Always Use A Saftey Chain; Leave No One Aboard!

[jkru]

I wanted to share with everyone a mistake I made in hopes others can learn from my mistake. Yesterday I was loading my 28' SeaRay onto the trailer with my 3 year old sun a sleep in the cabin. The boat was not able to come all the way up to the stantion without me rolling over the anchor storage chain vents and crushing them. I thought I would pull the boat out of the water, the ramp was busy, and then slide the boat forward as I have done before by tapping the brakes with my old boat (once the kid was off). What happed is the winch strap snapped and the boat begain to slide while the boat was over half way up the ramp. Luckily it stop and I was able to get it up onto level surface and but was left with negative toungue weight. It looks like my saftey chain was removed somehow and the absense of it made me forget. Anyways we ended up chaining it down in combination with a new 10,000 lb winch strap and a heavy duty chain and backing the boat back into the water and getting the boat on the trailer properly.

LESSONS.
1) NEVER, EVER, EVER leave anyone on any size boat pulling it from the water, you never know what can happen as the boat is settling onto the trailer.
2) ALWAYS, ALWAYS use a saftey chain.

Anyways, feeling pretty awful right now, but im glad no one was hurt. I hope someone else can learn from my mistakes yesterday.

JKru

 

[dbkerley]

Re: Always Use A Saftey Chain; Leave No One Aboard!

You were blessed. That could have been bad.

They replaced the gas meter at my house on Friday and when my wife and I got home the house was full of gas and we had to ventilate. Long story short - the leak was totally unrelated to the meter swap and had they not have had the gas shut off for some time that day we may have walked into an explosive environment rather than just a smelly one. (a cracked flex connector)

 

[haulnazz15]

Re: Always Use A Saftey Chain; Leave No One Aboard!

Doubtful your son would have been hurt even if the cruiser fell off, but if the boat wouldn't go all of the way up, why not back the trailer in further to keep the stress off of the winch strap?

 

[kenmyfam]

Re: Always Use A Saftey Chain; Leave No One Aboard!

Lessons learned always stick from my experience. Glad nobody came to any harm.

 

[Blue Crabber]

Re: Always Use A Saftey Chain; Leave No One Aboard!

Thanks for sharing. These experiences are always a good reminder!

Glad that no one got hurt (just your pride, maybe ) and that the boat didn't get damaged to bad.

 

[robjen1019]

Re: Always Use A Saftey Chain; Leave No One Aboard!

another thing I saw once. Dad and I pulled up to the ramp with firetrucks all around. I walked up to a guy at the dock and he began to tell me how his truck ended up at the bottom of the river. Lucky his kids were on the dock. he was backing the boat into the water. Got out to push it in and the truck just kept going backwards. He missed park and didn't set the parking break. He was just happy that his kids weren't still strapped in their seats when it happened.
Since that day, I never forget to set the emergency break, and I always make sure the kids are wearing life jackets and don't have seat belts on when launching the boat.


Funny part of the story, wife comes home next day from work and told me about a guy she works with that drown his 3 month old pickup in the river.

 

[rrhodes]

Re: Always Use A Saftey Chain; Leave No One Aboard!

After reading this I replaced my safety chain with a shorter heavier chain and hook.....

 

[This_lil_fishy]

Re: Always Use A Saftey Chain; Leave No One Aboard!

My new trailer wasn't even equipped with a safety chain. When I brought this to my dealers attention he had a shocked look, and ran back to the shop and had the mechanic add one to the trailer. I never load with someone in the boat, but still, it's a new boat, and the thought of it laying on the ramp gives me goose bumps!

Ian