Getting ready for the road and having problems with tie down

T

tparrent

New member
I'm trailering my C22 from NYC to North Carolina next weekend.

I pulled her out of the water today and as I drove a mile or so form the launch ramp back to the marina storage lot, my cockpit gunwale tie down strap became loose.

In fact, my gunwale tie down strap ALWAYS loosens up! I have good quality strap that has a positive locking lever. I then wrap duct tape around the buckle so that it can't accidentally pop open.

None of this seems to matter as the strap loosens up even without the buckle opening.

I actually prefer to use transom tie downs but they loosen up even more quickly than the gunwale strap! Also, the transom tie downs have to reach around the stern and back to the trailer rather than going straight down. They certainly would not keep the boat from going forward in an emergency (nor would the gunwale strap) due to their geometry.

Today I actually thought about having a couple of beefy aluminum plates made that I could bolt on to the trailer and extend beyond the stern. I would then hook the transom straps to those plates for better angles. Of course I would have to take them off prior to launch so that would be a hassle but I think they could be worthwhile for longer trailering trips.

IN the past I have tried ratcheting tie downs but they seemed inadequate for three reasons: 1) I can't figure out how to use the dang things half the time 2) if I put to much pressure on them they will damage the gelcoat and 3) they still loosen up!

I would sure appreciate any suggestions before I hit the road on Friday. There's enough stress on a trip that long without having to worry every mile about the tiedowns.

Thanks

Tom
 
I have used both the flip the lever tie downs to the stern eyes and ratchet down over the gunnel straps. Never had a problem with them loosening. I wonder if your boat is shifting on the trailer? Or there is some bunk shifting? If you re-adjust, do they loosen again? If the boat moved forward, there could be some change in the tension.

I found that after using the ratchet type, they are at first confusing, but after a few trips became second nature to work....again, just practice.
 
Another thought - do you have a tight tie-down strap at the bow? What works for us is a sturdy nylon strap (2" winch strap material) that hooks onto the bow eye and holds it firmly downward to the trailer frame - tightened up with a flip lever from a worn-out transom strap. If the boat is up tight against the bow support, winch strap is tight, and this tie-down is tight, the boat can't shift forward or aft on the trailer. If you need to have something like this put together, a shoe repair shop can do the stiching.

That plus two flip lever straps from transom eyes to trailer eyes keeps our boat from shifting any more than a tiny bit, and usually not at all, even on the sometimes rough stretches of road between Utah and Prince Rupert. The transom eye straps not only keep the boat from bouncing up off the trailer or moving aft, they also keep it from moving side-to-side.
 
Tom,

I don't want to make it sound silly, but is your tiedown strap-to-buckle woven/laced correctly?

When we retrailered our boat on Saturday, I noticed that the strap had come undone from the buckle. No problem; I'll just re-lace it. Sure....

I must have tried 70 different lacing varieations, and none of them held (properly). In exasperation, I called Mary (the Bright one in our duo...). She messed with it for a couple of minutes and finally got the webbing to hold and not slip through the closed buckle. (But I felt somewhat vindicated ... even She didn't get it on the first try!)

I couldn't even begin, in words, to describe how it's laced. The easiest option might be to check how someone else's strap is woven, and copy it. Another idea might be to check-out a strap in a boat store, and see how it's woven.

It SEEMS like it should be simple to reweave ... but I don't think so. (Actually, I think it's some sort of I test, and I Flunked!)

Sent me a PM with your email address and I'll try to take a couple of digital pic's ... maybe that will help.

Best,
Casey&Mary
caseycasebeeratgmail.com
 
Casey's pictures are very helpful. After the strap is threaded correctly and pulled tight you should push up on the bars (from underneath) and push down on the "handle" to lock the strap in place.
 
Even though they work, I don't really like the ratchet buckles. Just seems like a big heavy metal "thing" that I'd rather not have on my strap (and maybe I'm prejudiced after years of tying down roofloads of kayaks with nothing but line).

So anyway, what I did was make my own strap set, with just a little modification to a standard ratchet strap (what I started with). First of all, I cut the ratchet buckle out. So now I had two lengths of 10,000# yellow strap with hooks on the (trailer frame) ends.

The places where you are meant to attach hooks on my trailer don't correspond with where straps want to be on my boat, so I started by taking some hi-tech low stretch line (left over from sailboat days) and making "permanent" loops on my trailer frame. Those just stay on (they are loose enough to let rinse water easily pass through them) the trailer and are where I put the hooks from the straps.

Next, I figured out where the straps would touch the topsides or gunwale, and I made 3' long sleeves of "boat blanket." That's a fabric Sailrite has that is like a combination of fleece and carpet - good stuff, does not hold water, and is soft and tough at the same time. I sewed that to the strap so it never moves, bunches, slips, etc.

Next, I made it so that the two straps come up over the gunwale and then both "end" over the cockpit (so the joint between them will be in mid air, not on gelcoat). One end already had a long loop; I sewed one into the other end with some V-92 thread - making a reinforced joint like you see on a safety tether. So now I had two loops with a gap between them of about 2-3 feet, over the "hole" of the cockpit.

Next I took a strop of strong line (again leftovers from sailing), that had a spliced loop in one end and a plain end on the other. I run this through the two strap loops, then run the bitter end through the spliced loop. Then I can pull on the bitter end with a good amount of "purchase," which enables the straps to be tightened beyond the point of being "too tight" (if I wanted to). I tighten these to the point I want them and then tie a few half hitches to secure the end. There's nothing metallic, heavy, etc. in the system. And only the soft "boat blanket" touching the boat. I run the strap up and over either just forward of, or just after, the gas fills (forget which and not with boat at the moment).

As far as angles.... I think you're right. Running from transom loops aft to securing points forward doesn't do a lot for you -- unless the boat wants to go aft (not likely). Actually, a straight angle like my strap is still not perfect (although it does hold the boat *down* well). I would still like to do something even better, perhaps (always room for improvement), but, my lines do not loosen up and the boat doesn't get chafed. I do also have a turnbuckle/chain/hook arrangement from the bow eye straight down to the trailer where there is a welded loop. That replaced a tight line that would allow the bow rollers to "creep" slightly (no matter how much I frapped it).

I thought what "Two Bears" did was interesting: He ran angled lines wherein the angles "work against each other" (in the good way). IIRC he used the stern cleats forward to the trailer and the 'midships cleats aft to the trailer. That's a fair bit of line/gelcoat contact, but presuming its protected the angles are good and the boat should be rock solid on the trailer (or as someone pointed out here a while back... with the boat weighing more than the trailer you are actually tying the trailer to the boat). You can see Two Bears' arrangement in the Two Bears album.

Sunbeam

PS: Reading back through this, I realize that without photos, it's probably just a bunch of "And then I ... blah, blah, blah... line, blah, blah..." However, I'm not with the boat right now and I seem to have avoided taking any photos of the boat that show the arrangement. Many views are close, but... nothing that shows the details. I had an inferior version earlier (which worked, but not as well), and of course I have photos of that :roll:
 
I purchased two transom tie downs from cabelas website. There nice heavy duty and they have a rubber housing with Velcro. After cranking tight you secure the Velcro. The rubber is against transom,everything prevents any wear against transom. These are the nicest I've seen.
 
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