Boat Buddy?

Anybody use a Boat Buddy or similar product for loading their boats? I can power load my boat on most of the lakes I fish, but I have a roller trailer and a tiller boat, so I have to drive the boat on the trailer, leave the motor in gear and running, walk to the front of the boat, hook up the winch strap, then walk to the back of the boat and kill the motor. I was thinking that one of these auto-latching mechinism’s might be a slick deal, but have read mixed reviews. Or I guess I could try to wire in a kill switch in the front of my boat. Any thoughts?

I had one on one of my rigs previously, The difficulty was when the ramp was a little steep where when the boat came on it would not hit the boat buddy just right to lock on. The boat has to come on the trailer pretty flat or the nose of the bow would go below or not line up with the boat buddy. I never replaced it when I sold the boat. Maybe someone else had much better consistent luck with there’s.

Leaving the motor run and go to the front of the boat to hook-up the trailer!!!!………….sounds like an accident ready to happen!!! I’d pay the $$$ and get a bunk trailer. I have seen to many people almost or get hurt loading/unloading a boat. Really 1 medical bill and that new trailer could have been paid for.

I would rather spend the money on a power winch than leave the motor running in gear.

Bunk trailer isn’t going to work for me… I do fish some lakes with shallow landings. As for the power winch, I don’t mind cranking the boat on, but it is just pretty slow and at a busy landing, I like to be in and out. Does anybody know how many feet per minute those electric winches will pull a boat? If it is like my ATV winch, it would be faster to just crank it on by hand. Thanks for the input guys.

I had a Boat Buddy on a ski boat I once had. It did work fine for the boat launch I was at. I did break it by driving the boat on the trailer, triggering the mechanism to lock, however I let off on the gas a bit too soon. So what happened, the mechanism was triggered, but when the boat pulled back due to gravity, the mechanism did not make it all the way over to the other side and I bent the pin. I didn’t replace it. I’d like to get one for my fishing boat, I hope this wouldn’t happen again. But then I shouldn’t have let off the gas so quick.