How Should I Hook Up a Bow Safety Chain?

[JimS123]

Re: How Should I Hook Up a Bow Safety Chain?

And why doesn't the manufacture if any put this on a trailer? If any thing to protect themselves from a liability suit. Some manufactures don't even put them on.(safety chains) much less a turnbuckle. The failing point can be argued about the turnbuckle because the dynamic forces would work against the attachment points as well as the threads.The consensus behind the safety chain is just that, to absorb and not to contain the dynamic forces.It's like the bumper on the car, to absorb

That's a very good question. My very first boat trailer was a 1968 Holsclaw and it DID come with a 3 tiedowns. Since then every time I bought a new trailer I knew enough to have them thrown in the deal. Half of the dealers included them as part of the package without even asking, and the other half didn't even tell me I needed them.

I guess part of the responsibility is up to the dealer. And of course, since the trailer manufacturer doesn't know what boat will go on the trailer, and some may require different sizes or styles, maybe they just leave it up to the dealer.

I guess you could also ask why boat manufacturers don't include PFDs in the package...

 

[Tail_Gunner]

Re: How Should I Hook Up a Bow Safety Chain?

Graphic photo though I doubt a safety chain would have helped. Don't see any stern straps either!

Strapped down properly that would not have happened. Boating is my personal luxury and i have a lot of respect for others on the road...my ins company along with my wallet and my tub. Wether it is 800 lbs or 5000 lbs all points are strapped and secured for everyone's well being. It takes two seconds and 20 bucks...tie down every point given you may save a life.

 

[minuteman62-64]

Re: How Should I Hook Up a Bow Safety Chain?

Here's (attached) where I am at this time. Not sure if this is an appropriate use of an anchor shackle, but that's all I could find that would fit through my chain and the eye.

The eye has a working load of 1200 lbs. and I mounted it with a piece of 1/8" x 1-1/4" SS strapping as a backing plate. The shackle has a working load of 700 lbs. I couldn't find the working load for the chain - the links are 7/32" diameter. The lowest grade chain for which I could find a working load was 3/16" Grade 30 - working load 800 lbs. I'm guessing the safety chain I purchased from Jamestown Distributors has a working load considerably in excess of that.

So, the weak point currently is the shackle. However, I can't imagine the light gauge stamped steel "U" section winch post would stand a load much greater than the 700 lbs. the shackle is rated for.

Also, there is a little slack in the chain - so I guess if there was a problem with the winch the boat could slide back a few inches and (hopefully) be stopped by the chain. The biggest turnbuckle I can fit in between the eye and the bow hook is a 1/4" SS one with a working load of 440 lbs. I'm wondering if it would make sense to fit that in and use it to take the slack out of the chain.

 

[JimS123]

Re: How Should I Hook Up a Bow Safety Chain?

What you have now is a safety chain. Adding a turnbuckle would make it a bow tie down.

All depends what you want to do.....tie it down so it won't move, or catch it after the boat becomes airborne.

Once again - look at the pic in post #16. That's an OEM factory setup. If that's good enough for the manufacturer, its good enough for me.

 

[gpfishingdude]

Re: How Should I Hook Up a Bow Safety Chain?

Tail Gunner- I saw that at a boat ramp in central Il. but the boat wasn't as far up in the truck. The Dad backed the trailer into the water and took off walking toward the marina then we heard this loud roar and the teenagers loaded the boat into the back of his truck. Funny thing is I remember seeing the boat go into the back of the truck a few feet but I don't remember what happened after that.

 

[minuteman62-64]

Re: How Should I Hook Up a Bow Safety Chain?

What you have now is a safety chain. Adding a turnbuckle would make it a bow tie down.

All depends what you want to do.....tie it down so it won't move, or catch it after the boat becomes airborne.

Once again - look at the pic in post #16. That's an OEM factory setup. If that's good enough for the manufacturer, its good enough for me.

The purpose of the turnbuckle would be to snug up the safety chain so that if the winch slipped a cog there would be less chance of the boat beginning to slide back on the trailer.

Seems to me that with the angle of the chain it would act both to keep the boat from sliding off the trailer and to hold the bow down.

 

[rbh]

Re: How Should I Hook Up a Bow Safety Chain?

I see that a few of you guys are using the bent "S" hooks, it does not take very much tension to straighten them out.

 

[minuteman62-64]

Re: How Should I Hook Up a Bow Safety Chain?

I see that a few of you guys are using the bent "S" hooks, it does not take very much tension to straighten them out.

I was wondering about that. I noticed even the factory installed bow tie-down (post 19) utilized one of those - as well as the ""Bow Safety Chain" I purchased from Jamestown. In my case I'm not overly concerned given the light weight (relatively) of my loaded boat. The original configuration used the "S" hook for the winch attachment - it pulled the boat up onto the trailer w/no problems.

 

[MH Hawker]

Re: How Should I Hook Up a Bow Safety Chain?

