trailering

[bpskis]

I have to put the boat in and out when I want to use it and have come into two problems. 1. The trailer wont back up unless the trailer "key" is in the neck of it. It's a pain to keep having ot get out and put it in every time I want to back up. I've heard there is a trick with the lights to prevent this, anyone know it? 2. The ramp is too steep, so the boat buddy won't line up with the boat. Lately I have had to have two people lift the bow and I winch real fast to secure it. I have tried putting it shallower and driving it up, but to align it correctly the boat won't power all the way up. I am thinking about putting it in really deep, but am afraid of goign off the ramp with the trailer. Any ideas??

Thanks,
blake

[mygreenmonster.com]

I just began the experience of boat buddy this year with my new boat. My last boat was a 98 Mobius direct drive without boat buddy and I had to launch and load at an extremely steep ramp.

What I did was have my wife drive the trailer in far enough so my bow will just clear the front trailer roller. I would slowly drive the boat bow over the roller and my wife would clip the eye and winch it in while I applied throttle to help reduce the load off of her. Then I would have to go to the back of the boat and hold the post to keep the rear of the boat over the center of the trailer while my wife drove the truck out. Because of the deep ramp, the rear of the boat floated even after it was all the way up on the trailer.

Now I don't go to that lake anymore, the lake I do go to has a nice ramp, and I now have boat buddy. On the ramp I go to, I had to test out where the trailer should sit in the water before driving the boat up for boat buddy to catch. I figured out that if the front of the trailer wheel wells are barely sticking out of the water, I can drive my boat straight onto the trailer and boat buddy catches it. I am amazed how simple it is and how well it works.

I have not encountered a really steep ramp with my new boat and boat buddy yet. All I can say is that for each lake you go to, you have to learn how far back the trailer needs to go into the water for optimal loading performance by trial and error. Hopefully more trial than error.

Good luck,
Bryon

[jflock2]

The trick with the trailer lights is to "flip" the light connector to your vehicle and then turn on your parking lights. This disengages the trailer brakes which will enable you to back the trailer. PM me if you need more details.

- Jim

[bpskis]

Thanks for the replies. I'll give the suggestions a shot this wednesday and let you know how it went.
blake