My Boatmate Trailer....Concerns About My Bunks

[Afun]

Look, I am going to do it, but its not that low to cause this damage to the bunks. Like has been said, you are not loading the boat properly. Back it in farther.

Murphy, I am not an expert. No one starts out an expert, but please be more open to criticism and advice.

I learned most of everything from this site, you tube, and some friends. I do not know if this is good or bad. I always bury the freakin bunks all the way into the water. You have already explained how far you back it and it isn't enough. The damage to your trailer is proof.

I come in slow, and I line up the best I can. Sometimes perfect and sometimes a little off. The trailer is one month old. Dude...how much more do I need to bury this thing to keep things safe. Each ramp is different, but there has been lots of great advice already given on this subject in this very thread.

I also have the same wear and tear in the front of the bunks. Please provide pics that show the same carpet wear on the front of the bunks. Sorry, but your damage is from power loading on a trailer not deep enough or at least eerily similar.

I am not a complete idiot. When I bought the trailer it also would not reverse. So, it has not been perfect. Boat brakes are not complicated systems. There are a few common issues that can cause this problem and they are by design. What was your solution?

Thanks for the compliments on the boat. Your boat does look great! Congrats.

I got the same carpet wear in the front of the bunks. You need a pic because you don't believe me. Trust me...I have wear in the front too. My solution for backing up the trailer was a warranty claim to get a new solenoid. It was done by my dealer. Bleeding the brakes were a pain in the rear. My dealer took care of it. Lost a Saturday and tank of gas only.

Thanks for the compliments on the boat.

Edited August 19, 2013 by Afun

[Afun]

The FJ's towing capacity is 4700 according to their site..... The VLX on the trailer, full fuel and gear is going to be over that.... It's not just about towing capacity though, the short wheel base makes it dangerous too.... Crazy to tow a boat like a VLX with that little "truck".... It's an accident waiting to happen.

Thanks for your concern. The "little truck" will pull about 5,000. Boat is about 3600 lbs and trailer 1200 Ibs. Tows like a champ. Stops on a dime. I usually tow with very little fuel. I also have very little gear. I am close to my limit, so I do take precautions. I am also usually the only one in the tow vehicle when towing. Wife follows me in another car. It's a company car with free gas. I also wonder why all the two inch hitch balls have a limit of 6000 lbs. If you say it's 6000 lbs the ball itself will put you at the limit. Am I wrong? I also like 4 x 4 on the little truck. Pulls me out of the steepest ramps. Never chirped a wheel. The double axle trailer does indeed make the short wheel base of the car non-existent.

I tell you its all SHANNINGANS!!!

By the way...the surge brakes on Boatmate are pretty awesome and feel great

Edited August 19, 2013 by Afun

[JustinOSU]

Apparently you shouldn't ever start a topic with "not impressed". Everybody gets offended like you called their kid ugly.

The wear does appear excessive and if you say your not power loading and your backed in deep enough then I believe you. By all means take it to boatmate and see what they say. And. +1 on the 04 boatmate trailer being well made.

[Afun]

Apparently you shouldn't ever start a topic with "not impressed". Everybody gets offended like you called their kid ugly.

The wear does appear excessive and if you say your not power loading and your backed in deep enough then I believe you. By all means take it to boatmate and see what they say. And. +1 on the 04 boatmate trailer being well made.[/quote

I switch back to that trailer in a heartbeat. The salesman told me "they don't make them like that anymore"... I had no idea what he was talking about

[jwl019]

Thanks for your concern. The "little truck" will pull about 5,000. Boat is about 3600 lbs and trailer 1200 Ibs. Tows like a champ. Stops on a dime. I usually tow with very little fuel. I also have very little gear. I am close to my limit, so I do take precautions. I am also usually the only one in the tow vehicle when towing. Wife follows me in another car. It's a company car with free gas. I also wonder why all the two inch hitch balls have a limit of 6000 lbs. If you say it's 6000 lbs the ball itself will put you at the limit. Am I wrong? I also like 4 x 4 on the little truck. Pulls me out of the steepest ramps. Never chirped a wheel. The double axle trailer does indeed make the short wheel base of the car non-existent.

I tell you its all SHANNINGANS!!!

By the way...the surge brakes on Boatmate are pretty awesome and feel great

They make several 2" weight limits. It all depends on what shank diameter your hitch can fit and how much you want to pay, also the hitch you use can have different ratings as well. I think mine is rated for 7,500# and the hitch is 10,000#, but I will definitely be checking mine to make sure and if not I will be replacing it. I may even get a ball rated for 10,000# just so that I do not have to worry about it, now that you brought it up and made me think about that.

http://www.etrailer.com/dept-pg-Balls-sf-Hitch_Ball-pc-2_Inch_Diameter_Ball.aspx

[Afun]

They make several 2" weight limits. It all depends on what shank diameter your hitch can fit and how much you want to pay, also the hitch you use can have different ratings as well. I think mine is rated for 7,500# and the hitch is 10,000#, but I will definitely be checking mine to make sure and if not I will be replacing it. I may even get a ball rated for 10,000# just so that I do not have to worry about it, now that you brought it up and made me think about that.

