What's up with my Trailer???

Well I picked up the boat today and brought it home (Moomba XLV - GG) and I try to reverse....the wheels lock up. For some reason the emergency breaks on the trailer is locking up. So I try again and again, I'm about to ram the front of the trailer through my truck. I'm pretty pissed. This by the way was at the gas station about to fill up. Well I fill up and drive it to the marina to try again. Sure enough it happens still. Then I try backing up really slowly and it works and I can back up and put it in the water.

Take the boat out and try to back up in my drive way - LOCKS UP AGAIN! So I went ahead let all the brake fluid out of the braks and then it works. WHAT THE HECK IS WRONG WITH MY TRAILER?? Am I missing something here?

Plug your lights in..........or stick a nickle in the slide

You might of had a bad connection with your trailer light plug. I think most of the newer trailers have a reverse lock out on the plug.

My Burban has a four plug trailer connector and my boat trailer (Zeiman) has a five plug, the fifth is for the brakes in reverse. If your plugs match up then I guess you can stop reading. My trailer has a oval cut out just behind the receiver on the trailer which takes a special key to prevent the brake master cylinder from actuating when you put it in reverse and back up. Check and see if you have one. A socket and duct tape work well also. Just my 2 cents. When I bought my boat they handed me the key and said you might need this to back up, have a nice day.
Board More/Work Less
J$

You can also disconnect the 4 -plug and put the 5th post in the running lights socket. Until you get a 5 plug conversion for your trailer, you can put the 5th post in the running lights socket, turn on your lights and your trailer brakes will disengage.

First off, those are your surge brakes and your trailer is working just fine. When you slow down, the trailer hitch will slide forward (towards your car) and activate the brakes. When in reverse, you will also force the hitch forward and activate the brakes. Refer to the posts above for the resolution. The best thing you can do is convert the wirind in your car to a five pin (the fifth pin will be your reverse lights) and this will overide the breaks when in reverse.

Before you back up, connect Blue to Brown, then turn on your lights on, this shoudl release the trailer brakes.

You have surge brakes, it has nothing to do with electrical hook-ups. Surge brakes work by when cruising down the road and you touch the brakes on your truck, the trailer reacts to the motion of being pushed forward by applying the trailer brakes. So now when your backing up uphill, the same motion triggers your boat trailer and the brakes kick in. Look at your hitch closely and you'll have a surge break release, probably a quarter-circle switch on the side. When on flat ground, right before you back uphill, get out of your truck and push the switch, then continue to back up. Remember this is only when backing up uphill, backing up on flat ground and downhill don't cause that forward motion on the trailer so it's not a problem. This should have all been explained to you by your dealer. Also see owners manual. Sorry about having to drain your brakes.

If you have a newer trailer, then it will use a flat 5 (the extra wire is blue, and should have 12vdc + on it when your back-up lights are on.)

If you have had the 5-wire plug installed on your truck, you will need to check this to ground.
(Note: most ford trucks are prewired for this, but the relay is missing out of the fuse box. If you have a ford you will need to get this relay in order to get power on the blue wire)

The dealer should have gone over everything before you left the shop.
He also should have taken you to lake, and should you how to work everything on the boat.
Also the trailer should have came with an L shape piece of metal that can be placed in the slide to prevent the trailer brakes from engaging ( this is to be used incases like this )

When you put the brake fluid back in, make sure to get all the air out (not as easy as it sound, there is no booster to help)
If its new, try to get the dealer to do this for you, as it there fault this happened in the first place (lack of customer service)
Good luck
David

"it has nothing to do with electrical hook-ups"
Not necessarily.

Some trailers have the manual switch. Some have an electronic version.

MY SBT trailer also had surge brakes, but had an electronic disengagement for the brakes that was activated when the reverse lights clicked on.

Those are your brakes doing what they are supposed to do. Just figure out out the switch works. So are automatic, some are not.

