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I've noticed the absence of a back-up safety chain on the trailer near the winch.
Is there any particular reason for this?
It concerned me that I was relying solely on the canvas strap to secure my expensive toy, so I installed my own. It doesn't seem to me like a reasonable way to keep the production costs down. What's the consensus out there?

ditto, put one on mine too.

Mike

Yikes...No saftey chain? It must have fallen off or removed by the PO. I would definitely get one on. It could be open for argument, but I think the best way to install one would be a bolt through the trailer with chain on each side with enough slack so you can cross the chain and form a cradle to catch the trailer hitch in the ugle event of it comming off the ball.

Mine didn't even come with a canvas strap, just a rope on the winch. Adding a safety chain was the first mod I did...the day after I drove it home for the first time. Just a few parts from Home Depot was all it took, I secured the chain around the post where it can't slip up or down.

Rich: You misunderstood the post by Compromise. He was not refering to the safety chains between trailer and vehicle. He meant the safety chain (singular) between boat and trailer.

Brian: I used a length of chain thru the boweye and around the post holding the winch, with a carabiner to close the loop. The one I had on there I needed for the trip home with the new trailer or I would have left it. I also always use a rachet strap over the boat, aft the steering wheel, going down to the goal posts, or, if long enough, to the frame.

Yikes, your right Jack, I totally misread the post. For that matter, all I have is the winch strap.

Sorry for the confusion.

Under what failure mode, and what motion, do you hope to prevent by chaining the boat to the winch post?

I see no benefit.

You know, I have to agree with Chip on this one. The chain may if nothing else give you a false since of security that your boat will stay on the trailer in the event of a major incident. Actually, I think that you will find that if you need the chain, it won't be of any value if/when it gets ugly.

My nylon winch strap broke on my third trip with the boat. The
strap was original and had been on for 6 years. It was during a
drought year and Lake Millerton (resevoir) was down 300'. It was
while driving up the main ramp I had noticed the boat has slipped
back further than usual driving up the ramp. I stopped, ran a rope
to the boat from the ladder and retied the nylon strap to the hook.

Replaced strap and purchased a small nylon strap with hooks each
end at Walmart for $8.00.

Check your winch straps and replace them before they break.

Rob H.

surely the lake was not down 300 feet..... if so the ramp must be a half-mile long.....

i do see a value in a second tie for the bow of the boat to the trailer, in case of winch or strap failure.... but i would place the trailer end of the chain, cable or rope low on the trailer to minimize the boat's nose bouncing up and down, and to avoid just bending the winch-post with the secondary retaining line, if the boat's primary strap let go....
It still wont be likely that the boat stays on the trailer if you have a knockdown or turtle it on the trailer , but the secondary hold down would be a substitute for the main winch strap or rope.

The winch and strap pull the boat forward onto the winch post. They are heavily loaded when you're pulling the boat out of the water, but that's the only time they see any major strain. My boat almost came off the trailer this summer when I pulled it out of the water and up the ramp. Because I got in a hurry on the crowded ramp and forgot to set the ratchet stop on the winch. Would an auxiliary chain to the post have prevented this? Well, yes, but if you're dumb enough to forget to set the ratchet stop, you're certainly dumb enough to forget to attach the chain.

Is winch or strap failure possible? Of course, but so could the bow eye, and you're not adding a second bow eye for this eventuality. Not every system justifies a backup. IMO this one doesn't. Obviously others disagree.

I can think of no hiway situatiion where the boat is going to try to slide off the trailer backwards. When you step on the brakes, the boat wants to come forward. If you hit something, the boat wants to come forward. If you're rear ended, the boat wants to come forward.

I was rear ended this summer; it did, about two feet, and completely destroyed the winch post and ladder, but the winch held just fine. No surprise, there wasn't anthing trying to pull the boat off the trailer backwards.

Except when pulling the boat out of the water, the only thing I see a supplemetary chain to the winch post preventing is having the tow vehicle pull the trailer out from under the boat on acceleration. If your tow vehicle can do this, I'd like to see pictures.

Chaining the boat down to the tongue: that at least accomplishes something different, though I'm not sure it's a benefit. On my accident the transom of the boat and the winch post absorbed and dissipated the forces. The transom was cracked, and there were some mainly cosmetic gouges where the bow took out the winch post. The winch post was bent into a pretzel and the winch itself was bent up pretty badly, but it still held. The prop was completely destroyed, prop shaft bent and skeg broken. No damage to the trailer other than the winch post, no damage to the tow vehicle, and the damage to the transom and motor were such that I was able to make the trip to Bimini and back.

If the boat had been chained down to the trailer, I suspect the damage to the boat, trailer, and possibly the tow vehicle would have been greater. Of course it's pretty difficult to predict the outcome of any given accident, but considering the other vehicle (a Suburban) was totalled, in this one I think I came out better than might be expected.

I have pictures of both but no way of posting them right now.

Kind of like wearing suspenders and a belt.
Makes sense to me.

Chip, love to see the photos...