Boatmate trailer brake light removal

[jmo]

Hi Guys, I have a 2019 boatmate trailer under my 200, and one of the 4 primary rear lights is no working.

i found the replacements on their website, but i can’t see how to remove the bad unit from the trailer?

there are 4 grommets holding in place, I can’t see how to release them?

Thanks

[bturner]

Interesting, most I've seen have a rubber gromet that holds the light in. With those it's a matter of pushing, pulling and prying the light out. Unless there's access of some sort from the rear, with this one it looks like you'll be drilling out those pop rivets out and installing new ones to put it back in.

It's a bit unusual to lose one of these newer LED lights, especially both the reverse and brake light at the same time. Have you ran through the electrical already?

[jmo]

No access from behind, the trailer has 4 of the light units on it, and 3 work correctly, so I don’t think it’s the wiring at the truck or harness from the trailer. In googling around I believe I have to drill the rivets out. My hope is the replacement light comes with replacement rivets…

[Scooter G]

They are riveted on, I replaced 2 of mine a couple of years ago. You will need to drill them out and replace with the new lights (They don't come with new rivets).
If you don't have a rivet gun, now is the time to invest in one, and an assortment of rivets.
I wish I could give you the correct size but I don't think I made note of it. Ideally you want to use stainless steel rivets, but not sure that I did.
Easy fix, if you have ever done any riveting before, if not, let The YouTube be your 101 in education.

[jmo]

Thanks Scooter

i just spoke to CS at Boatmate and she told me the replaced unit does come with the needed 5/32” replacement rivets, we’ll see when they show up.

[jmo]

Replacement light arrived with the rivets, which is good since the stem is longer than the 5/32 rivets that came with the hand held rivet gun I bought.

[Scooter G]

Nice to know. I must of got chumped on rivets, or that's a new thing. They were sent to me from the dealer in Washington where I picked the boat up, and most everything they touched went South.

So, how was your experience with Boatmate? I keep hearing a lot of negative reviews on PN, and I have had nothing but great experiences with them over the last 20 plus years. Maybe you just have to catch them on the right day.

[jmo]

It was easy - I had put the order in via their parts website and then called in to confirm the rivets came with it and the size.

[jmo]

I bet one source of the boatmate angst was from SN200 owners where early on the Boatmate trailers were causing wear on the hull where the chines hit the bunks during loading & unloading. Some owners retrofit the trailer with an extra roller to help prevent the wear on the gelcoat.