http://www.etrailer.com/dept-pg-Balls-sf-Hitch_Ball-pc-2_Inch_Diameter_Ball.aspx

I just checked 6000lbs ball and hitch that came with FJ. Thanks for clarification Edited August 19, 2013 by Afun

[Pnwrider]

I was always told you never want to tow above 80% of max towing capacity (in your case that would be 4k lbs). You might be fine if you rarely see freeway speeds and never tow over hills or mountain passes, but I wouldn't be pulling a boat that heavy with that small of a vehicle. I also usually have my family in the car when towing the boat and would much rather error on the side of caution.

[MLA]

Afun,

You need to hook up the trailer and measure from the trailer to the ground as these 2 spots. They need to be as equal as possible. if not, you need to adjust the ball height up or down accordingly. Once level this will likely cure the issue with the jack.

Your bunk carpet looks like power loading. Not passing judgement in any way, as we typically need to do it depending on the ramp, just saying its not a defect in the trailer or poor craftsmanship. But, its also possible that your dealer put your boat on a trailer made for a different hull. With the boat on the trailer, do the full width of the bunks contact the hull or just the edge of the bunks where the most wear is?

The fitment issue with the trailer plug could easily be the truck side of the plug, not the trailer side.

[Afun]

Afun,

You need to hook up the trailer and measure from the trailer to the ground as these 2 spots. They need to be as equal as possible. if not, you need to adjust the ball height up or down accordingly. Once level this will likely cure the issue with the jack.

Your bunk carpet looks like power loading. Not passing judgement in any way, as we typically need to do it depending on the ramp, just saying its not a defect in the trailer or poor craftsmanship. But, its also possible that your dealer put your boat on a trailer made for a different hull. With the boat on the trailer, do the full width of the bunks contact the hull or just the edge of the bunks where the most wear is?

The fitment issue with the trailer plug could easily be the truck side of the plug, not the trailer side.

I bent in the contacts on the boatmate trailer plug...solved my issues. I moved my parking spot on the driveway. Fixed the the jack hitting the floor. I don't see an issue with the hitch, but I put the receiver upside down and the ball on top. Now I have bit of a rise.

[Brett B]

Thanks for your concern. The "little truck" will pull about 5,000. Boat is about 3600 lbs and trailer 1200 Ibs. Tows like a champ. Stops on a dime. I usually tow with very little fuel. I also have very little gear. I am close to my limit, so I do take precautions.

As several others have also mentioned, you are not "near" the limit of your FJ, you are well over the legal rated towing limit by ~500-1000lbs. If you get into an accident while towing (regardless of fault) you have needlessly opened yourself up to possible liability.

I have weighed my VLX on certified CAT scales and it is at 6000lbs on the trailer when lake ready. Plenty of others here have done the same with very similar results. You cannot just use the manufacturers numbers like that, they aren't even close to what your boat actually weighs. “Dry weight” according to Malibu does not include “options” such as batteries, board racks, stereo, wedge, bow ballast, surf gate, etc. It's not just fuel and your gear that throws off the dry weight numbers. Malibu's published numbers are just really inaccurate when trying to determine the boats actual towing weight.

[TrickyNicky]

As several others have also mentioned, you are not "near" the limit of your FJ, you are well over the legal rated towing limit by ~500-1000lbs. If you get into an accident while towing (regardless of fault) you have needlessly opened yourself up to possible liability.

I have weighed my VLX on certified CAT scales and it is at 6000lbs on the trailer when lake ready. Plenty of others here have done the same with very similar results. You cannot just use the manufacturers numbers like that, they aren't even close to what your boat actually weighs. “Dry weight” according to Malibu does not include “options” such as batteries, board racks, stereo, wedge, bow ballast, surf gate, etc. It's not just fuel and your gear that throws off the dry weight numbers. Malibu's published numbers are just really inaccurate when trying to determine the boats actual towing weight.

I agree with this but I have to ask, IF one of us did get in an accident, would it not be a legitimate argument that the published weights of the trailer and boat are within the limits of a 5000lb vehicle? Despite the fact we may know otherwise due to this site. Would that not be considered reasonable by your average bu owner?

Afun, bad news is, as mentioned, your definitely over. Whether my argument would stand or not, you should use a more appropriate vehicle....or get a slip and all these issues will be irrelevant!

[Brett B]

The published numbers are dry weight, nowhere does Malibu say that is the towing weight. Nowhere do they list a formula for adding dry weight to trailer weight to get towing weight. If you are towing it, it's your responsibility to make sure it's safe. The CAT scales cost $10 and take 5 minutes. I would imagine it would be pretty hard to defend negligence when towing a $75k boat, when all it took was $10 and a trip to a nearby truck stop with scales to actually ensure you were within the limits. All I had to do was ask my dealer, and they told me long before I ordered my boat that it was well over 5k pounds. I just weighed it myself once getting it to see where I was really at.

