Made My Trailer a Little Safer

[Garyak]

I've had my bow buck out of the rollers a few times so I changed things around and added a 3000 lb retractable tie down for down pressure. The bottom roller was right at the hull bottom so moving it up 8" allows the bow to seat better. It should stay put, now. I'd still like to have the winch drum further from the bow but it is welded to the upright.

[kk alaska]

I use a ratchet strap and tie the bow to the trailer keeps it tight to trailer on frost heaves.

[MacGyver]

I'd still like to have the winch drum further from the bow but it is welded to the upright.

It would not take 10 min and a Sawzall's to remove the winch.

[Big Bend]

MacGyver is right about the Sawzall but what you could do is to cut a V shaped section out of the front of the post leave the back side attached then bend down to close the v shape that was cut out and weld it back together this way it would tilt it down away from the boat.

[potbuilder]

Gary add a roller just under the winch to fairlead the cable/strap at a better angle to snug the bow down. Some flat stock and a trailer roller should do it.

[MacGyver]

If it was my boat.....after removing the winch. I would cut off another 6 inches, weld a plate to the post maybe 12 inches long to mount the winch to. That way the winch is out of the way, don't for get to add a safety chain.

[Garyak]

If it was my boat.....after removing the winch. I would cut off another 6 inches, weld a plate to the post maybe 12 inches long to mount the winch to. That way the winch is out of the way, don't for get to add a safety chain.

I may eventually do something like that, but for now, I'm trying to keep this a $25 fix instead of a 3 figure fix. I don't weld so anything I can't do myself sets the cha ching thing in motion. My picture is disappointing as it doesn't show the detail of what is going on here. The winch strap positions the bow and the retractable applies the direct down pressure from the bow to the rollers as it travels in front of the black uprights top attach bolt before continuing to the ratchet that is barely visible on the arm in front of the lower concrete block. I pretty much need the angle from the winch drum so the 1/2" diameter bow eye can travel over the top roller. If I was loading under power, I'd be more concerned about the drum placement. The outer edges of the rollers deflects the bow away from the drum, anyway, but they do smudge the paint. That shouldn't happen now. The bunk slicks I made are so slick that the boat slides back off the trailer before I can even think of getting off and attaching it...and that's even if the aft end of the bunks are only in an inch of water. I have to float it on. Not crazy about submerging so much of the trailer to retrieve, but it is quick, easy and eliminates all but a couple cranks of the winch.

[anchskier]

Just a thought concerning the proximity of the wench drum to the bow, how about getting slightly longer pieces to push the bow rollers a little further back? It looks from the photo like you could get longer bars for that, drill them accordingly, and just mount them in place of what is there now. This would push the roller a little further back (maybe even just a couple inches) and would give you some "breathing room" there. It wouldn't require any welding and minimal labor/material costs. There may be more to it than is obvious from the photo.

[Rob B]

This is what I did and it works great. Pretty simple to do too.

[Garyak]

I'm going to do a couple trial trips to see how this works out. If were to throw dough at this, I would: Remove the mast and support and have flat plates drilled to receive u bolts welded to the bases. That would give me plenty of fore/aft adjustment. I'd employ a V block on the order of what Big Bend and/or Rob B suggest. That is how my project boat's trailer is set up and it looks like the ticket to me. I'd also remove the welded on knuckle busting jack stand and replace it with a bolt on unit so I don't have to bleed so **** much. I'm likely going to sell this boat so I can't see filling the money pit any more than necessary.