Winching up to bow stop

[jmarty10]

I have an 2008 18 foot larson fiberglass bowrider with an EZ loader bunk trailer. I am having difficulty getting the boat to sit tight on the bow stop roller. I kept the top of the bunks, maybe a quarter of them, out of the water. The boat actually came up to the bow stop, It seemed to have tightened against the stop. When I prepped the boat to leave for home, the boat was now about an inch off the bow stop??? Why is this happening and am I submerging my bunks enough or do I need to submerge more. Thanks

 

[rs1lollie]

Re: Winching up to bow stop

You could move the winch and stop bracket an 1" closer to the boat.

 

[7-c's]

Re: Winching up to bow stop

same thing happens to me- seems to be tight against the bow roller ,then when i pull out, it's maybe 1/2-3/4 inch away. this seems to happen more when i have the trailer completely submerged with only 1 turn on the winch being enough. when i only back down the ramp so that the top of the fenders show, i might have to crank it a little more but lately it seems to be a tight fit on the bow stop afterwards?? (maybe the boat stern still floating on the water changes everything after pulling out?) -who knows??

 

[EddiePetty]

Re: Winching up to bow stop

The boat actually came up to the bow stop, It seemed to have tightened against the stop. When I prepped the boat to leave for home, the boat was now about an inch off the bow stop??? Why is this happening and am I submerging my bunks enough or do I need to submerge more. Thanks

Ah Ha !!!!

The stern is still floating when the bow initially hits the stop. Once the hull has cleared the water and settled on the bunks the bow raises up off the stop. Thus the clearance to the bow stop.
I initially encountered the same problem with my 20' V-20 Wellcraft. My simple solution was to adjust the safety chain so that it just reached the boweye once the boat was properly bunked. This meant that I had to crank the winch about two turn AFTER the bow reached the stop while the stern was still in the water. Latch the safety chain and proceed to pull out. The bow now stays snug to the stop.
HTH's.... Ed in 'ol Virginny

 

[BLU LUNCH]

Re: Winching up to bow stop

Ah Ha !!!!

The stern is still floating when the bow initially hits the stop. Once the hull has cleared the water and settled on the bunks the bow raises up off the stop. Thus the clearance to the bow stop.
I initially encountered the same problem with my 20' V-20 Wellcraft. My simple solution was to adjust the safety chain so that it just reached the boweye once the boat was properly bunked. This meant that I had to crank the winch about two turn AFTER the bow reached the stop while the stern was still in the water. Latch the safety chain and proceed to pull out. The bow now stays snug to the stop.
HTH's.... Ed in 'ol Virginny

I'm running a roller trailer with a 74 CC V-20 I don't have that problem

 

[jmarty10]

Re: Winching up to bow stop

OK - I was able to move the winch up by loosening the bolts and moving it up on the winch stand. Cranked it down as far as I can go and its on the stop. But man, is it normal having to crank the winch that hard? How much stress can the bow hook stand. I'm starting to trailer more and more now and it would seem if that bow hook comes loose it would be a disaster?!?!

 

[LIQUID PROZAC]

Re: Winching up to bow stop

use a safety chain and don't stress it

 

[derekpfeiffer]

Re: Winching up to bow stop

OK - I was able to move the winch up by loosening the bolts and moving it up on the winch stand. Cranked it down as far as I can go and its on the stop. But man, is it normal having to crank the winch that hard? How much stress can the bow hook stand. I'm starting to trailer more and more now and it would seem if that bow hook comes loose it would be a disaster?!?!

One question nobody has asked is before moving your bow stop/winch be sure that the back of the boat is at least flush with the bunks so it is being well supported.

I've got an 22.5ft larson and always leave my fender barely out of the water and winch it up till it starts getting a little snug then have the wife back in another 6 or 8 inches, crank a lil more back in crank usually 2 or 3 times and it will come right up to the bow stop without feeling like its gona rip the bow ring out. and when pulling out it is ALWAYS perfect. have never had it not be perfectly centered or had a problem with it not being snug against the bow stop.

 

[jmarty10]

Re: Winching up to bow stop

Great tip derek. I'm going to try that next time out!

 

[derekpfeiffer]

Re: Winching up to bow stop

Great tip derek. I'm going to try that next time out!

You're welcome!! Let me know how it works out for you. Takes just a little more time but doesn't stress anything from pulling so hard either!

