Replacement Winch rope?

[matt167]

Winch on my 1961 Holesclaw trailer ( original to 1961 Custom Craft that's on it ) looks original, and by what my grandfather told me, he didn't do much to the boat/ trailer in the 51 years he owned it
( purchased summer 1961, I obtained it late last month ). It has rope on the winch, which I know is not commonplace anymore, but I'm bringing it back to basicly as close as I can to original.. What kind of rope do I need for this?. Also what kind of transom strap would have been used? Right now for a transom strap, it has 2 small straps that look like tie downs you would strap things in a truck with. The straps are hooked into the ski hooks, and down to the trailer. I don't think that is the way it should be. The boat tows well, but it does move around on the trailer more than it should.

 

[JimS123]

Re: Replacement Winch rope?

For the winch use braided 1/2" nylon rope. Twisted rope or poly rope isn't acceptable, and wouldn't have been std. Be sure to check it annually and replace with the first sign of fraying.

The tie downs would probably have been made of the same type of rope, with some sort of latch that would have made it taunt. The ends would have had S-hooks that mated with the ski tow eyes and the trailer. Sounds like you have it mounted correctly, just with a newer style. The old style will be hard to find, plus the current ones are better anyway.

 

[matt167]

Re: Replacement Winch rope?

Cool, Thanks. I thought the rope was 1/2" nylon braid, just wasn't sure if it had to be a special type or not. Winch rope still looks good, but I think it's a good idea to replace it.. Good to know about the transom straps. I really thought they were wrong.