Pontoon Boat & Deck Boat Forum

Do you guys have a back up for your wench strap/cable? My boat tends to slide back from the bump stops an inch or two as I drive up the ramp after loading it. That puts what seems to me like a lot of pressure on my wench strap. The trailer currently has no safety chain or cable as a back up to the strap. I'm not comfortable with that. I know once it dries it's probably not going to slide, but I just don't like the wench strap being the only think keeping it on at that point. If it were to break while the bunks and tubes are nice and wet, it seems like it could slide off??? I also don't like the wench strap being under so much pressure. So after I'm home I actually release a little of that pressure from the strap by just a click or two.

What do you guys do? Do you have something that backs up your wench or am I being paranoid?

I do put on transom straps, but that happens later at the top of the ramp.

I have thought about getting a cable or chain to wrap around the post that holds the wench and then figure out a way to connect it to the eye on the middle tube. The wench strap has a BIG hook on it, so there is not much room left in the eye on the tube, but I can figure something out to do the job. Just wondered what others do since I'm new to the toon scene.

Thanks for any thoughts.

Can't hurt and would be better than it sitting on the ramp and you pissing off all kinds of people needing to load.

I have a chain back up however when we load Betty backs down, I load and bump the stops and hold in gear as she pulls up the ramp. As soon as prop breaks loose I kill the motor. Now our ramp is shallow where a steep ramp we would hook winch before going up ramps.

My trailer has a safety chain and I always make sure its hooked up before pulling up the ramp...better safe then sorry. I've had both a winch cable and the flat woven type snap.

That "snap" that BMR has experienced is exactly what I'm worried about. Since I know my boat tends to slide back (it is against the bump stops at the bottom of the ramp and a couple inches away by the time we get to the top of the ramp) then I have no reason to believe it would stop sliding if the wench strap actually broke. I'm afraid it would be sitting on the ramp. That can't be good! That also tells me my wench strap is under pretty significant stress, therefore the odds of it snapping I would think are increased as a result.

Lakerunner, that's an interesting technique. I'm afraid my boat would be off the trailer if I tried it. I can connect my wench strap, and actually wench the boat up a little, without even getting off the boat though. My wife backs the trailer in and I pull the boat on to the trailer. By the time it stops floating on with very minimal throttle (pretty much an idle), I can actually reach the wench from the boat. I hook up the bow/wench strap, crank it a few rounds, and my wife pulls us up the ramp. If I choose to, I can actually stay in the boat. We're new at this, but that's the way it works at the one ramp we've used so far. I guess it is kind of a steep ramp.

Since my wench strap clip is so big, it nearly fills the entire "eye" on the center tube. So I may get a cable that goes from the left tube's "eye", around the wench tower, then to the right tube's "eye", with a clip on both eyes. If I adjust it to be nice and "snug", that might also work as a back up/safety. I'll figure something out. Something was telling me to be concerned, and BMR confirmed my concern.

Thanks, Guys.

Mike

Mike,

I have two eyes under mine, one for the strap on for safety cable. I will try and remember pics this weekend. Maybe you can add another. The cable is not much but it is on there for a reason, the other thing I do is use a heavy ratchet strap and hook to eyes on both sides and around winch tower. I usually do this after getting up the ramp though.

What you are proposing is and should be on every trailer made. You can't have the chain tight enought to hold the boat against the stops or you could never get it off the trailer. Mine is a short piece of chain bolted to the winch stand and then hooked to the same place the winch is hooked to. There is a few inches play in the chain so if the winch let go the boat would only slide back a few inches. This also makes it easier to hook it up thus taking away all excuses for not using it. It's kind of like the safety chains on your trailer not there to hold the trailer to the vehicle but not let it get too far away.

Wool,

here's your pics. Cable doesn't look like much but it is better than nothing and was on there when we got it.

Thanks, guys, for the input and for the picture. I'd say that will hold it! I'll figure something out for mine. I just don't like my current setup where all I have is the strap and it's REALLY under load. I'll post pictures of my solution if it turns out well enough that it might help someone else. I'm sure it'll be pretty simple, but I'll feel a lot more comfortable knowing I have a back up to the strap.

Thanks again.

yup, i have a chain. it's always on before i pull out.

Really surprised you don't have a safety chain, I have never seen a trailer in these parts without one! I would not use my trailer without one and you definitely need to install a cable or chain post haste. I have seen what happens when the strap breaks, a guy dumped a 30 ft cabin cruiser in the middle of RT 64 at a stop light when he took off and the boat didn't LOL. He wasn't amused nor all the traffic behind him. Took 2 hours to get it back on a flat bed and cleared away. It broke the transom, and prop shaft on the bottom of the boat. Not a pretty sight.

If he had the back straps down tight it would not have put on that much pressure for the front strap to break. It would hold the pontoon on the trailer. No excuse for being a dum ass!

Oldmn19, I was surprised too. It is supposed to be one heck of a trailer, too. It's made by Extreme Custom Trailers. Very nice looking trailer with 4 wheel disk brakes and 2 X 3500 lb axles. I am upgrading to 5-leaf springs (another story) but I really think these are supposed to be very nice trailers. I was very surprised there was no safety chain to back up the wench.

I will indeed add one.

I use both, strap winch and a chain backup both to the same spot at the front of the boat. I don't trust straps as they can get sun damaged in a few years and get brittle... I also noticed when I load my boat if I leave the trailer higher up out of the water and power up onto it I dont tend to move back when pulling out of the water as much!

Not a great picture but you can see I added a heavy chain and straps to the front.