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Catalina/Capri 25/250 Sailor's Forums

General Sailing Forum

Attaching the winch strap & keeping your feet dry

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delliottg
Former Mainsheet C250 Tech Editor

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USA
4479 Posts

Initially Posted - 10/01/2006 : 02:04:54

I strap launch my boat and currently just wade out to attach the bow to the winch strap when I'm recovering. However, it's getting colder and I don't want to have to wade if I don't have to, Puget Sound is cold enough during the summer. How do those of you who strap launch deal with this? West Marine has a boat hook tool that looks like it'd be useful, but I think I'd need a 30' boat hook to get to the eye on the boat.

Any suggestions?

David
C-250 Mainsheet Editor

Sirius Lepak
1997 C-250 WK TR #271 --Seattle area Port Captain --

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ClamBeach
Master Marine Consultant

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3072 Posts

Response Posted - 10/01/2006 : 10:28:32

Hip boots?

I lead a longer line from the bow eye and use it to pull the boat up onto the trailer far enough so I can reach the eye while standing at the winch.

To get out that far, I put rubber boots on and walk down the trailer tounge. Present spouse is still waiting for me to fall in while doing so... I haven't yet, but it's probably inevitable.

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Ben
Master Marine Consultant

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USA
1234 Posts

Response Posted - 10/02/2006 : 07:02:35

I agree with CB. At the end of the season I put on my fishing waders and get in the water. I can't think of any other way to do it.

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tmhansen
Captain

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USA
397 Posts

Response Posted - 10/03/2006 : 21:45:28

I used to get wet and cold even doing the shimmy down the tongue. I gave up and bought a pair of chest waders with suspenders. Now I only have to worry about falling on my arse from slippery ramps. A nice side benefit is that since the waders hold no water I can jump in the truck without getting the seat soaked in salt water.

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lcharlot
Master Marine Consultant

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Antigua and Barbuda
1301 Posts

Response Posted - 10/04/2006 : 07:12:22

I too have not yet figured out a way to retrieve the boat onto the trailer without getting wet at least knee deep. Usually I just put on a pair of shorts or swim trunks and wade in. I don't own fishing waders but it does sound like a good idea. Since the boat is at an inland lake, at least I don't have the issue of getting salt water on the seat upholstery and carpeting in my tow vehicle.

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delliottg
Former Mainsheet C250 Tech Editor

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USA
4479 Posts

Response Posted - 04/21/2007 : 11:41:22

I wanted to revisit this one. We ended up in the same situation yesterday, trying to recover the boat w/o getting wet, and there doesn't seem to be a good way. We strap launch, so the entire trailer is basically underwater. I tried to spool out the entire winch strap and attach it to the bow, that was easy. Keeping the strap from tangling itself on the bow pads and keel guide...not so much. I'm sure paying more attention to it would have helped, but once it happened, it seemed nearly impossible to untangle, so, change into shorts and wade out. The water at this time of year is...refreshing... to say the least. I did manage to get the strap untangled, and wound up onto the winch, but I still have the problem of doing this w/o getting wet. It looks like a set of chest waders are in my future.

Some thoughts are:
<ul><li>An electric winch from the tow ball out to the eye on the boat. This doesn't seem like a particularly good idea because there's nothing to stop the winch from pulling the boat and trailer up the ramp, even if the boat's not seated properly yet. You need something to bring the boat to the trailer, not the boat and trailer to the truck.</li><li>An electric winch attached to the trailer in place of the regular winch. But what happens when your battery fails, and do they make a remote control long enough to be able to operate from shore? Where do you mount a battery, and do they make one that can be submerged?</li><li>Anyone have other ideas? If the second idea here on the list could be made do-able, a come along would suffice in a pinch to move the boat onto the trailer if the battery failed.</li></ul>

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britinusa
Web Editor

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USA
5404 Posts

Response Posted - 04/21/2007 : 12:23:35

Is anyone on the boat when you are trying to connect the trailer winch strap to the bow eye?

If so, then could you pass them a line that could be looped from the boat to the trailer and back to the boat, and use that to winch the boat onto the trailer.

??? just a thought

paul

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delliottg
Former Mainsheet C250 Tech Editor

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USA
4479 Posts

Response Posted - 04/21/2007 : 14:50:23

Paul,
While that would be a better situation, Rita's still learning how to operate the boat, outboard, tiller, etc., as well as handle the truck. She did admirably well yesterday while I was waist deep in the water directing her in the truck, and she's a quick study, just a bit out of her element. While she's raced before, it was always stepping off the dock on the boat & going, not rigging, launching, recovering and de-rigging. She says the rigging isn't too bad, but launching & recovery is very stressful for her, simply because she doesn't know what to do yet. The answer to that is practice, practice, practice.