 

[am_dew]

Re: Winching up to bow stop

Yes, thanks Derek! When you say "winch it up till it starts getting a little snug" does that mean that the winch strap is getting tight or that the bow eye is getting close to the bow stop? Or something else? Thanks again...I'll also be trying this the next time I go out.

 

[htv]

Re: Winching up to bow stop

I had the same problem with my 22' Regal. I realized I had the problem when I was low on fuel in the boat. When the tank was close to full (54 gallons) I had no problem. So yea the stern floated. I winch it up as close as I can back up a couple of inches and give it an extra crank and all is fine.

 

[derekpfeiffer]

Re: Winching up to bow stop

Yes, thanks Derek! When you say "winch it up till it starts getting a little snug" does that mean that the winch strap is getting tight or that the bow eye is getting close to the bow stop? Or something else? Thanks again...I'll also be trying this the next time I go out.

yea everytime that the winch strap starts getting snug back the trailer in a little further until the bow ring gets all the way to the bow stop and pull the trailer out. I've got vynil bunkcaps on my trailer so I don't have to dunk them but be sure tho to dunk carpeted bunks first it'll crank up a lot easier and not scuff your hull!!

Also be careful not to back too far down beteen cranking especially when pulling out of a river or somewhere with a stiff wind the boat could possibly drift.

Glad I could help you guys a lil!!!

 

[kenmyfam]

Re: Winching up to bow stop

I have always had the "one more click" thing with the winch no matter what I do, what depth etc. That's just how it has always been.

 

[fishin addiction]

Re: Winching up to bow stop

This is a very easy fix. Don't back the trailer as far down. The stern shouldent be floating. You should have to use your motor to push the boat up to the stop, Then tighnen winch. Rember, launch deep retrieve shallow.

 

[109jb]

Re: Winching up to bow stop

This is a very easy fix. Don't back the trailer as far down. The stern shouldent be floating. You should have to use your motor to push the boat up to the stop, Then tighnen winch. Rember, launch deep retrieve shallow.

That would be called power loading. Power loading is frowned upon as it can harm the ramp. Here is a link Many ramps are posted "No power loading".

Drive-on and power loading are different though. When driving on you idle the boat onto the trailer and winch it the rest of the way. This is fine and accepted.

 

[wajajaja02]

Re: Winching up to bow stop

the coil of winch strap is loose under the last few feet winding of wet webbing when you tighten it up, then it drys/ unwind from within and allows the boat to release a little bit thus the one inch of play.

 

[craze1cars]

Re: Winching up to bow stop

That would be called power loading. Power loading is frowned upon as it can harm the ramp. [

Strong blanket statement, not always true. It is perfectly acceptable in SOME locations. I agree one needs to be aware if it is prohibited or possibly can damage the ramp (pretty much a bad idea at ANY ramp that is not 100% concrete at least 60 feet into the water to reach well past your prop wash.

But every lake that I personally frequent has long, deep, 100% concrete ramps that are literally 100's of feet long underwater. They're designed to take the abuse. The marinas charge $12 per launch on weekdays, and $27 per launch on weekends. And they make money on VOLUME. As a result, they actually ENCOURAGE power-loading because it is faster and they can run more boats if you're not clogging up their ramps with the slow unpowered winching process.

There's 2 sides to everything. Location location location.

 

[Knightgang]

Re: Winching up to bow stop

I drive on, so I do not have a problem with slack after pull out. Yes, I power load, but if it is done right, I only have to power about one foot onto the trailer. With enough glide, I can almost get to the bow stop without power. Additionally, alot of people do nto realize that when you power load, you get better results if you trim up a bit. This does two things, 1. It helps lift the bow to ride it up the trailer easier, and 2. It reduces the amount of washout below the motor.

I hate to see the power loaders that barely put the trailer in the water then sit on the the controls at WOT trying to get up the trailer. When power loading, you should not not have to get much above 1/4 throttle for more than 2-4 seconds at most to get in place on the trailer...

 

[nitsuj]

Re: Winching up to bow stop

I'm sure power loading works for some, but I just can't get comfortable doing it. I pull the winch cable out about half way down the trailer, then back the truck down. Idle onto the first roller then kill the motor. Hook up the cable and crank it on. And I've always used the method Derek describes. Pull it on, when it gets tight, I have the trailer back up a few more feet. Then pull it on the rest of the way. Nice and easy and just takes a 2 minutes tops.