Do you use stern tie downs for trailering ?

dburne

dburne

New Member
Jun 8, 2012
590
Nashville TN
Boat Info
2013 Sea Ray 190 Sport
Engines
4.3 MPI Mercruiser Alpha One
Hey gang,
So I picked up my new 190 Sport on Saturday.
When I got home with it I noticed there were no
tie down straps attached to the rear. I called
the dealer and he said no one really uses those
any longer.
I would have thought that would be a requirement for
trailering? I certainly have some I can use just curious
do you folks use them or do folks really not
use them much any more?
 
Would never do it without them. What happens if you hit a huge bump or get in an accident resulting in drastic/immediate deceleration?

Tie down straps are cheap at any hardware/outdoor/Walmart store and add one whole minute to your trailering procedure at the ramp. Why not use them?
 
Yeah that was my thoughts too. I have some
I had bought and used on the old boat
so will certainly use them. I was mainly
curious as to his comment.
Thanks,
 
They keep your boat from bouncing on bunk rails while trailering (not good) and from launching into your tow vehicle in an accident.

Your dealer is giving poor advice.
 
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and they are required in many states...
 
Thanks gang I will certainly never leave home
without them!!
Speaking of bunk trailer I am looking
forward to seeing how it loads. That old
1990 180 BR I had was a roller trailer.
Could be a pain to load at times.
 
Yes, always trailering straps.

And, you will love the bunk trailer. No problems loading. Of course it depends on the ramp, but when you are loading, normally the trailer will be backed in far enough to where the tops of the fenders will be exposed from the water. You will drive the boat up and feel it contact the bunks. Then you can give it a little gas to get up on the bunks a bit...and then the boat should stay in place while you hook up the winch strap. Some guys power the boat all the way up to the roller...other guys winch it up. I prefer to winch it up and I will usually have the driver backup the tow vehicle a little bit at a time, while I keep winching. This is to put less stress on the strap and bow eye. That's my $.02.
 
One secret to getting a boat to load on a bunk trailer is to back the trailer far enough down into the water that the boat can idle forward almost to the bow stop/winch stand.

I used to load my 20'er that way. I'd idle forward until the boat started to hit the bunks. At that point the bow eye was about a foot from the bow stop. I'd leave it in gear and go forward to attach the winch cable. Then I'd go back to the helm to give it just a touch on the throttle until the boat went forward to the bow stop.

Many people seem to have a fear of backing their trailer in the water far enough to load that way. I never could quite figure that out. They'd drive the boat up onto the bunks as far as they could then mash the throttle to power load it. That seemed to be a lot more dangerous (what if the boat drove up and over the bow stop) than just backing the trailer down further.
 
yep, what they said, pick you up some straps.
 
Thanks guys. I normally back trailer in till top
Of fender is just slightly above water. Idle on then
wife hooks up strap and winches it in.
 
On smaller boats, the straps are an absolute must, and they will hold the boat in place. On bigger boats, not so much, at least as far as stopping the boat when there's a sudden deceleration. When a dump truck stopped in front of me on the interstate when I was pulling my 29 Formula, the straps snapped right off at the bunks, and the boat stopped about a foot short of the cab on my truck. Luckily by the time I actually hit the dump truck I was going less than 8mph because the airbags didn't go off.
 
dburne said:
Thanks guys. I normally back trailer in till top
Of fender is just slightly above water. Idle on then
wife hooks up strap and winches it in.
Click to expand...
maybe a little deeper on a bunk trailer ...and yes to the straps !!
 
My father always used stern and bow straps. Also he had a roller trailer. He hated putting the wheel bearings under the water. He had a power win h and would pull the boat up and on the trailer. The lake we went to had 3 lanes at the public boat ramp. The far left one wasn't level so she would load crooked on that one.

Running without straps is insane.
 
The boat actually comes with them, if they are missing they took them off. Don't buy them when they should be on it in the first place. They should have the SR logo on them.
 
There is very little room for error on centering the boat on that trailer, if you hit a big bump it will not be centered and may actually sit incorrectly on one of the planks. I have loaded mine a little off center coming off landing and I ended up going back to the lake and recentering as you could tell while driving the trailer was not performing very well due to the shift to one side with the weight. In other words yes make them give you a set.
 
jeffw said:
The boat actually comes with them, if they are missing they took them off. Don't buy them when they should be on it in the first place. They should have the SR logo on them.
Click to expand...

Now I am getting a little ticked off, wonder what happened with my tie downs with the logo?
:)
I will be finding out.
 
Since you brought up bringing boat out of water, in my experience with having same boat and trailer the wheel wells can be easily be several inches out of the water and I let the boat drag a little when winching it in. If the wheel wells are not even in the water the boat does not center very well, I am sure it is same for all boats, but this is what I have experience in.
 
MonacoMike said:
This was a new purchase? Then you should have the straps for sure. My 1985 still has the original straps.

MM
Click to expand...

Yes, brand new boat. I also just realized I did not get any copies of all the paperwork I signed, like the bill of sale, etc - I sent him a message and he is going to mail them to me, said I should have gotten them. I guess my fault for not realizing I did not have them when I left with the boat - guess got caught up in the excitement...

Also I was reading the Sea Ray warranty brochure, and it mentions a delivery inspection form that was supposed to be filled out and signed by both myself and the dealer - that was not done either, I see the blank form in my document package I received.
 
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