Source
r/boating•
Gaary

New boat owner with some trailer questions

I've had a boat for about a month now and I'm trying to make sure my trailer is set up correctly and adjust some things for how I use it.

First is the safety chain to the bow of the boat, there isn't one. How do I add one? Every other trailer I've looked at seems to just have a washer under one of the winch bolts and then a chain hooked up to that, but I can't find those anywhere (I feel like I don't have the right name) and just wrapping a chain around that post doesn't seem like a good idea. On top of that the winch strap is folding over on the last two times around the winch, I kept it as straight as possible the last time I loaded the boat back on but it still folded over, is that ok? If I need to replace it, should I replace the winch too? It's a 2k lbs winch and the hull is supposed to be about that dry, so I'd figure the boat is like 3k with the outboard, fuel, etc.

My driveway is on an incline, so I need to use the tongue jack to raise the front enough to drain the boat after washing, is there a tongue jack that would be good for this? I saw a couple of drop legs on amazon but when I back my trailer into it's spot the tongue is close to the ground, so while the decription for the drop legs says 30" of lift, that's with dropping the foot down and then cranking all of the way. Is there a larger tongue jack I can get so it's just a straight forward jack up and down? Or am I stuck with using jack stands to hold the trailer and then cranking the jack back up to drop the leg down?

Posted Sep 9, 2020, 4:56 PM UTC

23
Sloots_and_Hoors•

Pics would help. I'm having a hard time envisioning some of this.

3
fuzzy4023' Campion 705, 5.7LX•

What's the problem with wrapping the safety chain around the post? As long as it can't slip off I wouldn't worry about it.

I have the same problem with my driveway incline. I just use my car jack and stick a tall jack stand under it. Not thw most convenient but if you find a better solution let me know.

3
MentatMonk•

You can get taller tongue jacks but I don't know how much more than 30" lift you'll get. A quick google search took me to several marine supply pages and amazon with options. Most jacks are going to be designed to add a positive incline to a trailer on a relatively flat surface. If you're on a negative slope (front of the trailer down) you're probably going to need to find an alternative solution.

If you're not comfortable using the post, attach a chain to another part of the trailer. I knew someone who lost the post entirely while towing, so I attached my safety chain in a Y pattern to the trailer itself - as in one chain off the bowhook, which split into two chains that each went down to either side of the trailer, where they were strongly bolted in.

Upgrading my winch to a newer/stronger winch was the best decision I ever made for my trailer, aside from always remembering to use my rear safety straps, learning proper tire inflation (unlike your car, fill them up to the max PSI on the tire - you should have little to no sidewall flex or "bouncing" while driving), and learning to properly care for/repack axle bearings BEFORE they let go and strand you on the side of the road.

1