and then pull it out until about 25-30% of the bunks are out of the water.

Lastly, you need to drive your boat into the trailer with a bit of speed. If you do so the boat will slide all the way up over the boat buddy with no issues.

I live in the Dallas area and in the last 5 years my home lake has been 11 feet low and then 10 feet high. I used all different grades of ramps from steep to shallow. By using the 3 steps I've outlined above I have not had any issues in the last 5 years.

I do agree that modifying your trailer as you have done certainly will make things easier, but if you do not want to go to the trouble or expense the steps I use above will work.

[Aaron187]

I am glad I am not the only person that has difficulty trailering my boat. I was thinking of getting some spray on trailer bunks so that it will slide up easily. I actually work at a fab shop and saw the recomendation of lowering 2". Is that recomended? Why would they not have it made 2" lower in the first place? Guess what i am getting to if there is no side affects of lowering it I will do it.

[mikebu]

If you boat sits correctly on the trailer, touching the bunks, I wouldn't be chopping 2 inches off the front. The people who did it in this thread sounds like their trailers weren't correctly sized to their boats as their boats weren't touching the bunks.

The key to trailering is backing in the right amount. I tend to sink about 2/3 of my fenders in the water and drive the boat on. You want the bunks of the trailer to be touching the boat guiding it as you drive it on. I usually end up winching it the final couple of inches. Backing in the trailer a bit more makes it easy to get that last inch.