Thanks in advance for you in put

earlier this year i ordered a new 20X60 Beaver-tail. i ordered it with up graded .125 hull 28 in side walls extra $ for camo paint new trailer the whole deal I need a big boat we open water hunt up here on the bay of green bay WI.

The Boat and trailer are delivered to me at work. After work that day i took the boat home home looking it over i noticed a few things that are a bit weird to me . The beaver-tail logo looks like someone free hand spray painted it on with a rattle can it even has runs in the logo and i don't mean 1 or two like 20.

also this boat has pods on it the right side pod has a pin hole in the weld so i just calked it for the season so it would not leak

the big ISSUE is the hull, about 2 feet or so from the transom is a big u shaped weld all the way around the boat almost like Beaver-tail doesn't have a big enough break to bend up the 20 foot hull or my 20 foot boat started as a 18 foot boat

Also to yacht club trailer, ( there heavier trailer 2,450 pound capacity) . The end of the bunks on the trailer sit about 4.0 feet from the transom. This to me looks weird and also with 4 feet to the transom and then another 20 inches or so to the end of the pods, the back of the boat is almost 5.5 feet from the end of the trailer bunks.

I called beaver-tail on this concern 2 days after i received this boat from them talked to Rick Alson (Apparently the guy who is in charge of the beaver-tail division) Told him about the trailer stating that i had a local fabrication shop look at the trailer. they told me that the trailer is to short and needs to be lengthened to insure hull integrity while being trailer-ed.
Rick tells me he will call yacht club and see if there was a longer tong or some thing of that nature.

A month goes by i called a few times left messages for rich no response from beaver-tail so i had the fab shop extend the tong of the trailer to fit it to the boat and faxed the bill to Rick at beaver-tail. Rick finally calls me back and says hell get bill to his account payable and reimburse me for the fab work. Another 2 months go by i called numerous times rick is never in the office or available on his cell phone left voice mails and no response.

So i figured i would dispute part of the sale on my credit card as a wake up call that I'm done screwing around . 2 weeks go buy Then i get a call from the credit card co beaver-tail talked to them and tells them that i had no right to dispute the charge that they have never had any people complain about the short trailers.


I GUESS WHAT I NEED IS YOUR IMPUTE ON THE WELD THAT GOES AROUND THE HULL is this wrong AND THE SHORT TRAILER IS THIS NORMAL OR IS THE LOCAL FAB SHOP AND MY SELF WRONG

the boat is nice and suits what i need just think when you buy new it should be right



does any one have one of these big Beavertail Boats and if so can you email me would like to talk with you to compare my boat to yours to see if this is right ( I think this is not
right )

thank you Chad

A trailer that is 4-5 feet shorter than the boat is a no brainer. No boat should roll off any lot like that. My bunks actually stick out a couple inches past the boat. I set mine up like that to get good support under the boat and keep it from hooking like a SOB right at the end of the bunk.

As far as the weld, I can't say whether that is normal practice for them or not. I know I would not be happy with a brand new hull that was put together like that, but that's just me. If it is not ground down smooth with the rest of the bottom, I can see that causing a severe amount of drag and drastically affecting the performance of the hull. To elaborate a little more on that, the guys who have had real bad problems with their boats porpoising, a small six inch bead on either side right at the transom causes enough of a change in the performance to flatten the boat out and keep it from bouncing. I can only imagine the problems a solid weld all the way across a few feet from the transom would cause. I'm not a boat builder and have not studied all the physics on how all that stuff works, but that's what I would think about it.

What do you expect from Beavertail? Junk

I have seen a splice n some larger V bottom aluminum boats where a longer sheet was needed, but the weld was always near the bow out of the water. Sounds like 2 feet got added to an 18 foot boat to give u a 20 footer. I would NOT allow a my credit card to release a dime to beaver tail until every issue I had was resolved.

Big lessons learned. a. Never have a big ticket item shipped to you sight unseen. b. If you were unhappy with it you should have never done a thing to it except hooked it up and drove it straight back to beavertail. c. Your not new to this site so WTF would you order a beavertail hull when you dont see them mentioned here. There are sponsors here that would have built you a great hull at a better price, matched it to a properly fit trailer and shipped it to you just like you wanted it.

That weld will give you some drag and if they did something chicken chit like that who knows how its braced inside. Do not haul that thing around on a short bunk trailer. Even a few inches to short could cause you to get a hook at the transom. I couldnt imaging one 4' short. You always want the bunks to extend past the transom.

Unfortunately in this state beavertail is the brand prominently carried by dealers. People have t. he tendancy to buy what they see the most. Like poker said you been around this site for a while and should have known. Driving down to one of the custom boat builders I believe is worth it, when I get a new hull that will be the route I go.

Not trying to rub salt in the wound but you see folks driving cross country and asking about shipping here all the time.

Take a day off and drive to Beavertail, see what they say in person.

Did some more research and the modle number of the trailer per manufacture spec fits a 16-18 foot boat
lets see what kind or corner they back them selves in to

Judge Judy......just sayin.

Just to ditto the others......

Yes, your trailer is too short and anyone who knows anything at all about an aluminum boat knows that eventually (probably just a few trips) the short bunks will result in a hooked hull which will ruin the boat's performance. I'd like to see some pics of your rig because I find in almost unbelievable that ANYBODY would deliver a brand new boat like that.
As far as the welds and stuff---that sounds bad to me. I also agree that they just lengthened a shorter boat. As said, the welds will provide drag AND will get wear/ cause the hull to get pushed up just before the weld, causing a ridge just before the weld (if the weld is across the hull rather than longitudinal).

Pinholes in a weld is ridiculous. You definitely should have taken the whole rig back immediately, no matter how many hours you had to drive before using it. You have taken and probably will continue to get the shaft. I've never bought anything from beavertail----would LOVE to see some pics just to have an idea how they do business. Again, I'm shocked that you both accepted the boat and trailer this way, and that they delivered it that way.
JMO,
JBJ

Over priced garbage can. Being from wisconsin I have see alot of these boats and have never met a satisfied customer.

There's a sucker born every minute. Some don't know squat about what they just bought, besides what the salesman told them.
There LT is a great motor, thousands of them up here in the Mid-west.

No, none of what you conveyed in your op is acceptable! Yes, it is definitely a run around! Do what has been recommended and go to Beavertail, without an appointment, and demand answers/fixes. Be sure to file a complaint with the Better Business Bureau, and your state's department of consumer affairs.

According to the BBB, Beavertail Products, LLC is a subsidiary of Otter Outdoors who has an A+ BBB rating. Companies like this typically like to address their consumer complaints. Be sure to file yours!

all right all right already thanks for the info on my bad decision one of the reasons i went with this boat a guy here in town has a 18 footer looked like a decent boat not really into the commotion of hitting 40 mph with my mud motor ( this boat has a 4 stroke merc on it)
i was looking for a boat i could use as a tender boat to haul 2 or 3 lay out boats out on big water some thing big enough that 5 guys could ride along with a bunch of deeks and do some open water hunting and then in the off season do some cruising to the sand bar to do a little fun in the sun
beaver tail is what i have seen I did some research locally didn't find out until i had a boat here that this big business here in the north is crooked.

i appreciate the feed back from those guys that wanted to lend some ideas of help(thank you)


ANY BUDDY WITH A 20 FT BEAVERTAIL OUT THERE? Maybe not mine is fked up enough to be there first project.

If your running it with a larger outboard its probably going to perform fine for what you plan to use it for. Outboards are alot more forgiving than these lawnmower motors are. But you definately need to address that trailer bunk issue.