Ark Ezi-Guides Self-Aligning Boat Trailer Loading System - 16' to 20' Long Power Boat

Video Transcript for Ark Ezi-Guides Self-Aligning Boat Trailer Loading System Review

Hey everybody, Ryan here from etrailer. Today, we are on the Mighty Missouri River and we're gonna be checking out the Ark self-aligning boat trailer guides. Now, when it comes to this type of thing, the first thing I wonder is, is it gonna work with my particular application and do what it is intended to do So today, we will find out just that. So the whole point of these is to help get your boat directly centered on the trailer exactly how you want it. Now, one of the issues that I run into and I'm sure a lot of other people do is being able to do that, especially right on the first shot, especially when you're by yourself. I go out a lot by myself and I run in pretty heavy current I know wind, you know, really, really messes that up.

At least with current, it's predictable. You can kind of guess where you need to shoot the boat onto the trailer. The wind though, that's up to Mother Nature. You might be right on and a big gust come by and knock you off course or even waves, you know, especially out in lakes and stuff. You're getting where you're going.

You get a big roller coming in and it knocks you off course. So you know, you manage to always get it on there, right But is it exactly how you want it And I'm pretty particular how I want my boat to set. And so hopefully what these will do is make it a whole lot easier or maybe get it dead center on the first shot. You might not have to back up again and give it another go. So the boat's sitting on the trailer now from the last time I had it out.

I kind of ran into that issue. It was nighttime, heavy current, got it on there, it's fine, but it's not exactly how I wanted it. So maybe let's just take a quick look underneath and show you what I'm talking about. At the back of the boat here, so mine has keels or runners, you know, three of 'em, one in the middle, one on the left, and one on the right. And that's what I kind of use to determine if it's centered right, basing the distance from that runner to the keel with my bunk board.

