Going for the dumbest mistake of the years award.

M

Mark Wo

New member
Was coming back from a test ride after making some changers to my ducker. Boat ran great and got up to 18mph with a 6.5ho longtail. Quite pleased.

Got it onto the trailer and headed home. Before I got to the entrance ramp onto the freeway I remembered I forget to take the key to the electric start and the kill lanyard off the boat. Pulled over and took them off.

Started up the ramp and had to gun it to get onto the freeway. A few seconds later I looked in my rear view mirror and didn't see the boat. Oh shit! I was on a bridge over the St Croix River (big river) where there is very little shoulder. I pulled over anyway and saw that the boat came off the trailer and was being dragged by the winch strap and was 10' behind the back of the trailer. Luckily the boat weighs 104 lbs and the motor maybe 80. With cars zipping by at over 70mph it was nerve wracking to say the least. Finally got the boat into the trailer and headed home.

No damage I could see but the runners under the hull are a little scratched. Boat floats and no leaks. I determined I forgot to set the crank latch. I have since installed a safety chain.

Then to add to the story. Next time I brought the boat out to make sure there were no leaks, the motor wouldn't start. Estart nothing. Pull start it would fire up for a second and die. Thought I must have damaged something when it fell off the trailer. Went home and got online to see what it could be.

Next morning I took the boat out of the garage. The prop end was in the boat. Turned the key and it started right up. Turned the motor around around and held the longtail up with a rope to its starting position while on the water. Nothing. Same thing as happened at the landing.

After looking all around the motor I found the problem. My kill switch had moved a little bit and the hook I use to hold the motor was hitting the kill switch. So when I was using the key start, the hook was pressing in the kill switch. When I was pull staring it the motor wouldn't start move just enough to start the motor and then it would fall back against the kill switch.

Do I win the stupid award for the year?
 
Mark Wo said:
Was coming back from a test ride after making some changers to my ducker. Boat ran great and got up to 18mph with a 6.5ho longtail. Quite pleased.

Got it onto the trailer and headed home. Before I got to the entrance ramp onto the freeway I remembered I forget to take the key to the electric start and the kill lanyard off the boat. Pulled over and took them off.

Started up the ramp and had to gun it to get onto the freeway. A few seconds later I looked in my rear view mirror and didn't see the boat. Oh shit! I was on a bridge over the St Croix River (big river) where there is very little shoulder. I pulled over anyway and saw that the boat came off the trailer and was being dragged by the winch strap and was 10' behind the back of the trailer. Luckily the boat weighs 104 lbs and the motor maybe 80. With cars zipping by at over 70mph it was nerve wracking to say the least. Finally got the boat into the trailer and headed home.

No damage I could see but the runners under the hull are a little scratched. Boat floats and no leaks. I determined I forgot to set the crank latch. I have since installed a safety chain.

Then to add to the story. Next time I brought the boat out to make sure there were no leaks, the motor wouldn't start. Estart nothing. Pull start it would fire up for a second and die. Thought I must have damaged something when it fell off the trailer. Went home and got online to see what it could be.

Next morning I took the boat out of the garage. The prop end was in the boat. Turned the key and it started right up. Turned the motor around around and held the longtail up with a rope to its starting position while on the water. Nothing. Same thing as happened at the landing.

After looking all around the motor I found the problem. My kill switch had moved a little bit and the hook I use to hold the motor was hitting the kill switch. So when I was using the key start, the hook was pressing in the kill switch. When I was pull staring it the motor wouldn't start move just enough to start the motor and then it would fall back against the kill switch.

Do I win the stupid award for the year?
Click to expand...
Mark~

When I have some time, I plan to write a tale recounting all the things that have gone wrong over a long lifetime of trailering small craft. Until then, though, I thought I would offer another bit to your learning experience.

Belly strap? In addition to the winch and safety chain/line (up forward near winch post), every vessel needs some sort of belly strap.

For many years I use a length of half-inch nylon - with one end eye-spliced to the trailer frame. I would cross over the deck to the other frame, then secure the line to a 6-inch cleat on the sterndeck. It works very well - simple and reliable.

I have recently graduated to purpose-built belly straps.

sm 2 West Marine belly strap.JPG

I especially like these sold by West Marine. They offer it with s/s hardware. I customize them for each boat-trailer combination and trim and sew the "loose" end so there is no excess to deal with.

Belly Strap - fitted for length sm.jpg

Hope this helps!

SJS
 
Clinton John said:
Best advice I can give from personal experience.

Invest in transom straps. One on each side.

You will never have a boat come off a trailer again. Well as long as you remember to put the straps in place 😂 😂 😂
Click to expand...
I went back to transom straps when my winch strap broke and my bow chain came loose. I was using a gunnel strap and the boat slipped under it and my skeg hit the pavement. That was an expensive fix!
 
Steve

My boats are strapped just as you show. It is very secure. I was getting bad chaffing but cured that by taking brass tube with a radius similar to the deck's edge and slicing it longitudinally. I then shaped it with a hammer to get a nice fit and attached it with 5200 and a couple counter bored brass wood screws. Chaffing eliminated.
 
I use the winch strap and a safety cable on the bow and a stern strap around the boat and trailer. Every time, all the time.

I seem to recall seeing someone on here from the PNW post a photo of a large aluminum duck boat (like a 20' Bankes or similar) laying on the highway. This was years ago. Scary.
 
When I have some time, I plan to write a tale recounting all the things that have gone wrong over a long lifetime of trailering small craft.

If this discussion was expanded beyond trailers and to just doing dumb stuff in general, I could write an encyclopedia. So don't feel bad Mark. This is like Gestalt therapy for you!
 
I always tie the painter to the winch stand and have a rope across the rear of the rear of the boat. It hangs on the light bracket when launching. I like rope to secure things, but if I travel a distance I add a winch strap..
 
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