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BOATMATE #%$@^&#%# Trailers


jetpilotg4
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So........ I am on my 3rd Nautique in 10 years, 2004 had a Ramlin trailer Loved it 2012 Boatmate Hated it , 2019 Boatmate hate it even worse! when I got my 2012 200 I was told it was more or less a float on/ float off trailer Meh okay, made the best of it and ended up with a few good work arounds and had the boat without too many issues.... Got a 19 Nautique in August and been fighting with the trailer since day one. Example Sink trailer to top of fenders drive on and off and the torque scrubs the nose chine to a point where the gelcoat wears off. Float off/on, the deeper you put the trailer on, the more force it puts on the bow of the boat or the bow rides up above the bow bumpers on the trailer. So far through my local dealer has added a bow roller, and replaced the worn out RH bunk. They (local dealer) at my cost, recently replaced the carpet with the low friction rubber covering ( yet to be tried ). So Im asking the guy that works at (local Dealer) what next, and he said Boatmate said find another ramp to Launch on .... Really?? WTF !!!! I wonder if those big wake surfing boats have similar issues launching? I know where I ski theres a few new Nautiques and I have done what everyone else is doing but why on the world can't they get a frggin trailer to work with the Boats they sell us? any other viable workarounds to make this work? Usually Launch the boat solo
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Welcome to the club. Unfortunately most people with Nautiques that have Boatmate trailers have similar issues. I just installed a roller for my 2018 200 to stop the bunks from wearing off the gelcoat. Have not tested it out yet so hopefully it works.

I have the advantage of dumping my whole trailer in the water at my ramp, but others can't do that. I have heard nothing but nightmares with these trailers.

I believe Nautique has cut ties in 2020 with Boatmate and I see Phoenix trailers being sold with the new boats.

I wish someone would just adopt the Ramlin design and be done with it.

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Australian made easytow trailers are excellent. They are much heavier duty. You’d never see a Nautique on a single axle easytow. Every American trailer imported to Australia that I’ve ever seen has been crap in comparison. The Aussie dollar is low at the moment probably a great opportunity for somebody. They make great trailers here for your boats.....
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WD40 or tire shine on the carpet from the axel forward. Caution !!!!!!!!! Do not unhook bow strap until the boat is in the water. I think if I was you I would have selected the Bunk Boards option. Composite plastic boards ( something like Trex Decking ) no need for carpet. I have had 4 19 Ski Nautiques. 3 had Boatmate and the trailer I have now is a Phoenix. So far so good, carpet still looks new. FYI, the Phoenix is 2 inches lower then the Boatmate. Looks better and seems to load better. All trailer have been tandems. I do have a work around for the Boatmate inner bow bunks!
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The hull of these boats make getting a trailer to fit difficult. My dealer is installing a roller near the bow of the trailer on all the new ones now and indicated this is helping a bunch, although I am not sure if he is using boatman trailers.
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What is a reasonable expectation for how a static frame trailer is supposed to load in all situations? Every trailer I've had on 5 ski boats has sucked in some way for loading depending on the ramp. On 3 generations of SNs, NWZ->TSC1->200. Oh and that 83 MC, that MC trailer was a real PITA at times. Multiple trailer manufacturers and configurations.

 

By this definition (loading perfectly on all ramps and never rubbing on the boat hull) the 2016 RamLin for my 200 "sucks". I made extended guide poles that I slide on and off for deeper ramps so I can float it on. Still doesn't go on right because the angles with the water and the ramp make it physically impossible, of course. It is not physically possible for the trailer to be 45 degrees angled down under water, then have the boat perfectly set on it at 0 degrees on land. When it unloads the weird reverse chines on the front hit the bunks, reverse on load. And whatnot.

 

Loading depends so much on the angle of the ramp and the depth of that vs. the position of the car at the top of that ramp combined with hitch height/suspension which affects relative hitch height, etc.

 

I'd imagine the primary mission of the trailer is to be a roadworthy chassis to make a boat move around on land behind a car. That is what the trailer is ideally supposed to do.

 

It's a metal frame with wood and carpet on it with some wheels, any way you cut it, no matter what. What reasonably is this frame with wood and carpet on it supposed to magically do at the ramp particularly with today's hulls? How is it also supposed to "not rub" on the bottom of a boat?

 

Additionally I'd bet the majority of tourney ski boat owners don't use their trailer more than a couple times per year, if at all.

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Which Boatmate do you have (because there’s really two Boatmates). Have you gone to Ramlin for help? Since you’re in FL I suggest calling Tito at Ramlin, you’ll have to leave a voicemail as they are very busy but he will get back to you, tell him of your concerns. They are GREAT people there at Ramlin and they’re topnotch.

 

Some have the impression that Ramlin is out of the trailer business. Not at all so, they just “didn’t agree on terms” with Nautique/CC corporate and /or the dealers. So Boatmate is the “dealer choice” for Nautique now which IMO is a lesser product to say the least. I’m a Ramlin customer for life. I’m not saying they make the best trailer, but I haven’t found a better one yet. Inevitably all my trailers that weren’t Ramlins, I ended up taking to Ramlin and had them correct my issues. Last week I was at Ramlin and I saw 3 truckloads of brand new Nautique trailers there. I look closely and saw they weren’t Ramlins and were of another manufacturer that rhymes with Floatbait. I ask what’s up with this? The man I know pretty well there says some Nautique dealers send trailers from “the other” manufacturer (brand new) to Ramlin for Ramlin to cut on them and reweld to make the other trailers work appropriately. I get it, in my line of work I’m always to expensive upfront but in the end I’m not too expensive to fix the other guy’s problems.

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Tongue height on the vehicle can totally change the loading and unloading aspect of your trailer. Try small increments. But then weight in your tow vehicle changes your tonque height. But then weight in the boat (ie fuel level )changes and thus it affects loading and offloading again in another way. I dont think it is necessarily the trailer manufacuters fault. Certain hull designs and certain ramp angles are more likely to make it difficult to get a boat on and off of trailer.
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Kindof surprised to see all these issues with Boatmate trailers with the Nautiques. I've heard very few complaints about them over the years when they were a primary supplier for Malibu and others.

 

Maybe it's the hull, not the trailer so much?

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@UWSkier My ski partner has a Boatmate with his TXI and he has no problem. The hull on the Nautique is a different animal and was never addressed correctly from the start with Boatmate. I know they admitted that the hull presented them with an issue, but there was alot of denial first and then nothing done about it.
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@brucetheshark MasterCraft manufactures their own trailers (you would have to go through a MasterCraft dealer to purchase one). Boatmate also makes ProStar trailers.

 

I believe that neither MasterCraft nor Boatmate are currently building trailers.

.

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@hammerski I received the same fix from Boatmate except for the bunk change. My boat is a 18 200 so it is bunked differently. The one thing I had to do was take the fix to a local welder and cut the ends off and weld it directly. The clearance for the tracking fins were not enough and it chipped the front fin. After welding it no problem. This was done at the end of the season so I’m anxious to see if this will be the long term fix for sure.
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