My new boat on the ground, lol.

Well this weekend my axle fell off and my boat crashed. I was going into a corner at 20 to 25 mph and as soon as I touched the brakes the boat hit the ground. The boat trailer is a Boat Mate single axle. Give me feedback guys, I am going to get a tandem trailer now thank you very much, lol. I have been pulling boats since I was in 8th grade, (um yes not of age), I am now 29 I know I am young but I understood this corner was bad so I was going very slow. The cop and tow truck driver said it looked as though the bolts fell out on one side. They said it was clearly not my fault. So far the delaer and manufacture I standing behind it.

Sorry for all the pictures let me know if you want me to delete them I can give link instead.

Dude, I had almost the same thing happen on my trailer, it was an old crappy one though, I was going around a corner and the tire went in a hole, it yanked the axel back about 3 feet, on mine it was because the leaf spring had actually broken.

Hope your boat is ok and you're back on the water soon.

I sure don't like the design of that trailer. It looks like there are several weak spots that hold the axel to the frame.

I definately recommend a double axel trailer. The bare weight of a typical inboard wakeboard boat is pushing 3000 pounds, which is a lot for a single axel and usually is too much for a single pair of tires. You start adding ballast and a typical day's worth of goodies (ice chest, food, etc.) and then you are really pushing it. Eventually you want to go on a long road trip and load the boat up with all sorts of camping gear and then you are really overloaded.

Rod I totally agree I did not realize the design was so week. Usually they are welded along with being bolted and even then the design is a U-bolt not some bracket. Also I guess it is a torsion design suspension because I see no leaf springs. I am nervous about getting another trailer from them. Any input from others with their trailers.

single axle trailers are a dealers secret way of keeping cost down on boats in a competive market. That big of boat sitting on a single axle trailer makes no sense to me. How much does that boat weigh? I see local dealers here putting there small vdrives on a single axle trailer and just hope nothing happens. Rough way to learn unfortanately. Glad nobody was hurt tho! How much boat damage was done?

Bill

Man that sucks. I would be all upset. Let us know how it all turns out.

opps, that's a drag :-)

Looks like the strength of that guide post saved some serious boat damage from happening. At least one thing worked correctly.

duct tape and spit, you should be good as new!

WOW nice boat / BAD situation. It doesn't look like too much boat damage though. I would definitely say it is a trailer fault. Those bolt-on axles are notoriously weak. It’s a BIG boat that should have been double axled in the first place. Hard to know, especially when the dealer pushes the single on you to rape the margin. Anyways good luck

So who do you need to call in a situation like this? Does a flatbed tow truck just drag it up the flatbed or did you need to get a crane out there as well.

Looks like it happened during the day at least, makes people a little easier to get a hold of.

Were you able to get it towed straight to the dealership (if they were open) or did it need to make a temporary stop until the shop opened up.

Bummer, hope things are corrected quickly and you're back on the water soon.

Oh man I hate to see that. Sounds like Boatmate has got a serious recall situation. And Bill is partially right, a single axle trailer is a dealer's way of keeping cost down. But it is also a way of keeping the CUSTOMER'S cost down. And it ain't no secret.

single axle is also a benefit in tight driveway situations, esp if you have to move it by hand at all. i know my single axle has beefier axle, hub, etc than smaller single axle or the tandems.

You guys are all pretty damn funny, definately was a drag. The guy was luckily the owner of the towing company that was working that day and he got the boat on to a flat bed like butter he was damn good. Then later they lifted it off with a crane. I bet it was an expensive bill. It had to go to the towing yard.

I have a Boatmate single axle trailer under my 2000 Moomba Outback..... I'm going home and crawling under the trailer and checking all the nuts and bolts and welds tonight !!!

That sucks bad Geforce. At least tell me the boat got off with out a scratch. I hope everything works out ok. Let us know what they do to fix the problem.

Here is a link to some more reliable trailers close to your area:

http://www.bakesmarine.com/Trailers/ryantrailers.html

and one that is not:

http://www.dhmenterprises.com/

I knew those trailers (boatmate) were cheap but that is just stupid dumb what happened to you mate...... You should sue them for what could have been and let them be constantly reminded of their less than poor quality by having the pay off that good looking boat!

Actually, you might be on to something here? Think of how easy it would be to trailer if all our axles swiveled like that.....No more tight spots to worry about and parking would be a breeze.....

(Message edited by h20jnky on September 02, 2003)

Man that sucks, the bu dealer in my area only brings the boats in on a tandem axles, the only way to go.

I have always had my VLX's on single axles and never had a problem. Here on the east coast Malibu uses Boatmate also. I just got a custom single axle for my 04, I think my next will be a tandem.

