Whaler Central - Boston Whaler Boat Information and Photos

Posted by gigem on 11/12/08 - 12:12 PM

Is it normal practice to have a safety chain on your boat trailer that hooks onto the boat's bow eye?

I guess the thinking is that this protects me in the event that the trailer winch were to let go - would keep the boat from sliding backwards off the trailer.

My 19' Grady White came with a chain like this on the trailer, but my Outrage 21 did not.

Do others run a chain like this?

Posted by scrimshaw on 11/12/08 - 12:22 PM

I help an old friend(80) launch and retrieve each year,last spring at the ramp he yells to me in the car..OK back her down,slowly I backed down the ramp and suddenly a loud crash, grinding noise ! The boat had rolled completely off the trailer and sat on dry pavement. The spring that engages the stop to the winch had rusted clean off and my poor old pal had unhooked the safety chain. Use the chain !

Posted by womms on 11/12/08 - 12:40 PM

Gig, my '78 trailer has a safety chain, but the bow eye is not big enough for the winch and safety hook. So I hook the safety chain into the eye of the winch hook. If that is too hard to follow, I will gladly send a pic.

Saw your pics. Color me jealous. She looks great.

Posted by gigem on 11/12/08 - 1:11 PM

womms wrote:
Gig, my '78 trailer has a safety chain, but the bow eye is not big enough for the winch and safety hook. So I hook the safety chain into the eye of the winch hook. If that is too hard to follow, I will gladly send a pic.

Saw your pics. Color me jealous. She looks great.

You know, that's a good point. The bow eye is pretty small on the Whaler. I'll have to look at that and see what I can fab up for an attachment point.

Thanks for the compliment - I am happy with how it's looking.

Really don't want to dump it onto the pavement at the ramp before it's maiden voyage :)

Posted by moose on 11/12/08 - 1:59 PM

Fritz,
i don't use a chain on my 13 but I tie the bow down to the trailer with the bow rope. On my other boat I have a chain. I have to loosen the winch so the hook is slack and then I can put the hook on the chain through the bow eye and then cinch up the winch again. I remember years ago looking in the rear view mirror and seeing nothing but the bottom of my boat. I had a tilt trailer and never used the pin to hold the trailer down because the winch kept it tight. The rope broke and the wind took the bow straight up in the air. The tie downs on the transom kept the boat from sliding off and it didn't tilt enough to hit the road. After I cleaned my pants I corrected the problem and felt extremely fortunate. Gist of this is, use the chain.
Mike