Trailer Issues

[patrick232]

Has any one had an issue with their roller and winch? Some of the ramps we use you can't get the boat tight to the roller so in the past we just tap the brakes to get it to slide forward the 2 or 3 inches then retighten the winch and tie downs. This was worked great for me for the past 10 plus years of boating until yesterday.

The boat pushed the roller to the left, tore the winch and damaged my gel coat. It moved a total of about a foot until the safety chain and tie downs stopped it.

I have never been a fan of the thin metal bracket holding the roller, out of the 4 boats currently in my building they all have the rollers mounted to 1/4" steel that is bolted or welded to the upright.

I have sent pictures to Boatmate, not sure what they will do since I'm not the orginal owner. So any ideas or just head to a machine shop.



What would have happen if this would have been a panic stop in the freeway?

[Razzman]

Well i hate to say this but that's your bad on that one, not any fault of the trailer. Tapping the brakes and forcing a 3,000 lb plus boat to slide forward takes a lot of force and no trailer is designed to be loaded that way. The design works just fine as long as you load properly. As for repair i'd take it to a trailer repair not a machine shop.

[patrick232]

Well i hate to say this but that's your bad on that one, not any fault of the trailer. Tapping the brakes and forcing a 3,000 lb plus boat to slide forward takes a lot of force and no trailer is designed to be loaded that way. The design works just fine as long as you load properly. As for repair i'd take it to a trailer repair not a machine shop.

Razz, so you are saying that tapping the brakes is a bad idea, so what happens in a panic stop and you slam on the brakes? Kiss the boat good by? When we tap the brakes it's from less that 5 mph - walking speed.

Why to a trailer repair shop will they have a differnet idea? This is my idea have 2 plates made from 1/4" steel and bolt to either side of the upright and remove what is currently there holding the roller.

[Razzman]

Hitting the brakes to slide the boat forward when the boat is not against the stop is definately a bad idea. It's pure physics, think about it, the boats weight weight is increased by inertia and it moves forward until it contacts the roller with more force than the design was intended. When you hit the brakes at any speed and the boat is properly secured as intended there's no issue as the design is holding the boat and the boats weight is not increased.

I have had to panic stop mine a few times due to idiots on the roads and it holds just fine. Boatmate has been making this design for many years now along with other boat mfgrs.

[you da man]

I just don't understand how a ramp does not allow you to snug the bow up to the roller. If the ramp is very shallow in angle you just need to back it down further. I don't think Boatmate would warranty this anyways even if was under warranty because you didn't load the boat in a "normal" manner. I've never heard of anyone needing to do this.

[maxpower220]

The trailer is designed to have the boat positioned against that roller. You must adjust the trailer depth (it may take a few repostions) to get the boat resting there. Then cinch down the strap. Tapping the brakes to move your boat on a trailer is a very bad idea. I recommend the Boat Buddy. It is a spring loaded locking pin that automatically locks your boat in when you get the boat fully on the trailer.

Once the boat is on your trailer properly, there will be no movement of the boat on the trailer if you have to emergency stop. Believe me, a boat that is properly on the trailer with a strap up front and 2 on the transom will not move when you have a problem. The axle on my trailer snapped on the interstate at 70mph and it survived fine.

I would find a trailer repair shop and have the damage fix. There is no need to re-design that bracket.

[patrick232]

I might not have not written it properly the boat was in contact with the roller the eye hook was a couple of inches from the roller.
FYI I'm not the only one with this issue there have been others at from my dealer and on the supra forum.

[you da man]

I might not have not written it properly the boat was in contact with the roller the eye hook was a couple of inches from the roller.
FYI I'm not the only one with this issue there have been others at from my dealer and on the supra forum.

Two solutions to that problem of snugging the hook to the roller. Either back the trailer down a little more to make it easier to crank it snug or once youre in line and have contacted the roller, slowly throttle up. My skinny a$$ can crank my XLV snug with a few people in the boat still

[Razzman]

The eye hook a couple inches from the roller has the same effect, the boat will move forward on momentum increasing the weight.

[Razzman]

Also multiple times of doing so may have weakened the supports as well.