What I have discovered is responsible people can and do take extra precautions with their things, be that for safety or for a cost issue. Others not so much and it costs them a lot more in the long run. Personal I added a 1/4 inch chain to my pontoon trailer as a just in case issue. I also have two ratchet straps on the toons in back. The main winch strap has broken once and the the back ratchet straps did in fact hold the boat in place, it moved back about 2 inches. Found it at a fuel stop while on the road and replaced it with a spare strap I keep on hand. I view the chain as back up nothing more. Straps do rot and fail with out any warning its less likely with a chain.

I have often wondered why chains and transom straps are not on new trailers. Most dealers will tell you no you don't need them. I would translate that to mean its not required by law to have those. My only guess is it is not required by the DOT. Is it safe to tow with out them. Biased on the DOT standard I would say yes and many do in fact not use any. Biased on my personal standards a big NO.

This isn't meant to get a DOT debate going just my view.


People do stupid **** ever day it is what it is.

 

[JimS123]

Re: How Should I Hook Up a Bow Safety Chain?

I see that a few of you guys are using the bent "S" hooks, it does not take very much tension to straighten them out.

Every part has a load limit. If you use an s-hook it needs to be rated above the chain.

In my case, when I was rear ended at 30 mph, the transom tie downs were straps with s-hooks at the ends and they did hold tight. The bow was held down with an s-hook as well and the trailer tongue split in half before the boat left the trailer.

 

[JimS123]

Re: How Should I Hook Up a Bow Safety Chain?

I have often wondered why chains and transom straps are not on new trailers. Most dealers will tell you no you don't need them. I would translate that to mean its not required by law to have those. My only guess is it is not required by the DOT. Is it safe to tow with out them. Biased on the DOT standard I would say yes and many do in fact not use any. Biased on my personal standards a big NO.

This isn't meant to get a DOT debate going just my view.


People do stupid **** ever day it is what it is.

New trailers don't come with them because the manufacturer doesn't know what type of boat will go on his trailer. There really isn't a universal strap.

It SHOULD be the responsibility of the selling dealer to properly equip his rig. The fact that most don't shows just how irresponsible some are.

No DOT debate necessary. Just check the state-by-state regs. In most every state, transom straps are REQUIRED BY LAW. The town I live in has a dedicated traffic cop and he lets no one go unpunished. No tie downs means a $50 ticket in these parts.

 

[JASinIL2006]

Re: How Should I Hook Up a Bow Safety Chain?

The first and second are rated less than my winch strap, the third one is $624 and two feet long though it has a 37Klbs rating.

The point I was getting at is this: Don't go to the local farm store and buy a "heavy duty" turnbuckle. The highest rating I could find, which was the exact same as the one on my friend's 24ft Four Winns, was rated for 600 lbs and it was a foot long CLOSED. False sense of safety.

This is a very good point. I had a large turnbuckle from a farm supply store that was rated for 1200 or 1800 pounds. I hit a large bump in a construction zone and the thing popped apart in the middle. No way it would have stopped the boat in an accident. (The winch strap held, but it apparently allowed at least a little vertical travel when I hit the bump.) I now use the chain and a strong shackle. It's not completely snug, but it has less than a half inch of slack.

Jim

 

[Home Cookin']

Re: How Should I Hook Up a Bow Safety Chain?

just speaking from instinct, I think I'd rather not have my boat locked down on a turnbuckle/chain. there is some natural play in a boat winched up against a rubber bow stop. that softens the inevitable stress from bouncing up and down. pulled down tight, that force becomes direct wear and tear on the bow eye and the fiberglass it's in. between that and all the steel, the fiberglass goes first.

In normal driving conditions, there's not too much horizontal force but there is constant vertical from bouncing. a little play softens that.

A chain is only as strong as its weakest link. I've had a bow eye pull out. never had anything else fail.

 

[minuteman62-64]

Re: How Should I Hook Up a Bow Safety Chain?

Well, here's where I ended up (at least for now). The safety chain is from Jamestown Distributors, working load unknown, but is's 3/16" welded links with a pretty hefty "S" hook. The turnbuckle is 5/16" galvanized, from Grainger, working load 700 lbs.

Next step, road test. Before, when only secured with the winch strap, the bow would bounce up and down on the road. I'm hoping to be able to cinch the turnbuckle down enough to prevent the bouncing and hold the bow in place, against the bow stop, but without putting too much stress on the bow eye.

Based on my surveys at local launch ramps, with this set up together with my transom tie-down, I'm now in the upper 25'th percentile for measures to keep the boat on the trailer.

 

[Alwhite00]

Re: How Should I Hook Up a Bow Safety Chain?

Good grief, if that doesn't hold a 600 lb boat i don't know what will. Seems a little excessive to me but whatever works for you.

LK

 

[JimS123]

Re: How Should I Hook Up a Bow Safety Chain?

Based on my surveys at local launch ramps, with this set up together with my transom tie-down, I'm now in the upper 25'th percentile for measures to keep the boat on the trailer.

Yeah, for sure....LOL. That's cause the lower 75th percentile have no common sense whatsoever.

Surely, the safety chain WITH the turnbuckle is overkill, but you can't be too safe.

 

[Oshkosh1]

Re: How Should I Hook Up a Bow Safety Chain?

You can make any airplane safe enough to surrvive almost any concievable incursion.
Of course it'll be too heavy to fly...

There is such thing as practical overkill.