I had an issue where the mounting bracket on my wench has bent, causing me to replace the wench. I am concerned that the bent wench is caused by the bow of the boat bouncing, creating excessive force on the wench while towing. Can you all take a look at the attached video and tell me if your boat acts the same way when you do the following:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7ZqLJ6qt3aY
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L3G3Wkhtks0

1) remove the wench strap and chain.
2) Push up on the bow section of the boat. It does not take much force to get it bouncing like in the video.
I believe that the trailer is actually flexing. The front of the trailer is on the ground while the back end of the trailer is clearly going up and down. Is this flexing normal or do I have a problem with the trailer?

Thanks in advace for any help.

Todd

I had an issue where the mounting bracket on my wench has bent, causing me to replace the wench.I am sorry to hear that. Did you try counseling before replacing her?

Sorry, couldn't resist.:grin:


On my 1860 I can get the bow to bounce up and down easily. I am not sure if the trailer is flexing, or the bunks are. It sure comes off the trailer easily though. All trailers are going to flex a bit. Semi trailers are artually humped up way higher midway between the axles and the kingpin when they are empty. If you tried to build one totally rigid, it would weigh a lot more, and actually be harder on the boat.

It looks like you have more boat than trailer! My rig will not do that. What weight trailer do you have? There is alway a bit of flex in the frame but what I see in the video is too much......

I haven't watched the video yet, but my EZ Loader did the same thing, until I added a bow strap, to tie the front hook down to the trailer. Took the bounce right out of it. Of course, being cheap, I found an extra transom strap, added a u-bolt, and made it for a lot less than buying it.
HRG

I think many bunk trailers are like that. I noticed that mine did it too. What I did is mount a boat buckle on the winch stand so I could snug the bow eye down on to the front roller. You could use a ratchet strap from the bow eye down to the trailer frame as well. Mine is solid now.

Yep, that is common. Mine also did that. I adjusted the front roller a tad, and now I crank up the winch tight. Problem gone. Got to add, I like HRG solution.

Thank you to all for the quick response. My quick repair when the Wench housing bent was a tie down strap to the tongue. I think I will add HRGs solution as the long-term fix.

You guys saved me a bunch. I was investigating adding another set of bunks to spread the load and stabilize the boat. I think I will just stick with the strap to hold the bow down and keep the bounce off the wench strap.

Thanks again!

Your first video only gave a brief view of it,but to me it looks like the boat is not as far forward on the trailer as it should be. Did not look like it was up against the bow roller.

If this is as far forward as the boat will come,adjust the winch stand horizontally,as well as the winch shelf and bowroller vertically to snug it up. The bow roller should be trapping the boweye tightly under it. Because of bow angles etc,not every boat can get adjusted this way,but try it. Will eliminate bouncing completly if you can.

My 2008 Lund Rebel 1625 wore the carpet off the front third of the bunks on its first trip to NW Ontario, and.......snapped two bunk bracket bolts on the same trip. This despite my being careful to ensure the winch strap was as tight as I could make it. I did the same fix as HRG - a transom strap around the frame and hooked to the bow eye - and haven't had a problem since. I'm sure the cause of the problem was trailer flexing at highway speeds and when crawling back the logging road to favorite lakes.

It'ssomething you want to fix. There used to be an older aluminum boat at Devils Lake that finally wore through the rubber bow stop. The bolt that used to hold the bow stop in place then wore through the bow of the boat.
I just use a 2" strap from the trailer frame, across the bow (behind the cleats), and down to the other side of the trailer.

My trailer came with the bow tie down. Now I see why. Never thought it was a big deal before. Glad I caught your post!

The manufacturer (Eagle) said in their manual the bow tie down was to keep the boat tied securely to the trailer so that the boat and trailer did not move separately and damage each other. Makes sense.

That amount of flex looks normal to me. That's how much my 19-year-old trailer flexes if I do not crank the boat bow-eye tight against the trailer bow-stop. If I crank the bow-eye tight to the bow-stop (like it's supposed to be), flexing is not an issue.

Every trailer flexes- it's simple physics.

I always thought the bow strap purposes were:
- Extra security in case winch rope breaks.
- Prevent the boat sliding forward off the trailer in case of sudden stop, like this

On the other hand, it's a good time to replace the worn carpet on the bunks...

Bang,
Virtyally all trailers will flex. Without a bow tie down strap, the bow will be bouncing against the winch strap wearing both on the bow hook, as well as the bow of the boat.

Absolutely, add a bow tie down strap, so that the winch pulls the boat straight forward. Then, the bow tied down strap pulls the bow straight down toward the ground. Then, even if the trailer flexes - and it will - the bow stays tight to the winch v-block and can not cause wear and tear on either the winch stand nor the bow of of the boat itself.

You can take a strap and loop it around the tongue of the trailer, but it is better to add a hook eye to the bow of the trailer - either in the form of a simple bolted through the tongue eye bolt, or a welded on piece of metal with a hole in it.
Most of todays new trailers have a piece of metal welded to the tongue of the trailer with a hole in the metal to attach a bow hook to the tongue of the trailer.

Take care
REW

Add a bow strap. With transom straps and a bow strap it will add to the ridgidity of the trailer. Esentually the boat will act as a spin. And should eliminate the trailer flex.

Knot has it right. Add the bow strap to eliminate the bow bounce.

