16 foot C-Dory trailer towing safety concern

lyle-t

Hi All,
Awhile ago I posted about having to slam on my brakes to keep from hitting a fellow who pulled out in front of me from a blind corner. It was about how my 16 ft cruiser Scorpio jumped forward on the trailer causeing it to drop down on the trailer ahead of my rear most rollers bending my transducer bracket and scratching the hull by the rollers and parts of the trailer below the rollers. I posted a picture in the Scorpio photo album on how I fixed it so this would not happen again. Well to make a long story short I just recieved an Email from Brave Heart owner Bill that the same thing happened to him on the way to Lopez outing. Please all you C-Dory 16 footers look at your trailer and boat hook up and MAKE sure it doesn't happen to you. A piece of chain with a hook and a bolt thru the trailer frame IS CHEAP insurance to keep you from getting your boat damaged when you have to make a panic stop or even haveing to brake hard for any reason. Believe me IT HAS HAPPENED TWICE NOW. Don't let yours be the third one I hear of.
Good boating to all Lyle

Chuck S · Posted: Thu May 06, 2004 9:47 pm Post subject:

Lyle --

I looked at the chain photo and it looks easy to accomplish.

How do you secure the rear of your 16 Cruiser? I'm currently using a single large strap completely across ths boat.

-- Chuck

lyle-t · Posted: Thu May 06, 2004 10:40 pm Post subject:

Hi Chuck,
I have two straps from eyes thru the transom to brkts on the trailer and Bill (Brave Heart) has one strap across the back of the boat like yours. It seems that either way of tieing down the rear of the boat it will still jump forward when you brake hard. I think this is because of the forward pull we all have on the winch strap to hold the boat into the bow roller. The chain I put on is pulled up tight when the boat is on the trailer so there is absolutly no slack to let the boat move forward. The winch strap is also under pressure so the boat NEVER moves either fore or aft. In the picture you will notice both chain and strap are in the eyebolt that was factory installed for winching the boat up on to the trailer. I have had a couple more hard brakeings and pulled over to check the boat and it looked like it never budged at all. Once when a deer jumped out in front of me and another when a kid on a bike came out of a driveway into the street with out looking for traffic.