Loading V Drive On Trailer

I took my Supra 22V out for the first time. When pulling on the trailer, I found that I needed to drive the boat all the way up to the winch. Is this something that is unique with inboards. With my I/O, you could drive it on most of the way and crank it on with the wink easily the rest.

The Supra has a boat buddy at the winch so does this matter?

depending on the angle the ramp is at i usually put the trailor in till the fender is barely under the water, then drive the boat all the way up, then lock it in the the boat buddy or the regular clip.

I usually get right up to the stop/roller. I tend to sink my trailer fairly deep though.

what we do is have 2 people to load. one outside and i usually drive. my dad stands outside the boat at the winch and when i get close he hooks it on and then i add power to help it along.

crazy... set the boat buddy... drive on... till you hear click... jump off boat... jump in truck... and get the he*(*^*&^ out of the way....

I put the trailer in like Jason. It may depend on the boat and the angle of the ramp. Then I pull on till I am up all the way and leave the boat in drive till I can walk up to the bow and hook the clip myself and crank it tight.

I think the point of the Boat Buddy is to be able to drive on the trailer till it clicks, then drive out of the lake. Really works great with two drivers on a busy ramp.

One thing.... be careful about driving the boat & trailer around with the Boat Buddy locked. As per the instructions from Kodiak, after you pull the boat out, unlock the Buddy & engage your winch, safety chain & transom straps. If you don't & the boat & trailer hits a bump at speed, and the boat shifts at all, you run the risk of bending the pin in your Boat Buddy & then it's garbage. I had this problem on a Mastercraft a few years ago. $50 later, replaced the Buddy & never had a problem with it.

I never hook the strap up to the bow eye when I pull the boat out but that's just me. Couple of reasons why: First off, on a crowded ramp one
person can back the trailer in, the other drives the boat up to the bow stop, then pull out...it's quick. Second, (I own a Nautique dealership so a lot of our boat have turnbuckle hooks in the front) ,this is a problem because once the bow lifts up when the boat comes out of the water, it will be pulling against the turnbuckle and you'll never be able to get it off.

Just to let you know, the way an inboard ski boat trailer is made (carpeted bunks, the overall shape of the bunks/trailer), it is very very hard, almost impossible for a boat to slide off backwards.

On the contrary, those of you that have nautiques with only a turnbuckle hook at the front of the trailer should always use a heavy duty tie down strap, instead of the turnbuckle, hold the boat on when retrieving from a long and/or steep ramp

Also, since Nautique trailers (ram-lin,eagle,etc...)have bow stops, I always do a "hard" stop after I pull the boat out to snug it up to the front of the trailer. (makes it trailer better) sorry for the long post, just wanted to let you know how i do it

Sounds like it is time to start using new trailers with those Nautiques. They make such a nice boat it is a shame they skimp and use DHM trailers. That is assuming you use DHM trailers like the dealership in Seattle.

(Message edited by polarbill on April 24, 2008)

No, I order all of our boat with Ram-Lin trailers, unless the customer says otherwise, and they are fantastic trailers. They load/unload very easily, and trailer great as well. And the fact that I don't have to hook the bow eye upon retrieval saves tons of times