In addition to adding the strap, it is a nice idea to do the hookups in order.
I first pull the boat up to the v-block with the winch.
Then, I hook up the bow strap and tighten it down to the trailer tongue.
Finally, I go back, hook up the transom straps and tighten it down.
I have found that if you do it in a different order, you can end up with either bow or transom straps getting loose after a bit of trailering.

However, if you do it in the winch, bow, transom staps order, the boat and all straps stay tight.

REW

As usual REW has it spot on.

TB

I don't understand how the bow can bounce if the eye on the boat is winched tight to the nylon roller. In 30+ yrs mine has never come loose and bounced around. Maybe I'm cranking mine too tight but it doesn't move and I check it every time I stop for food or fuel. Although, I have seen other boats going down the road bouncing because the eye wasn't tight to the roller. The boat buckle is a good idea in case the winch strap breaks or the winch stand is not adjusted to fit the boat. There is a reason they put adjustments in the winch stand. The boat in the video isn't winched tight to the roller, no wonder it bounces.

I don't understand how the bow can bounce if the eye on the boat is winched tight to the nylon roller. In 30+ yrs mine has never come loose and bounced around. Maybe I'm cranking mine too tight but it doesn't move and I check it every time I stop for food or fuel. Although, I have seen other boats going down the road bouncing because the eye wasn't tight to the roller. The boat buckle is a good idea in case the winch strap breaks or the winch stand is not adjusted to fit the boat. There is a reason they put adjustments in the winch stand. The boat in the video isn't winched tight to the roller, no wonder it bounces.

That was certainly my observation also. I have never used an additional bow strap,and never had bouncing. In 28 years of boating, No trailer I have ever owned came with an additional bowstrap. Any bouncing I did have, was easily fixed by correcting the winchstand setup. (OK...I suppose I should consider one, if nothing else, extra security in case something else breaks,sounds like a good idea.)

But....In most cases bouncing bows are eliminated with proper setup of the winch stand horizontal and vertical position,as well as the correct diameter bow roller. In some cases the winch setup may not always be enough,depending on the angle of the bow and position of the eye,but there are many people just adding bow straps as band aids when they should first be looking at their setup.

Hi all Im in Sask Can. and EVERY boat/trailer set up I have ever seen has a safety chain, as well as the winch strap. Dont all set up's come with the safety chain??... Now I know the chain has nothing to do with keeping the bow from bouncing, just asking as some have said it would be a good idea incase the winch strap broke.......come on spring:boozer:

Hi all Im in Sask Can. and EVERY boat/trailer set up I have ever seen has a safety chain, as well as the winch strap. Dont all set up's come with the safety chain??... Now I know the chain has nothing to do with keeping the bow from bouncing, just asking as some have said it would be a good idea incase the winch strap broke.......come on spring:boozer:

Same here ,,and Yes,all of mine have had safety chains.
Yeah..Come on spring !!!!

To all,

Another thought, yes HRG is right, but this is what I found out on my 1800 ProV on a Shorlander. Somebody had replaced the bunks, I did the tye downs, it still rocked after a year of this went to work on it one day, I have a winch in garage and picked up back of boat and was able to pull bunks out and repositioned and widen about 1 inch on both bunks changed holes and the boat sets perfect and does not rock anymore. When you load boat it pulls up on stop perfect. When going down road boat use to bounce to the right against the side glide support, now sets where you set boat. I trailer all over, from NWPa. to NW Ontario. My point is I don't think that trailers are always rigged right. I believe you can take the rock out of the boat on trailer if you are willing and able to play with the bunks. Also winch tower has to be in right place.

Didn't mean to go on but another idea,

Paul

Your first video only gave a brief view of it,but to me it looks like the boat is not as far forward on the trailer as it should be. Did not look like it was up against the bow roller.

If this is as far forward as the boat will come,adjust the winch stand horizontally,as well as the winch shelf and bowroller vertically to snug it up. The bow roller should be trapping the boweye tightly under it. Because of bow angles etc,not every boat can get adjusted this way,but try it. Will eliminate bouncing completly if you can.

Yes, looks like just to much slack at the bow. the flex just looks like the normal axle shift while under wieght they do this so the tires run true while under load. I power my boat on to the trailer as winch tight before leaving the launch.

I have that Trailer ( EZ Loader) and basicaly that boat ( Fishmaster vs Monark). As was said earlier, the Bow needs to come forward farther so that the bow ring is TIGHT against / ( under the front roller).
That will stop the rocking.

I had an issue where the mounting bracket on my wench has bent, causing me to replace the wench. I am concerned that the bent wench is caused by the bow of the boat bouncing, creating excessive force on the wench while towing. Can you all take a look at the attached video and tell me if your boat acts the same way when you do the following:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7ZqLJ6qt3aY
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L3G3Wkhtks0

1) remove the wench strap and chain.
2) Push up on the bow section of the boat. It does not take much force to get it bouncing like in the video.
I believe that the trailer is actually flexing. The front of the trailer is on the ground while the back end of the trailer is clearly going up and down. Is this flexing normal or do I have a problem with the trailer?

Thanks in advace for any help.

Todd

After watching the video... the problem there is simply that the winch strap is not tight. Winch it up tight.
Some flex is normal.
Usually a bent winch bracket is from turning too sharp when backing up and jack knifing enough so the boat or spare or trailer tongue hits some part of the tow vehicle ..or camper.