How do you trailer your direct drive?

How do you trailer your direct drive?

What do you mean, load it?

yea, do you drive completely onto the trailer, (running the boat in shallow water), or use another method?

Drive on. Your trailer should have a prop guard to ensure nothing will wreck the bottom of your boat

Yup, drive it on.

Back it in to where the tire fenders are about a 1/2 inch to one inch out of the water. We come in a little sideways to catch the boat on a bumper....when the boat hits the trailor it straightens out. at this point you should have about 1 foot to the front lip/V of the trailor then I usually lock it up to the trailor and goose it up on the trailor.

Remember, it is easier to back it down that have it too back into the water.

I have a Malibu Sportster, and I have tried all of that, but I cannot get the boat to sit on the trailer properly once I bring it out of the water.

Sounds like you have the trailer in too deep. You want to actually drive the boat out of the water rather than just float it over the bunks.

Yeah, I'd agree with Darren - your trailer sounds like it's too deep. Depending on the angle of the ramp, you generally want the front 18" of the bunks out of the water when you drive it on.

(Message edited by mb_girl on March 23, 2004)

I dont always drive it on... depending who I'm with... I usually have to take care of the trailer part. If i'm with my good buddies that i know can handle it I'll have them drive it on.. else i'll back the trailer little lower and walk it up so to speak

I do the, water 1/2" to fender thing, bump the fenders which straightens me out, then I have the wife back in just a tad more, and I goose the gas, and the boat buddy does the rest. The bumpers usually allign the chines perfectly this way, and there is no need to reset it, unless I have a lot of people still on the boat. Then I snug the winch and release the boat buddy.

When I pull it out I stay in the boat and kinda hold it the right distance from the side guide, about 4 to 6 inches. Then have the truck driver pull out slow so it settles right in postion. If I don't hold it like that, then about 20% of the time it would settle a little off center.

Matt you are too deep with the trailor especially with a sportster....bring the trailor up get the boat so it is partway on it then have your truckdriver slowely back down until you can barely get the boat the touch the front boat catch. Look at the water and this should be how deep you should be every time. I use the rear fenders as markers of depth.

thanks for the tip

With my DD Moomba, I back the trailer all the way in to fully soak 'all' the trailer bunks, then pull forward until the fenders are about 3 to 4 inches out of the water. I then approach the trailer with the boat in gear and running at idle, and once the bow crosses the mid-point of the trailer I bump the throttle gently, and the bow ring finds a home in the boat buddy on my trailer. No goosing the throttle and eroding the end of the ramp. Onto the trailer and out of the water takes about a minute.

How strong are the boat buddies? Once the pin fires and the boat buddy engages, is it strong enough to hold the boat as you pull it out of the water, or do you need to get out and hook up the strap and/or chain.

I was looking at buying a boat buddy, but if I have to get out anyways to hook up the strap, then it's kind of pointless

mike- Boat buddy is strong enough to hold the boat up the ramp. But I always put the strap on also. Boat buddy is the best thing to trailering a boat, makes it so much easier.

matt- I also do the 1/2 inch thing, but keep an eye on the bunkers when the boat is not on the trailer. It wears the carpet out pretty quick.

What is a boat buddy?

http://www.outdoorsite.com/site/go.cfm/owner/EB520B3B-616E-401B-88219BA3C4C9C012

thanks

I guessing that everyone that drives the Boat on to there trailer dosent have a colored hull. If they do then they have some scratches from the trailer bunks on there hull.
I have a colored hull and saw very quickley that driving you boat onto or up the trailer scratches the "F" out of your hull. So if you have a collored hull you might want to take the time to read this

The way I load my boat is way diffrent from any way I see other people do it

I have the trailer "Very deep" in the watter
the boat is floating over the trailer. Once the bow touches the stop pad's in the front I hook it to the bow hook. And winch in the slack. Then I put the boat in gear and use the power of the motor just above Idle, to hold the boat against the stop pads as the trailer is pulled sowly out. You can center the boat in the trailer by using the rudder and turning the stearing wheel. Once the boat is lached against the stop pad's just turning the wheel to the left or right with the boat in gear will allow you to center the boat on the trailer. It takes some time to master but its a damage free way to load the boat and it only takes 2 people a driver for the trailer and a driver for the boat.

Its funny because My wife and I are a great team we load the boat like a machine, When the lookie Loos at the boat ramp watch us they think my wife is stupid and she is putting the trailer way to deep in the water. They try to tell her she's to far ect, and when we roll up and latch and drive away in 10 seconds they are like WOW no drama down the road.

Grant -
Same here or the piece you pictured catches my bow eye coming off. Floating on is so much easier on hull and bunks but it also depends on your boat/trailer configuration. I've never had misalignment problem but my friends you must keep the fenders just out of water.

I'm with you Grant. Even though our hull is white, we do the same thing. Driving it on scratches a white hull also.

I drive on, and have a white hull, and have noticed scratches. I might try to remove them, and change the way I load, but if they won't come out, I will keep power loading.

Power loading is Fine dont get me wrong .My friend has a 2002 Ski Nautique, He has a White (aka)silver cloud Hull and he power loads it and its scratched but you cant even really tell when you look close you can see. But with my hull when you scatch it turns white, and looks like hell, IMO it as easy or easyer to load it the way I do rather that power loading. So it just seems like a better wat to protect your investment weather you hull is colored or not. I think power loading is a older habbit from back in the early days when ski boats had white hulls and it didnt matter.

I have a 92 SN and if it comes out a little uneven, I pull up to a spot that is a little more flat and I can "push" on one side and shimmy the boat to center. I don't strap the rear down so it doesn't really matter.

When I load it the fenders are about 2" out of the water. Wife idles up to the trailer, hits the bunks and lets it straighten out and then burps the throtle to get up to the bow stop. We don't hook it up and it never slides back.

Sportster should be a similarly flat bottom.

Nice post. Very informative.
I once "heard" about someone who had a boat buddy and was in a hurry to pull out. So they drive the boat on while another is in the truck, rely on the boat buddy to engage the bow ring and attempt to pull out. Dropped the boat on the ramp. Bad day. Could have been a ramp legend but it encouraged me to always secure the hand winch to the bow ring (and check the locking mechanism) and check the boat buddy.

I like the idea of lowering the trailer deeper. I have scratched the crap out of my hull too trying the power load. My hull has different grooves on the bottom, so it doesn't just sit flat on the trailer. It has to be loaded almost exact. I think the idling as you pull out may work. I guess we'll see.

Some friends of mine(who had consumed many frosted beverages) have the best loading story. The truck driver backed too far in & got the trailer wheels off the cement into the holes caused by power-loading.Boat driver loads boat anyway. Truck driver then guns motor to pull out of the hole, trailer tongue breaks, trailer falls & rolls further into lake. After many cuss words the soberly-challenged crew pulls remainder of trailer out by hand. While boat is docked at a friends house waiting on trailer repairs, rubber seal around the outdrive(cant think of the correct name) fails & boat sinks partially. I dont know what the moral of the story is, but I guess its got something to do with drinking,cussing,power-loading,boat buddies, bunks or good cold beer.