Im dealing with a 30 year old boat and the fact I am a Murphys Law half the time.stickman wrote:Hey Katie, I remember reading that too. My take-away from the thread was that the eyelets welded to the toons are there for lifting during manufacture. They would support that type of a load fine (since that's what they are designed for), but may not take extreme side-to-side loads. They would also probably be fine for strapping to a trailer winch as that again is not side-to-side loads.
However, using the eyelets for towables (which would result in side-to-side loads if you tow tubes like I do) is not a good idea, nor is using them to tie up off to the side of a dock where the risk of excessive side loads could be present in the case of storms, tide changes, or other excessive non-linear loads.
With that said, on a typical day on the water using the eyelets to tie an anchor to should not be a problem, especially if it is just going to hold you in place without a lot of stress placed on them. However, if you have thrown out the anchor and are hoping to ride out a storm and want the eyelets to keep you in place, I would agree that using them might be of concern.
As I said, that's what I took away from the former discussion. When I got my boat (with a center toon), the dealer had the trailer winch connected to the toon eyelet, and I have used it for that purpose ever since. I do have cleats that I use for anchors, though.
Sounds like you have been reading and taking to heart the information you have been given in the past. Much better than the boater that thinks they know it all only to find out too late that they don't. Good luck, and happy boating.
I would be risky if the boat was newer and I wasn't a klutz.....so Im gonna stick with the cleat on the frame lol