So like I said last time I had it out, it's definitely off a little bit and this is just kind of a reference point to something to build off of. Once we have these parts on there, is it gonna correct that issue And we can use that to determine if it's centered or not. So we're on the left side or the port side of the boat. So you can see at the back, you know, I'm starting with a decent spacing here, but as it runs forward, if you follow the distance between this and the bunk. you can see it gets tighter and tighter and tighter. And almost at the very front, the keel is pretty much butted up next to the bunk there. So boats on here are a little (indistinct). And just for another reference, we'll check out the right side one or the starboard side. On the right side here, you can see the difference. You know, this one's a lot further apart. The spacing is, and so ideally the way I'd want mine to set is when I have it on the trailer, I'd want this distance to be the same on each side. That way we know it's centered. Another reference that I like to use in conjunction with the bottom of the boat is my bunk boards here on the side. So on our starboard side, the right side, you can see quite a bit of distance in between there. I can almost get my whole entire hand flat laid in there. And that is not the case with the other side. And really noticeable with this situation, on the left side, you can see how tight or how close the boat is to the bunk. And so you know, it kind of just proves it's off center fighting that current or fighting that wind or waves or whatever the case may be. And the whole goal is here is to have kind of that same spacing in between the bunk and the side of the boat on each side of it. So that is my issue that I'd hopefully like to fix, make it a little easier on me. So we'll definitely see if these parts are gonna do that and if it's something worth keeping on the trailer. But with that said, you know, since we have to have the boat off the trailer to get these installed, we're gonna have to go into the water. So I'm gonna back this down, get ready to launch and show you the current and everything that I personally deal with which is kind of causing these issues. So getting ready to launch a boat, I've got it bowed in the water where I usually launch it and I just wanted to kind of give you an idea of what I personally deal with. I'm sure a lot of you out there as well and since I'm dealing with current, it's gonna kind of simulate wind or waves, you know, you get the idea, but the river's actually running kind of slow today. Usually the currents faster than this, but if you look at the corner of the boat, you can see that current hitting it. So it happens whenever I pull up onto the trailer, there's those few seconds where you get it locked down and cranked up and everything. Whenever I pull up onto it, that current wants to swing that boat to one side or the other and hopefully, these parts will help solve all that. To actually get these installed, everyone's setup's gonna be a little bit different depending on your trailer, the shape of your boat, or where other components are located. So in our case, you can kind of mount these on the inside of the frame, on the back, you know, on the back is where originally I wanted to put 'em. But what I came to realize was, you know, they just. If I put 'em back here, there wouldn't be enough space for 'em to fold down without hitting the bunk and clearing the roller and everything else. So I'm gonna do 'em on the inside. And I've never put these on before, so it's gonna be a little trial and error, but what you can do if you've got a wider trailer that's set up different, with your boat on it, if you put 'em on the outside, you know, you can kind of judge where they need to go. And they do recommend a minimum distance between these brackets and everything like that and that's 'cause they're gonna swing down and whatnot. So if it looks like you will clear everything on your boat, you can have it on here and kind of mark and get an idea where these actually need to go and then pull the boat off. Like I said, in our case, there's really only one spot, so might have some adjustability, but we'll kind of go from there. So really nothing to it. These are going to just bolt to the frame rail on your boat. And I wanna mention the U-bolts that come with it are really small. I don't really see a lot of trailer frames having something that small. And if your boat did have a trailer frame that small, you could probably just push it over by hand to center it anyway. So we ended up using new U-bolts, which you can grab at etrailer that actually wrap around the frame. My frame rail is three inches by two inches and these worked out really well to get everything bolted down. But what we're working with, so these pieces, okay, it makes it easier to take these off to bolt everything up. There's just a spring that sits in there like that and they kind of sit right over the shaft. There's I said really nothing to it per se. And on the outside of it, you know when you go to to remove this stuff, it's just a washer and a little pin that you'll pull out here, right And that's how you get these off. But what I did just to kind of judge everything, I take the springs out and just put this on here and this is just my thought process and my situation, right So whenever they're stationary like this, I'm looking for a few things. Does it look like it's centered up where it needs to be And in our case the answer's yes, you know, I got 'em centered up as best as I possibly could. And I'm also thinking, all right, so when the boat comes on it, are these gonna clear everything So if I we're to simulate kind of driving up on it, is it gonna clear the bunk on each side And we're in good shape there. And I'm also just kind of envisioning, okay, when these come down and if the boat's sitting like this, am I gonna have enough space here in the center for my keel to clear and everything And just by judging this, I think we'll be in pretty good shape. So I think we'll put these springs in and see what it looks like. We'll get in the water, take it nice and slow and see if you need to make any adjustments or anything along those lines. So the big question, did these things work And with my particular boat, it's just not a great fit to be honest with you. Do I think they would work better on a different vessel, right Maybe one that is a little bit wider Absolutely. Whenever I was approaching the trailer and I went through 'em, you could definitely feel the guidance, you know what I mean You could feel the boat kind of shift over and get squared up. And even when I continued to kind of pull up that trailer, you could feel it, you could feel it doing its thing. My issue though, and I even tried to make a little adjustment, I don't have a whole lot of space here, but I think my issue is I just have too small of a boat. If it was a little bit wider or my trailer was set up just a little bit different, these would definitely fit. But I think this is still really useful information because you know, a big question I'm sure a lot of people wonder, well, is this gonna work with my setup And so hopefully and I can show you what things we ran into and that will kind of educate you in making a decision if it'll work with your setup. So this is what I got going on with mine, and like I said, I think I just have a little too small of a boat and I feel like that's pretty much every boat owner's problem when it comes down to it. But I'm thinking what was happening is I think my keels here are just too close together. So when this was up, like I said, you could feel the boat get centered and these things kind of do their thing. But I feel like what was happening, so I tried this a couple times and even made adjustments. Eventually, when it would push the boat over to get centered, it would run on the inside of the keel and as soon as that would happen, you know, it just wouldn't kind of center itself back out if that makes sense. So if you can imagine though, if my keels we're further out here, then I'd have no issues. It would come up and ride on it. Kind of similar to what we got going on on this one, like it would only take one side or the other if that would make sense. And so with this one, not a huge deal, right But only if I could get the other side to do that. It's like I said, if they're a little bit wider or if my actual bunks we're spaced a little bit further out and I could kind of bump these out further, I don't think I would run into any issues there. So these might be better suited for those of you that have roller style bunks or something along those lines. My thought is too, I was kind of thinking, if I could actually get these on the outside of my frame, it wouldn't be as big of a deal because I would have some of this clearance here where this kind of tapers down and ends, but I can't really do that because my roller is here. I don't want to deal with modifying that or anything along those lines. So just something to think about whenever you're trying to figure out if this will work with your particular application or not. So like I said, everyone's application's gonna be a little bit different, but I have a deep V style boat. And just to kind of give you a reference, from the very center of this keel to this one is about 12 and a half inches. I feel like if they were just a couple inches wider, I should be in pretty good shape. But you know, it just depends on the style and what you got going on. If you have a bass boat or a sailboat or a larger vessel, you're probably not gonna have any issues. Like I said, I'm a little on the small side here, but still wanted to to check and see. Or maybe if you have an aluminum boat like this, but it's a flat bottom or something where you have a bunch of these that run down, you know, it won't have any issues there. I just feel like in my scenario, it's just the perfect mix. These are just too narrow and it just so happens to catch. But you know, with that said, a larger boat where everything's just a lot bigger, a lot wider, it's more than likely not gonna happen to you. Just kind of another reference too. I'm just trying to give you guys all this stuff so you've got something to work with from my experience at least and if it'll be the proper setup for yours. From gun whale to gun whale on mine is 75 inches and there's a little bit of taper that goes down to the bottom, but not much. And this one's 16.7 feet long, so a little on the small side. With that said though, you know, I could feel 'em trying to work. Like I said, it was just at the very back, once I got it pulled up, that keel would kind of drop down in there and kind of throw everything off. But as you're pulling up to it and you're kind of crooked coming up to it, you can feel it swing it and try to center you. So on a larger vessel or one that's set up a little bit differently, I think without a doubt it'll do its job and perform like you'd expect it to. And that will finish up our look at of the Ark self-aligning boat trailer guides.