" The dealer should have gone over everything before you left the shop.
He also should have taken you to lake, and should you how to work everything on the boat.
Also the trailer should have came with an L shape piece of metal that can be placed in the slide to prevent the trailer brakes from engaging ( this is to be used incases like this ) "

All of which were done. We also do a thorough orientation in the parking lot before the customer leaves with the boat, to ensure that he or she is comfortable with the boat.

The brake lockout key is in the Boatmate Packet that is found in the black bag that holds all of the owners manuals.

Also, before the boat left, we checked the trailer lights and found that the truck was having electrical problems in the pig tail. But, just to be sure, we unplugged the trailer connection from the truck and checked it again with another source. The trailer was functioning properly.

Just take your vehicle to a local "U-Haul" place, or anyone else that does trailer hitches, and they can check your connections on your truck. Remember, we lake test the boat here 2-3 times before we deliver the boat. The trailer is checked each time we take the boat to the lake..We won't be able to manuever the boat/trailer around if it is not working properly.

We will be happy to look at it again for you if you would like, but we did warn you about the wiring in your vehicle. Just insert the brake lock out key into the slot on the trailer, and you can back up the boat just fine.

McFly
Waterski Boats Dallas

Hehehe, sounds like operator issues

two sides to each story.

Good post Marty….Yes two sides to the story.

Drew.
“Let all of the brake fluid out of your brakes.... ARE YOU KIDDING ME????

Try adding your dealers phone number to your cell and calling them if you have a problem.

I will second the recommendation to get your tow vehicle checked… you may also want to get some extra fuses for your vehicle in case you blow fuses in the future.

Enjoy your new XLV.

I have a Moomba Outback with the same issues.
"or stick a nickle in the slide"
I agree with putting a nickel, or anything else in the slide that will not allow the surge brakes to engage while backing up. And if you still have the bracket that comes with your Owners Manual, Tie-wrap it to your trailer. So you won't lose it like I did!

sounds to me you are hooking up a 5 pin to a 4pin. when backing, get out of the vehicle and flip the 5 pin harness around and you will then be able to release the brakes....
let out all the brake fluid out huh.... OMG

Hey Drew...

Seems like letting all the brake fluid out of the trailer worked like a dandy!

If you ever have problems with your boat... like starting problems... or stalling problems...

Here is a tip. Start by letting out all of the engine oil and then try and turn it over... If it starts... then run it really hard.. and should solve your problem.

As for your trailer... you can also rewire the plug... take the blue wire and connect it to the white wire... or was it take the brown wire and connect it to the blue wire... hmmm... maybe take the green wire and connect it to the orange wire... yeah.. that is it... hmm... maybe not... I can't remember...

But in all seriousnous!!! Listen up!!!

THE REASON YOU BUY A BOAT FROM A DEALER... IS TO HAVE YOUR PROBLEMS ADDRESSED BY THEM!!! THEY WILL USUALLY HAVE A QUICK AND "RELIABLE" ANSWWER FOR YOU!!!

THAT IS WHY THEY ARE THERE!!!

If you buy a used boat from someones backyard... and you run into problems.. then come on to a forum like this and see if you can get some helpful tips...

And you won't look like a $$ammud.

Good luck!

I cut and pasted this from the BoatMate Trailers website.

Every BoatMate trailer is equipped with UFP (Unique Functional Products) running gear and braking components. UFP is the best in our business at providing state of the art components. This includes their patented in-line surge brake actuator, the Trailer Buddy bearing assemblies and disc brake axles designed specifically for use on trailers. We wonder why so many trailer manufacturers continue to use outdated drum brake components.

I am glad Drew's dealer came on and straightened this out. The discussions concerning 4-wire versus 5-wire were right on. One thing my dealer checked on when we first picked up our boat last year was whether the tow vehicle had daytime running lights. According to him, if the vehicle has daytime running lights, sometimes the brake override won't work. He did show me the lockout key and how to use it. So, is there any truth to the daytime running lights issue??

I don't think that daytime running lights would have any affect on the brake override. If it did a whole bunch of Canadians would be having problems with this as we've had daytime running lights since around 1990.