Tie Down Tips....
 

Trailer delivered yesterday.....all looks good....now I have a few questions about tieing down the boat......

1...How many tie downs needed for a 35' Sonic (8400lb dry)? I am thinking five....two at the transom, two mid ship, and the fifth from the hook at the front, but hooked to the trailer not the winch.....

2...What size Tie Down Straps ? Weight capacity ?Any good ones/site/link you can recomend?

3...any other tips appreciated.....

How are you planning to tie it down mid ship? Wouldn't think you'd end up scuffing gel coat and paint.

Most people I now run 3, 2 on the transom and 1 from bow eye to trailer. I picked up some 10K straps from Home Depot, heaviest thing I could find local.

If three will do then I will only use three.....the trailer has hooks midship so I felt if I needed the extra security I could use the cleats? or one long strap over the entire boat.......but sounds like I only need the two on the transom and the bow eye.......thanks......

The mid ship hooks are probably for securing a full cover during storage.

I have three tie downs (2 on the transom angled back and 1 on the bow eye angled forward) plus the safety chain on the bow eye. I think I am going to add a fourth tie down, from the bow eye angled toward the back of the trailer. I've seen enough accident pictures with the boat up in the bed of a pickup truck that I want to do everything I can to prevent the boat from ever coming forward on me.

BGIII......what's the capacity on those tie-down straps in the pic...... They sell those exact one's (in a few diff. sizes) in a store a few blocks from my office........

When I re-did my trailer, I made sure to have five tie points.

One is the bow strap that is more than enough to keep the boat from sliding back. I have two at the transom angled slightly away from the hull so I could put some substantial straps on there that would not rub the hull. Then I have two at the front angled back again to keep the boat from jumping the bow stop in case I have an accident.

It may be overkill to some but I would rather be safe than sorry.

I like that front bowstop they have there. Looks like a nice trailer.

Very few people do this and even fewer realize just how important it really is. Two thumbs up!

I believe they are 10,000# break strength, 3,333# work strength.

Thanks.....