Company History
The company began in Saugus, California in 1963 under the name of Aquappliances, Inc. The original owners were Bill Kampf and Denny Law. While working for Marquardt, a defense contractor in the Los Angeles area, Denny traveled between Los Angeles and Las Vegas many times. While on these trips, Denny discovered that he frequently saw boat trailers broken down on the side of the road with bearing failure. Denny and Bill soon realized there was a need for a bearing protector for boat trailers and as a result Bearing Buddy was created. It took four years of hard work and sacrifice to get the product into the marketplace and build sales to the point where the company could survive. At one particularly difficult time in the early going, Bill and Denny decided to draw straws with the loser having to keep the company.
But before this could happen, they received their first large order and were finally on their way. In 1967, the business moved to San Marcos, California. By 1970, Aquappliances, Inc. began manufacturing its own line of axle assemblies to sell to trailer manufacturers. In 1974, Denny and Bill acquired some land in Puerto Rico and began construction on a new building, which would become the new manufacturing facility for Bearing Buddy. It became known as Bearing Buddy, Inc. By April of 1975, Bearing Buddys were produced in Patillas, Puerto Rico and Aquappliances, Inc. became the sole distributor of the Bearing Buddy product line. In 1980, Bill retired, but Denny and his wife Corkie continued to own the company until November of 2004, when it was sold to Carmen Rivas and Dan Jenkins.
Carmen began working for Bearing Buddy in 1975 and has been President of the company since 1998. Dan had worked for Aquappliances, Inc. for 23 years, beginning in 1973. Both Carmen and Dan share the same desire to continue the great Bearing Buddy tradition. Together, they will ensure that Bearing Buddy continues to be the best and most sought after trailer bearing protector in the world.
Mission Statement
Bearing Buddy, Inc. is dedicated to providing our customers with service that exceeds their expectations and to producing top quality trailer products for worldwide distribution.
True Story
At the event of National Association of Trailer Manufactures Show, (NATM), the guest speaker, Kent Gronbach, shared his experience as a novice boater. Following is what he said:
"As a novice boater I routinely trailered my 17' Boston Whaler Montauk to the Long Island Sound. One Friday in early summer years ago my older brother and I were heading out from Connecticut to Rhode Island for the weekend with our wives AND the Whaler in tow.
We did not get very far when suddenly there was this awful loud screech from the boat trailer so I immediately pulled over. My brother quickly found the source of the screech and announced to me that I fried a wheel bearing. Then he looked at me incredulously and said something I will never forget: "You don't have Bearing Buddy®." I thought to myself, so what? He wasn't done. "You trailer a boat in New England, back it into saltwater and you don't have Bearing Buddy®? What's wrong with you. "I couldn't answer that question, but that was the last time I trailered a boat without out a fully charged Bearing Buddy® on each wheel.
Big brothers are great. And so is the Bearing Buddy® product. I have not fried a wheel bearing or ruined a weekend since".