Hey thanks for the link to the dealers I had found Bakes Marine but had not looked at DHM yet, when I was at my dealer yesterday I noticed they put their MB's on DHM's. The DHM looks nicer. I don't want to spend any money though and I don't know how I would get the manufacture to buy me another brand. What do you guys think, I figure I will most likely be safe on duel axle. Realistically do you think I should go for different brand and if so how.

I'd tell your dealer to get the trailer replaced from the manufacturer and tell the dealer to keep it for another boat or have the manufacturer credit them. Personally, I'd want a different design trailer. Keep in mind leaf springs have worked great for years.

I checked my Boatmate trailer last night, pretty closely. All the u-bolts and nuts were tight and all the welds for the spring mounting points looked good. (although I'm no expert on welding) Hopefully, this incident was a rare event....

Make 'em get you an Extreme trailer (CA) and have them ship it to you.

So the manufacture is starting production on a new Tandem axle trailer today that should be done Monday at no charge. They are also covering boat damage. Woohoo I am happy with the support, thanks to Active Water Sports in Oregon.

Glad to see they are giving you a tandem trailer free of charge. Active Watersports has always been good to me with any problem I have had. How much damage to the boat is there?

Not very much damage to the baot, very small dent and one deep scratch. The only other thing is the drive shaft needs checked for alignment.

Where were you headed when this happened? Is that on the way up to Yale, saw a boat just like yours on Saturday up at Yale same color and graphics.

That was me, I was on my way back home. What were you in?

White with checkers MB B52. This happened on your way back home lucky there was a place to get off the road not to many of them on that road.

Ya I remeber seeing you, nice boat. YA I was stuck in the middle of the road but it wasn't busy. It is the road across from the fair grounds that goes by Jollies.

Check your prop as well.

Ya the prop was damaged. I looked at the trailer design back at active water sports and I was mistaken. The design of the boat mate is real good, the brackets do run the length of the boat and they are welded as well. This was just a fluke from what Active says. The type of suspension, axle and brake assembly they use is the same as most of the top manufactures. On top of that the support has been unheard of so far, not many manufactures would stand behind it in my mind. Most these days try to blame it on our driving or load or something else.

If you have Carlisle tires, that would be the root cause of your problem.

Maybe a trailer with carlisle tires passed you going the opposite way? I heard anything within a 12 ft radius of carlisle tires tends to disintegrate.

Lol, my tires are GoodYear or should I say were. was someone close to me with Carlisle? hmm

geforce, do wish you would have got a cal air now instead of the moomba?? what made you pic moomba?? money, customer service?

Well at first it was money, avaliability and financing. Then I realized when I was looking at it and talking to the owner of Active Water Sports and Matt who had been working their 10 years, that this was the same place my dad bought his boat from. I was like man while looking at boats I was thinking all about performance and not about customer service and service. Acctive has a full shop and accesories and on top of that something like 18 or 20 years of business. No other delaers in our area that carry comp baots has really been around that long, some of them have only been around for liek a year or so and have no service. I have not regretted it at all. The service I get at Active Water Sports is unbelievable. They always stand behind me and there products. I had received the baot a littel dirtier than I had taken it there and I told them and they detailed it for free. I had one of the first covers Rankin made for a Moomba and it had a defect and rubbed paint off my window and Active is totally takin care of it for free.

I understand problems happen, maybe not this many but if they do I think the biggest thing is support, it is hard to find these days. A lot of comapanies will point the finger at you right away. The support from Boat Mate has been unreal also. So on with the wakeboaring hopefully by the end of next week. I don't picture myself ever leaving AWS. If I come into more money then I will get there MB boat. I do like the Cal Air, Master Craft and Natiques, a lot of these boats are nice.

I just noticed this- you posted a picture of your new boat on 8/28, and posted this accident on 9/2. Did you really have that boat for only six days and this happened to you? Sounds like major quality issues with that trailer manufacturer. at least your dealer is good. Gook luck!!

BoatMate trailers are definately NOT cheap (in price or construction). They are by far the most popular trailer on the east coast, and are the equivilant of Extreme for out that way.

Sorry to see this happen, but at least no one got hurt, and it sounds like you're getting taken care of.

I agree Jason my opinion has changed. They are becoming the most popular trailer for OEM's to choose. I hear a lot of the top boat manufactures are going to use Boat Mate and I don't think it is a bad decision. •••••••••••••

David, no I have had it about two months and yes I thought that was funny that is why I named the thread similar with a lol on the end. It was a misshap with some kind of defect or failure. My dealer says they have never had something like this happen.

http://www.boatmatetrailers.com