Boat Buddy by Kodiak

J

joefish

New member
Anyone have any experience with this product?

http://www.pacifictrailers.com/KODIAK-B ... stem-BB-2/

Seems like a good idea. I like driving the boat onto the trailer. With a bass boat you can drive on, bump the bow eye right up against the trailer stop and it will stay there. The C-Dory slides back down and requires alot of cranking with the winch. I hate ending a boat trip with friends or family only to have them watch me struggle to load the boat. I like getting off the ramp ASAP.
 
joefish-

Nice idea.

However, I wonder if it would work on very shallow or very steep ramps (?)

Also, the C-Dory's bow would, I think, make it impossible to see the mating of the bow eye and the capture device, which might make it much more difficult to use (?)

Joe. :teeth :thup
 
This is what a wife is for, I have her on station at the winch stand as I power the boat up to the winch stand then she puts the security chain on and then clips on the strap then winds the strap tight. After she gives me the signal I go back to neutral, shut off the motor and tilt it up and exit the boat. Sometimes she just gets in the vehicle and pulls the boat out of the ramp area for the offload and washdown without me having to leave the boat. However this device you mention would be a infinitely cheaper than acquiring a wife if you don't already have a well trained one in your possession.
D.D.
 
Will-C,

You have a very well-trained wife. When I load our boat my wife usually strikes a pose on the dock with her hands on her hips, sighing loudly, and rolling her eyes. I will send her up to you in PA for some training sessions and expect that she will be returned ready to scurry up the winch stand, click in, tighten strap, give signals, etc etc when needed. Name your price. :D
 
joefish":3som2k55 said:
Will-C,

You have a very well-trained wife. When I load our boat my wife usually strikes a pose on the dock with her hands on her hips, sighing loudly, and rolling her eyes. I will send her up to you in PA for some training sessions and expect that she will be returned ready to scurry up the winch stand, click in, tighten strap, give signals, etc etc when needed. Name your price. :D
Click to expand...

I'd send my wife to that course too! She has a habit of trying to help provide directions while standing in a location where it's impossible for me to see her. My explanation of "If you can't see me in the mirrors, I can't see you" doesn't help since she claims she can never see me that far away anyway.
 
Dang, my wife pulled the boat out herself when I was out of state. We usually work together: she backs the truck and trailer down the ramp, then stands at the trailer winch while I drive the boat on. She hooks the safety chain and the winch strap, then tightens it down while I get the boat ready to pull (pull up the motor, lower the antennas, get the wrench to pull the drain plug. Whoever finishes first drives the truck out, then we wash it down together. WAY fast.

Our trailer has bunks with rubber slicks over the bunks.

As far as sending any wife for training... it's important to understand who has been trained in any situation: if you are doing all the work and she is watching impatiently, well...
 
Ouch, Jim, that hurt!

Anyway, since this thread has veered slightly away from "Boat Buddy" (which I still think is a good idea and another step forward in MY training) I will add this.
In my younger years I pursued a wife for other reasons, but now, if I heard of a woman who could simply "back a truck and trailer down the boat ramp" by herself - that would be a sure proposal. :beer :love :beer You're a lucky man Jim.
 
Joe,
Not taking on anymore clients for my training program as it has taken 43 years to get this far with my first trainee. In some ways I feel I have failed miserably. My baby girl does not do the backing down the ramp part. Jim always wins in these who has the best wife contests. :cry Anyway I would worry about that Boat Buddy thing getting belligerent and getting jammed up. Since one of my pet peeves is NOT being a ramp squatter or a ramp nester :amgry I like to keep things simple. Maybe thinking outside of the box here you could try a boating mistress type of thing. But that's going to get even more complicated and might turn out to be a wee bit more expensive than the boat buddy jamming up or not. Unless your name is Billy Joe Clinton. I wonder how heavy of a boat those boat buddy's thingy's are rated for?
D.D.
 
My wife always tows the boat, backs it down the launch ramp, and recovers. She won't let me have a go! I feel like I'm missing out :sad

Martin.
 
Ah, Dave, it's not a contest. Well, maybe a marathon. :wink: You have us by 3 years. We were both young, so there was no "trainee" situation, as we learned that most tasks are easier when we take them on together. Or, maybe I have been trained to think that way? :roll:

To get back OT. There are some "gadgets" that do make our boating lives easier. If the Boat Buddy solves a problem, give it a try. Won't be much fun to walk hand-in-hand with compared to the boat buddy Dave mentions.

Trailering, launching, and retrieving are learned skills. Just like some reviews on the Boat Buddy mentioned (where the pin got jammed up), even with practice you can sometimes get "jammed up" on the ramp. I was very impressed the first time I saw a guy put his own boat on the trailer solo - after driving the bass boat onto the trailer, he left the boat in forward (barely) while he went to the bow to clip it on. I could see all kinds of things going wrong with that scenario. :shock:

I'll stay with my "boat buddy with benefits." 8)

Best wishes,
Jim B.
 
This looks very useful to me, although we haven't perfected the "drive the boat onto the trailer" method. We're used to having a dock and two people "walking the boat" method. But we've already encountered one ramp without a dock, and it was challenging.

I also found a neat (but expensive) self launching tool called "Rope a Boat" while searching today http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gV2BorhngGQ

At the same time, I found two other "nifty" items. Ding EZ http://ding-ez.com/ for getting into and out of the Dinghy.

And a boat boarding handle that fits into a rod holder, made by Windline. Several boating stores sell these... here is one of the links. http://www.jamestowndistributors.com/us ... o?pid=9052

As you can tell, I'm not as agile as some...

Mary McClain
Coccoon
23 Cape Cruser
 
If you want to see an amazing display of hauling out go to a bass tournament at weigh in time! :D

Joe, if your boat slides back you either have a roller trailer or you may be backing in too far. The front of the bunks should be out of the water and you can power load or if you are confident in your approach hit it with enough speed to ride the bow up out of the water far enough to put enough weight on the bunks to keep it there. Of coarse this all depends on ramp angle, current, wind, etc. etc.

Jim, it might bite me in the :monty some day but when singlehanding if I think I might have backed in too far and the boat might slip back I often leave the drive engaged to go forward and clip the winch strap. The main trick is to make sure your helm is dead ahead or the thrust will slowly push your stern to one side. :sad

Regards, Rob
 
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