Pontoon Boat & Deck Boat Forum

When I bought my toon it had roller guides instead of guide boards, it did have a set of guide post at the rear but i had a TERRIBLE time loading unless there was ZERO wind, and to be truthful even then it was crapshoot. I bet I'm not the only one who dreaded loading up most of the time. I replaced the roller guides with 2x8's and it made it MUCH better but I still had a tough time in the winds.
What I did was take the PVC off the guide post and moved them the rear as you will see in the pics, then I put 2x4's angled to the post and attached them.
I hadn't covered the last board before I took these pics but you will see what I am trying to show you hopefully.
This has made a TON of difference loading the boat now, I really can't stress enough how easy this made it. I load in one try now, even in high wind! I would imagine it would help if you load in a river with current also.
If you approach the trailer from either side and the toon starts turning, which it seemed to always do, give it a bit of power and the boards guide it up perfectly.
I never dread loading now and hope it helps someone else here now.

Love the duct tape! seriously though, I did the same but just ran them straight, and started pretty far back. Works like a charm, even my kids can drive it right on no problem.

spurhunter wrote:Love the duct tape! seriously though, I did the same but just ran them straight, and started pretty far back. Works like a charm, even my kids can drive it right on no problem.

LOL!
I figured I would catch some razz about that but I haven't gotten any new pics since I finished and had some time to post so I thought what the heck.
I just hoped it may help someone that may be struggling with loading up now.
And I love me some duck tape!

good idea------and he who controls duct tape controls the world.

That and WD-40.

A very good idea! Although in my world, there are just 2 more things for me to run into.

Finally, someone has found some ingenuity. That's a great idea, and it even works.

Bamaman wrote:Finally, someone has found some ingenuity. That's a great idea, and it even works.

Thanks Bamaman, I have the end closed now with a shorter 2x4 just in case I happen to hit that small opening, just thought I would post up pics that I had.

Steve... nice work on the trailer... in response to you talking about hating to load your boat... I was the exact same way last year... loved taking the boat out, but even as I was unloading, I was already worried about 4 hours from then when we had to load up...it got so bad about mid way thru the boating season that I actually thought about selling the toon.... but then I discovered these 48" pvc trailer guides... this past season I have only had one time that I didn't load on the first try, and that was because some guy came flying thru the no wake zone at about 30 mph and his wake got me off line just as I approached the trailer.... when I load now I just line up the right side of my boat with the pvc trailer guide and so far so good...



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If I would have had something like this the first year, maybe we would have used the toon more, and still have it. I like the one response, worried all 4 hours he was out on the water. Exactly. I wonder why the dealers don't push something like this.

Mine has these on it loading is easy even in a 25 mph cross wind.

That is one of the few good things about my scissors trailer; the supports go under the deck and lining up the toon could not be easier. I just get it kind of close, and drive it on gently...

Don't know. I think the trailer guides that have been around for years works better. You can see'em as you load and you can easily pivot off of them if need be. Never had a problem with them.

Just my thought but it appears to me that your original guides are set too close to centre (Canadian, eh?) of your trailer. Mine are about 3" from touching the pontoon when loaded on the trailer and are vertical to the last trailer cross member (yours are a foot or two forward). Wind is no fun but if the pontoons line up at front, usually i can gently urge the boat on the trailer..

Roland....

I did the same thing with my tritoon. Loading is the worse part of tooning!

I purchased some guides like yours from Bass Pro. The only difference is that I decided to mount them further up the trailer....at mid point. I found that way the "target" zone is smaller but when I hit it there is no doubt I'm on line ...I'm so bad loading that if I put them at the back of the trailer I was still able to misalign the tritoon...so far its working well!

OP....great idea for loading!

Steve,
Nice work on the guides. I think it is great when the guides are on the "inside" of the trailer rather than on the outside edges. They serve exactly the same purpose by guiding the toons (using the interior sides of the toons rather than the outside of the toons) without making the trailer any wider on the road.