Re: Boat Safety Chains Quick Hook
I don't use them.<br /><br />My trailer popped off the ball just one time. It was my fault, no doubt about that. I hooked up in the dark without a light and paid the price.<br /><br />I had S-hooks (safety chain quick hooks) on the safety chains when the trailer hitch popped off the ball. I also had a small S-hook on the chain that was to acculate the brakes in the even of a break-away. I was leaving a traffic signal and making a turn (at an intersection) when the trailer/boat came disconnected from the tow vehicle. I was not moving any faster than 10 mph at the time and probably was going something closer to half of that speed. The S-hooks that had come on my safety chains straightened out instantly. They did not hold the trailer to the tow vehicle for even a split second. The S-hook on the chain between the hitch and the acculator arm for the brakes (the emergency brake if you want to think of it that way) also straightened out, but it did pull the acculating arm fully forward in doing so - the force was so great that it blew out the seal in the master cylinder and so the brakes became immediately inoperatable. So much for S-hooks.<br /><br />I now use shackeles to attach my chains to the hitch. You couldn't give me another set of the S-hooks. I also will not use those chain links with the screw-sleeve that can be opened up to attach them. Even the slightest bend, corrosion, or dirt makes those things almost impossible to use and I just won't have a set on my trailer.<br /><br />Thom