Edited August 21, 2013 by Brett B

[Afun]

A little off on the numbers, but she tows like a champ. Not to mention how she pulls me out of the steepest ramps. The first pic below is about 8000lbs, lol...too much. Looking forward to a slip next season.

url="http://www.flickr.com/photos/70391703@N03/9545338239/"]

The last pic is me experimenting with 4x4 low at idle speed pulling me out of the steepest ramp in East TN. I also have an old ford with 6600 lbs towing package, but I do not like the way it brakes. Love the FJ!

Edited August 21, 2013 by Afun

[Deven]

But how does she stop if you need to really get on the brakes to avoid an accident or kid running into the road?

We hear so many people talking about unsafe boaters and how they wont let their kids in the water, yet think it's perfectly acceptable to pull 6k around with a 5k rated tow vehicle with those same kids in the vehicle.

[Afun]

But how does she stop if you need to really get on the brakes to avoid an accident or kid running into the road?

We hear so many people talking about unsafe boaters and how they wont let their kids in the water, yet think it's perfectly acceptable to pull 6k around with a 5k rated tow vehicle with those same kids in the vehicle.

She stops great. Much better than my ford. I tow alone in the FJ. Other than that....your right....I'm doomed

[jcon44]

She stops great. Much better than my ford. I tow alone in the FJ. Other than that....your right....I'm doomed

If you ever have money to spend start a thread on here and poof its gone... Afun, send in some pics of the new TMC approved tow vehicle.

[Cory]

I suggest the platnium edition F250 with the diesel power stroke. That thing is bad @$$.

I feel bad for you Afun... It's been a rough summer on here for you.

[Afun]

I suggest the platnium edition F250 with the diesel power stroke. That thing is bad @$$.

I feel bad for you Afun... It's been a rough summer on here for you.

You ain't even seen how my wife treats me....this ain't nothing

[isellacuras]

As someone else on her mentioned, I would be concerned with wheel base as much, if not more, than capacity. The short wheel base leaves little margin for error if there's any kind of evasive maneuvers. Unsafe for sure. I have a 2005 tundra which sucks as a tow rig so I can only imagine what an FJ would be like. Looking for an 01-03 excursion like SD's. Gotta be a black one tho.

[skurfer]

Rear bilge is on!

[DenverBu]

As someone else on her mentioned, I would be concerned with wheel base as much, if not more, than capacity. The short wheel base leaves little margin for error if there's any kind of evasive maneuvers. Unsafe for sure. I have a 2005 tundra which sucks as a tow rig so I can only imagine what an FJ would be like. Looking for an 01-03 excursion like SD's. Gotta be a black one tho.

I had an 05 Tundra that some tail wag. Bought a Sequoia, and it is much better. No tail wag. I assumed this is because of the shorter wheel base, and more weight in the rear compared to a pickup. But it also has factory anti sway, so maybe thats all it is. But I was always under the impression that shorter wheel base is better for towing, all other things being equal (equal vehicle weight). But I do think I am at my limit with my setup, while Afun your truck is lighter than mine and your boat is heavier, so definitely pushing the limit. But I dont doubt braking and pulling with the cruiser is just fine. Although what I would be concerned about is undulating pavement on a curve at highway speeds that sends your boat swaying and rocking. I have seen trailers flip a truck in that situation. But take those curves a little slower and I dont see an issue.

[mainekneeboarder]

Those burn marks look like they are from the turned down chines hitting the bunk, all it takes is once to do it. The boat scuffed the rug and burned it! The "chalk" you mentioned is burnt fabric, possibly caused by wrong placement of the bunks? Have you looked to be sure the bunks are in the correct place when the boat is on the trailer? As said the tilt of the trailer can change the rear height by a couple inches, which would be the same as not being backed in far enough by a couple inches, instead of having the fenders just out of the water compared to having them out by a couple inches. I get a laugh out of the guys not wanting to put their vehicle exhaust tail pipe in the water, isn't the boat exhaust in the water on every one of these boats?

And obviously you need a 1 ton 4x4 dually diesel to tow your boat!!

[brad72]

Since this topic is primarily about the bunk carpet I will be inspecting mine on the weekend when the boat is launched since she is new to us. Is the bunk carpet just stapled on or should i use contact adhesive as well if replacing it?

Cheers

[IXFE]

A little off on the numbers, but she tows like a champ. Not to mention how she pulls me out of the steepest ramps. The first pic below is about 8000lbs, lol...too much. Looking forward to a slip next season.

url="http://www.flickr.com/photos/70391703@N03/9545338239/"]

The last pic is me experimenting with 4x4 low at idle speed pulling me out of the steepest ramp in East TN. I also have an old ford with 6600 lbs towing package, but I do not like the way it brakes. Love the FJ!

do always load the trailer with ballast full?

[edwin]

do always load the trailer with ballast full?

hmmm...didn't notice that, makes a huge difference. Good eyes you have there!