Trailer Buddy Help

[CornRickey]

I've had my SSV for over a month now and have been out 4 or 5 times. My trailer is a tandem boatmate trailer with a trailer mate auto patching mechanism. Everytime I have a problem with getting the bow high enough for it to latch. I have left it back from the latch and once off of the ramp used the winch to bring it up and the angle is off. It pulls the boat forwArd when it needs to pull it up a little for the eyelet to go into the mechanism. I even shimmer up the front edge of the cront bunk about 1/4 inch. It helped a little but didn't solve the issue. The trailer is in new condition and the bunks are solid.

I've messed with different depths of the trailer on the ramp and the shallower the better but I have to almost floor it to get it to latch and it kind of slashes into the pad instead of riding up onto it.

So what does everyone else do with these?

[Salty87]

i don't have one but lots of people have complained. i think many have taken them off.

seems a deeper trailer would work better but whatdoiknow? had a buddy with one, mastercraft, worked pretty well.

[tg0824SSVGG]

Many have complained, some have whined ... I still love mine, and have replaced the rubber part. It's all about the depth and proper angle.

Those that hate it will ALWAYS hate it, those that love it may learn to hate it, but there will always be a small part of them that thinks it is AWESOME!.

Keep practicing. I love that I never get out of the truck at the ramp ... click, and I am off to the top!

[CornRickey]

I want to love it. What's your technique?

[CornRickey]

i don't have one but lots of people have complained. i think many have taken them off.

seems a deeper trailer would work better but whatdoiknow? had a buddy with one, mastercraft, worked pretty well.

The other day the ramp was empty so I messed around a little. I sunk the trailer to get it to the level of the eyelet but it was obvious that that wasn't the way to do it. The whole trailer was under water with the tow vehicle at the watering.

[CornRickey]

I shimmed the front of the front bunks and feel any more would require to shimmed the rest. Anyone try this method?

[Salty87]

The other day the ramp was empty so I messed around a little. I sunk the trailer to get it to the level of the eyelet but it was obvious that that wasn't the way to do it. The whole trailer was under water with the tow vehicle at the watering.

how far do you normally back in?

sweet spot for my trailer/tow rig combo is the rear tires of the truck 3" or so past the waterline.

[jeffreyk573]

Corn,
I had about the same problem it sounds like your having. I have a 24SSV, and it was a nightmare trying to put this boat back on the trailer. What I did to pretty much eliminate the problem was buy a ball mount with more of a drop. Completely changed the angle of how the boat comes up on the trailer. I had tried trailer deeper in the water(almost lost both truck and boat), that didn't work. Trailer not deep at all, boat way too heavy to just winch. I had been trying to use a 2"drop on my 3/4 ton Dodge. It was just too high. Very simple fix. I have to say that my boat buddy doesn't work at all, and I probably wont fix it. Hope this helps.

[CornRickey]

Good idea!. I'm not using a drop from my 95 F250. The boat trailer is level when it tow. I'll switch to my drop hitch. That makes sense. I never have gone by how far my tow vehicle was to the water due to differences in ramp and angles. I have always gone by how far my trailer fenders were in the water. I'll give it a try...

[tg0824SSVGG]

I back in the get the bunks wet - then I pull forward until the top of the fenders are about 2" underwater. This is the part where it varies depending
on the steepness of the ramp - most people tend to go in too deep. It's a "concert" between truck driver and boat driver - both need to learn to recognize
when it's lined up correctly and have signals if not.

When it works, it's a beautiful thing - back down, boat on - drive away to go secure the rest of the attach points -- people staring, I love it .