Had to give mine a little throttle to load on the trailer just right last year at the State Park ramp @ LOTO. It was a combination of me not wanting to hold up the ramp as it was busy and a very steep angle. But usually I just crank it up the last foot or so with the winch. No reason to get rammy

That's not powerloading. That's idling onto the trailer, and winching it the rest of the way home.

I don't remember doing this when we retrieved your boat when I was in town. It all depends on the ramp, and you are the one there; not me. But my regular routine with any of the 37's is drive onto and land the boat on the trailer (just like you would gently beach a boat) and winch it the rest of the way up. The only time I did not do this was loading Clark's boat once in Marathon (Key) in the middle of the night, pitch black, on a crappy ramp, at low tide, with a current, with one drive and no power steering. I powerloaded that S.O.B. at 4500 RPM to get over the trailer as we had only inches of water over the bunks, and we wanted to get to Key West before the bars closed. We made it.

I don't remember doing this when we retrieved your boat when I was in town. It all depends on the ramp, and you are the one there; not me. But my regular routine with any of the 37's is drive onto and land the boat on the trailer (just like you would gently beach a boat) and winch it the rest of the way up. The only time I did not do this was loading Clark's boat once in Marathon (Key) in the middle of the night, pitch black, on a crappy ramp, at low tide, with a current, with one drive and no power steering. I powerloaded that S.O.B. at 4500 RPM to get over the trailer as we had only inches of water over the bunks, and we wanted to get to Key West before the bars closed. We made it. [/QUOTE]

Yeah...that's what we did when you were there. I've tried cranking it all the way up, but it won't go. Might have something to do with the fact that I had to have the winch-stand lowered as I only had like 2 inches between the winch and the bow of the boat when it was new. That changed the angle of attack.

I am still learning, however. Did the damage at PB2 at Loto....trailer was too far in, so when I drove on and hit the bow stop, the carpeted area was in contact with the red paint. When I pulled out, it rubbed hard and smeared the paint...actually totally rubbed it off in a 1/2" x 2" section on each side of the bow.

While I agree that heavy propwash causes serious damage, those of us that idle onto our trailers may be "loading under power" but that's not causing the errosion issues. Do you shut your boat off 300' from the dock and swim it in so your wash doesn't disturb the bottom durring docking? Do you dock your boat with no reverse, or countering props? These actions would create the same if not more errision at the ramp than idling onto the bunks. I'm not disagreeing with anyone, just clarifying for those that may be confused.

Idling on the trailer is NOT power loading in my opinion, and anyone that thinks this causes anymore damage than just simply operating a boat in shallow water near a ramp is clueless.

That is the only thing I do not like about Ron's trailers. I hate that carpeted block up there.
If it were me...

I'd call Loadmaster Trailers of Ohio have have them send you this bow catcher:
http://www.loadmastertrailerco.com/options2/
[ATTACH=CONFIG]504936[/ATTACH]

You can call Myco and they will also send you the same, but it's fixed--not adjustable. IMHO, the Loadmaster version is better than Myco even as the Myco has the rubber/silicone blocks sitting in a small cradle with steel sides. The outer sides can damage the hull if you come in really crossed up. It happened to another Myco owner I know.

I have never powerloaded at the dock. I don't see how that saves any more time that loading your boat on the trailer by the strap. I can and have loaded mine on within a few minutes. As a matter of fact I can load it faster by cranking the strap faster than most of the D-Bags at our local ramps driving the boat up on the trailer...... And I never get wet either... Usually have my shoes on. Simply back trailer in ramp close enough to the dock, take a large step from dock to trailer, walk trailer, hook strap and crank.

I also do the exact same, except I end up winching mine twice. First time with forward bunks quite a bit out the water to center (catch) boat, attach strap, winch a bit. Then move trailer a little bit more in the water, winch rest of the way up. This works best since the wind blows most of the time, and the idiots that don't know what no wake means. I never get my feet wet, as I precariously walk the tongue from the bed of the truck. lol I also launch and retrieve by myself faster than 95% of jet skiers and families.

Loadmaster will sell just the rubber blocks if you want to modify your existing bow stop to the rubber block stoppers.

The ramp at Portage does suck. Its a bad angle. If I pul up to my bow stop or winch up to it, when I pull up the ramp my bow is 2" away. Doane"s is a good angle but we get holes in the ditch there. That's why I have a slip now and only load 2-3 times a year.

Our main ramp at the marina is 5 lanes wide so there is no walking your boat onto the trailer unless you get one end or the other. If you are in the middle 3 lanes you have to run the boat up onto the trailer. I would say at this ramp, regardless of what lane you get, 95% of the boaters powerload. .