Pontoon Boat & Deck Boat Forum

Hi,
When i picked up my used toon on a new Shorelandr trailer, it did not come with a bow safety tie down or chain. When I asked the sales man, he said it doesn't need one. It will live its life on the trailer and be pulled hopefully quite often. So i currently have the winch strap and the 2 stern tie down straps. So the question is do you have an extra bow tie down chain or strap? If so, what kind? Also where do you attach it to? On the bow, there is only a little hole on a metal bar that runs back a few supports under the pontoon. I don't think that i could put another hook through that hole. I could wrap a strap around the bar and to the trailer, would that be good enough? Or get a tie down and install a u bolt off to the side and attach it to that? Sorry with all the questions, but i want to be safe as possible. Thanks in advance for your help.

From where the bow strap attaches, I ran a ratchet strap straight down around the trailer frame to hold down on the front end. This keeps the boat from wanting to rock on the trailer.

I don't have a tie down in front, just the back,
I'll be curious about what others are doing there, My winch is new so I just didn't think about it breaking.

Most Trackers have something like this. You need a strap or chain! Especially if you are towing the winch straps will break. I am on my third one in 5 years!

Our Suntracker came with what appears to be a safety strap in addition to the regular winch strap. Trailer stored in pole barn so no sun beating down on winch strap - boat in slip.

Curtispac, 3 straps have broken in 5 years??? That's scary!

I use a chain. This is not the best pic of my setup but its all I have to show you of my setup. When I'm on the road both the chain and strap are in the same eye bolt, makes for my 4 tie down points. When its parked they are undone so that I can tie down the cover.

As soon as I get back to the Lake, I'll get some pics of my set up for you. 2 ratchet straps, connected from the 2nd crossmember on the boat, down to the trailers front bunk mounting bracket bolts on the trailer. Pulls the bow down and forward. Does not bounce at all. Trailers really good!
One thing about winch straps, when the boats not being used, relax the strap from the winch. Just try to remember to tighten it back up before trailering again. I just leave the ratchet straps attached all the time. Unless I have a very short, low speed tow to the local ramp. But usually I'm pulling long distance.

landlockedsailor wrote:Our Suntracker came with what appears to be a safety strap in addition to the regular winch strap. Trailer stored in pole barn so no sun beating down on winch strap - boat in slip.

Curtispac, 3 straps have broken in 5 years??? That's scary!

The first one was frayed when I bought the boat, technically it never broke but was close. The second one broke when I came in with no power and had to winch it up quite a ways..... I haven't put the third one on yet. I will tell you if one breaks you can tie it back together depending on how much strap you have and it will work fine.

I wouldn't consider traveling without a safety strap to back up the winch strap. I have the 2 rear safety straps, then the front one, which attaches to the same U bolt on the toon, and then down to a chain link that is welded to the frame of the trailer.

I'm not pretending to offer advice here, jsut giving my past experience. And I know that the saying "Just because nothing bad ever happened, doesn't make it a good idea" certainly applies here...I just bought a 2013 toon w/ trailer and it did not come with any safety straps for the bow. I do have tie downs for the stern. We've had two other boats in our family since '82 (20' Chaparral and a Malibu inboard Ski Boat). Both were kept on the trailer and towed regularly and either one of those had bow OR stern straps. Never had a problem and never replaced a winch. Now, I know the pontoon is much heavier than the other two, and has more surface area making it act like a sail on the road, but I would have never even thought about a bow strap until reading this thread.

Like I said, not offering advice. My thoughts....is it better to have one? Of course...always better to be safe than sorry. Is it necessary to have one? Just seems like one more thing to worry about at the boat ramp to me.

Now, this is all easy for me to say since I leave my toon in a slip and it will see minimal trailer time!!

We have to trailer 40mi to where we launch and roads are rough so we did this in the front. The other end attaches to eye on tip of nosecone

We have a place about 100 yards from the boat ramp. If I'm just towing it back to our lake place, I use the winch strap and I use a chain similar to Redbeard (I just use an anchor chain that has the plastic coating and I put a snap hook on the end). This will keep the boat from sliding back off the trailer if the winch strap were to break.

When we tow it longer distance, I added a couple of eye bolts to the trailer frame. I then use 2" transom straps to secure the front of the boat from bouncing -- this set up makes the boat ride rock solid on the trailer.

I have rollers on my trailer, so you better have it tied down as it is easy to push off the trailer on dry land and my diesel truck would have no problem at all of leaving it sitting in the middle of the road if not tied down.

Same way going down a steep ramp, I leave it tied up till the trailer is in the water before I remove it, then untie it back in a little more and tap the brakes and watch it roll off, if I lunching it by myself, I tie the boat line to the trailer, let it roll it off and then drive forward till the boat near shore, jump in and move it out of the way, then park the truck.

landlockedsailor wrote:Our Suntracker came with what appears to be a safety strap in addition to the regular winch strap. Trailer stored in pole barn so no sun beating down on winch strap - boat in slip.

Curtispac, 3 straps have broken in 5 years??? That's scary!

Yeah my new 'toon came with the same strap, and I am getting rid of it ASAP. I broke the same type of strap on my Party Cruiser. Went to Tractor Supply Co. and bought a heavy duty winch strap plus chain with safety hooks.

I'm not trying to Hijack the thread here... I had a Powerwinch on my Baja's trailer that really worked, never had to power load which is prohibited at alot of ramps I use when I'm on the road. Been thinkin about adding one to the Premmies trailer. Anyone here ever used one before? If it'll yank a 8000 pound Baja on a trailer, I'm sure it would yank a Pontoon boat up. I'm just leary of ripping my eyelet from the pontoon!