Thread: Safety chains are for a reason.

I have seen another example of a reasonable size boat coming off a trailer.
This time it was a 24ft fibre glass stern drive at the local boat club in Sydney.
Access to the boat launching ramp was via steep driveway arrangement with a sharp turn.
The boat is again considered correctly attached to the trailer.
Again the boat moved forward during the decent down the drive way which the winch and safety chain poorly stop but during the turn in the steep driveway the bow post with the winch and the front draw bar area of the trailer flexed away from the bow of the boat and the boat becomes free to move forward breaking the winch and safety chain rear hold down strap again.
The boat continued forward taking out one rearwards corner of the tow vehicle and the boat stern still on the trailer and the bow wedged cross the cutting of the drive way.
It was cause by poor boat trailer design.
The trailer was gal steel.
I believe the current alloy boat trailers can flex alot, but appear to use the outer frame memeber carried further forward, may be because of flex.
Another thing to be carefull of.

Once witnessed an incident on a motorway in wellington which was amusing to look at but would have been very stressful for the boat owner, he was heading down hill on the motorway, the trailer starting fish tailing on him, pushed him off into gravel on the side of motorway and then jack-knifed to a sudden stop. The boat shot forward off the front of trailer and slid down a bush clad bank of at least 40ft in height....would have been a lot of damage and quite a recovery.

Originally Posted by 101 Ron

I have seen another example of a reasonable size boat coming off a trailer.
This time it was a 24ft fibre glass stern drive at the local boat club in Sydney.
Access to the boat launching ramp was via steep driveway arrangement with a sharp turn.
The boat is again considered correctly attached to the trailer.
Again the boat moved forward during the decent down the drive way which the winch and safety chain poorly stop but during the turn in the steep driveway the bow post with the winch and the front draw bar area of the trailer flexed away from the bow of the boat and the boat becomes free to move forward breaking the winch and safety chain rear hold down strap again.
The boat continued forward taking out one rearwards corner of the tow vehicle and the boat stern still on the trailer and the bow wedged cross the cutting of the drive way.
It was cause by poor boat trailer design.
The trailer was gal steel.
I believe the current alloy boat trailers can flex alot, but appear to use the outer frame memeber carried further forward, may be because of flex.
Another thing to be carefull of.

Hence why if you try and interrupt or distract me when launching or retrieving my boat you’ll be polite told to **** off for 5 minutes.

I set up a routine and follow it to the letter..


One other thing I didnt mention when I lost my boat.
It was the day my father died while serving with the RFS.
The police was told roughly where I was camping out over night on the river with the boat............to their credit they sent a police boat out to find me and it took them much effort because of smoke from the fires.
Naturally I wanted to get straight back to my mums place asap.
My mind was not where it should have been , the boat was hooked up correctly, but I was not keeping a eye on the trailer in the mirrors like I usually would after the sudden stop at the intersection.

Thanks for sharing that Ron.
That would have been horrific news and understandably your mind would have been anywhere but focused.

We had similar at work last year, a gentlemen operating an ADT (Articulated dump truck) received some bad news by mobile.
His mind was anywhere but focused after that call, and it lead to a High Potential Incident - he lost track of his task - driving forward without placing the tray down (they can move in 1st only with tray up).
The location of his task was in between plant and he hit some critical infrastructure.

I’m saying I agree for certain; At times it’s difficult to focus....

Take care all.

Originally Posted by Tombie

Hence why if you try and interrupt or distract me when launching or retrieving my boat you’ll be polite told to **** off for 5 minutes.

I set up a routine and follow it to the letter..

LOL. I had my mobile in my pants pocket and some one was ringing me whilst I was reversing down the ramp just a few days ago, I didn't answer and they keep redialing, it's hard to believe but it is most distracting the loud ringing whilst you try to concentrate on the task at hand.

Here's another Vid. from the same boat ramp, this time wheel comes off. Possibly doesn't check his wheel bearings regularly, a potential disaster waiting to happen if it came off at highway speed and hit another vehicle.

Recent at RYE boat ramp, seems some one forgot to leave the safety chain until you are at the water. Those winch pawls are not that strong on their own.
RYE.JPG

This one managed to launch without dramas so must have had his safety chain on at launching, but then he goes and does this. This is why I try to avoid this ramp.