Boat Buddy- Worth the money?

bugup · Criminal Joined: 19 May 2005 Posts: 80 City: Vancouver

I am considering on getting a Boat Buddy for my trailer. Anyone use it and was it worth, pro and cons etc.

Laughing

Cyclonecj · Soul Rider Joined: 12 Jan 2003 Posts: 338 City: Atlanta

I have had one on each of my inboard tandem trailers, first a d drive then a v drive. They aren't built well enough to hold up to a 22' boat, they get torn up. If it's rough or someone else is driving, you can come in too hard and damage gelcoat around the bow eye.

My point being that you should winch it up anyway, so why bother? I'm gonna replace mine this winter with a roller.

jjaszkow · Posted: Nov 12, 2007 11:46 am Post subject:

These things scare me. I've seen them, and they look like they work well, but I'm concerned that they'd completely mess up the gelcoat.

Brit Rider · Posted: Nov 12, 2007 12:57 pm Post subject:

Hmmm yeah.. unless you are on a super steep slipway it's just as easy to drive your boat all the way onto the trailer then hook the winch strap on (then wind it up the last 6" to take up the slack).

I would never drive my boat onto a boat buddy and not walk tot he bow to check it had engaged properly anyway so it's barely anymore effort in my opinion.. all for ALOT more peace of mind.

jonyb · Addict Joined: 06 Oct 2007 Posts: 844 City: Paducah

There's a big discussion about this on Supra's webforum right now that I started. You should go there and read it.

My trailer has one, and I hate it. It seems that no matter how I load the boat, when the driver in teh truck starts to pull out, the boat pulls back against the pin on the BB. Then when it's time to unload, it's nearly impossible to release the pin. The only way to get it released is to have the trailer completely underwater, including the tongue and the bumper of the truck to get enough pressure off of it.

bugup · Criminal Joined: 19 May 2005 Posts: 80 City: Vancouver

Thanks for the info on the Boat Buddy. It seems pretty clear that they are not that great. Well I'll just have to figure out how to spend that $70 else where on my boat.

Wink

DRAGON88 · Posted: Nov 14, 2007 3:57 pm Post subject:

JRW160 · Soul Rider Joined: 03 Aug 2006 Posts: 367 City: Huntsville

My buddy has one and it was more trouble than it was worth. He ended up destroying it getting the boat on the trailer late in teh summer. I think it also scratched up his gelcoat pretty good

Commodore · Ladies Man Joined: 20 Jun 2005 Posts: 11636

Damaged my boat till I got rid of it. Since my Supra has a low nose, I would have to have the trailer almost half way out of the water to get the boat's nose up, and then wind it in anyways. Now I have a nice big roller.

Sinkoumn · Posted: Dec 22, 2007 6:05 pm Post subject:

I've never been impressed, and luckily I'm not alone on that one.

Boat buddy sucks...