winch strap

[mmandley]

My strap broke about a 2 months ago. I talked to AWS because my boat will never center on the trailer when you get to the winch. Causes my winch strap to alway rub the housing. They said they would take my boat off the trailer and check and align my bunks because the boat nost should self center on the trailer.

On to the posting topic.

I winch my boat up also. What i have found easiest is i drop the whole trailer into the water till the front most bunks are wet and then pull the trailer out to the depth i want.

Drive the boat up just till its about 50% on the trailer and the nose is about 5ft from the winch. I hook the strap and have my driver slowly give it throttle untill mose of the tenstion is off the strap. I can winch it up with some tension to keep my strap tight and yet not power the boat onto the trailer.

Just as the boat is about to the roller i have the driver give it a little more throttle to help get the strap real tight and then shut the engine off. Pull it out of the water and add the transom straps.

Only other problem i have is no matter how deep or shallow my trailer is the boat nost always hits the rollers. I think this is my bunks are set wrong. I always have to go realy slow so i dont damage the gell coat. When i get it winterized is when AWS said they would check out my bunks.

[Hoopskier]

When I load my boat. I back the trailer in deep to wet the bunks then pull it out to where I need it to drive the boat on. As far as winching goes i usually have my driver give some throttle so winching is not that hard.

For you guys talking about low water levels and lots of winching you should look into trying a can of Liquid Rollers. I heard lots of great things about it, never tried it myself. Just don't unhook until your in the water- suppose to reduce alot of friction.

Here is a link
http://www.discountmarinesupplies.co...D_ROLLERS.html

[csm]

Has anyone ever cut a winch strap? Mine started tearing, and all I could find was a 20' strap. It's a little too thick for my winch when it's spooled up, so I was thinking of cutting a couple of feet off.

What would be the easiest way to create the double up loop at the end of the strap that holds the metal bar? Some type of staples? Or would I have to get it stitched?

[Razzman]

Do NOT cut the strap! There's no way for you to re-secure yourself where it won't fail real quick. Go to Walmart and look. Any marine shop will have them. Get it online.

[Ian Brantford]

Bart's only has 20' straps. Overton's has a 15' strap, but it is some unbranded one with no load rating. Their only rated one is again 20'.

Does anyone know of a supplier for a good 10' or 15' strap?

[smokedog2]

CUt the none hook end, you'll be fine.

SD2

[cab13367]

Ed,

Yes but Skier's choice specified and selected the components that they put in their boats so ultimately, they are responsible for it's performance and compatability with each other and the boat. If you buy a car, you would expect the same thing. Take the jack for example. What if your new car came with a jack that did not have the capacity to lift a corner of your car to change the tire. Would you be upset with the jack manufacturer or with the car manufacturer?

As far as the strap, it will never have the full 3000 lbs of the boat on it unless you hang it in the air from the strap. So the fact that the strap is only rated at 2500 lbs is fine.

Al

[csm]

I had a surprisingly hard time finding a strap under 20', even online. I went by Cabela's, but their shortest is 20' also. I was hoping for a heavy duty strap, so I wouldn't have to worry about them ripping again, but couldn't find one under 20'.

I ended up ordering this one on ebay.

http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/New-S...ssoriesQ5fGear

[BensonWdby]

I would just buy a new winch - they are not that expensive...