We had an impromptu MOB drill yesterday when one of the gauge covers got dropped over the side. She learned just how hard it is to get back to where someone's gone over the side & keep the boat lined up. In the end a family in a jon boat ended up snagging the cover for us. They'd been watching us make several passes at it.

In a similar vein she learned how not to start an outboard, she tends to hold onto the pull cord instead of letting recoil. On our Johnson Sailmaster that means that the cord is left dangling outside the cowling. Plus she was pulling the cord much too slow to start the engine. After the second time she ended up with a pile of cord, I made her fix it instead of me. She didn't think she could do it, and tried to give up at one point, but I pointed out that if it were me instead of the gauge cover in the water, who was going to start the engine? She got back to it, removed the cowling, rewound the starter cord, replaced the cowling, pulled the choke, and pulled the cord like she meant it, and got the engine going. Of course, she forgot to let the cord recoil again, but the engine was running, which was the point of the drill, and she did it by herself.

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Oscar
Master Marine Consultant

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USA
2030 Posts

Response Posted - 04/21/2007 : 16:59:13

<blockquote id="quote"><font size="1" face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica" id="quote">quote:<hr height="1" noshade id="quote">Now I only have to worry about falling on my arse from slippery ramps<hr height="1" noshade id="quote"></font id="quote"></blockquote id="quote">

I have a pair of waders with a thick layer of felt under the soles....designed to walk in creeks on slippery boulders when trout fishing.....(I don't).

You can probably get some heavy felt at a fabric store and 5200 it under your soles.

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Tom Potter
Master Marine Consultant

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USA
1913 Posts

Response Posted - 04/21/2007 : 19:48:25

David,
We strap launch and I manage to keep my feet dry. But that's only possible if I have the wife to help.

To retrieve the boat, I let the trailer back into the water using the strap. Once the trailer is where I want it, I go get the boat and maneuver it onto the submerged trailer. I keep the outboard motor running and in forward gear (that holds the boat up against the trailer). I walk forward and reach down and hook the winch strap to the boat. Once the boat is hooked to the trailer strap, I cut the motor off and then climb onto the trailer ladder and crank the boat up tight. Once that's done I signal the wife via our family radios to slowly pull forward. I ride up the ramp on the trailer ladder. Once the trailer and boat are out of the water I call her again on the radio and tell her to stop. Climb down off the ladder and chock the trailer wheels and using the radio again I guide her back and hook the trailer to the truck. The family radios make it easy, no yelling!

She just puts her radio on the dash of the truck and can hear my instructions when I'm back there hooking everything up.

Launching works out about the same way. I ride down the ramp on the trailer ladder and once the boat hits the water I unhook the trailer strap, climb up on the bow of the boat. All the time I'm talking with the wife via the radios letting her know whats going on, to fast, to slow, etc. I walk back into the cockpit start the motor and back off the trailer. Once clear of the trailer I call her and instruct her to pull the truck and trailer up. She knows to stop once the trailer tires are just a few feet out of the water which happens to be right next to the chocks that I had just removed to launch. While I'm docking the boat she sets the truck parking brake and walks back and chocks the trailer tires. By then I'm docked and back to guide her back to the trailer using the radios to hook the trailer to the truck. Sounds like a lot but it all works like clock work. Can't stress the radios enough.

Edited by - Tom Potter on 04/21/2007 20:02:44

kevinmac
Admiral

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USA
732 Posts

Response Posted - 04/21/2007 : 22:59:44

We've only done this four times, so maybe there is some reason why it won't usually work, and we have just been lucky.

I put a line on the bow long enough to reach the dock, and the tow vehicle, at the start of the recovery process. We strap launch, so we run the trailer deep enough that we can pull the boat fully onto the trailer while still floating. Then one person pulls on the line to encourage the boat to stay on the trailer and the other drives the boat out slowly. The wing keel sets down on the trailer quite quickly, so if you have the boat in the right place when it does, it does not seem to go anywhere afterwards. As soon as the forward part of the trailer is on dry land, we attach the winch, then pull the boat the rest of the way out of the water.

We ended up with the boat about an inch from the V on the bow once, but we just tightend the winch and checked it periodically. It stayed an inch away for a five hundred mile tow...

A winch on the tow vehicle might be a nice improvement, might try that someday...

BTW, I tow between Puget Sound and the Columbia, so I know what you mean about water that is cold enough that you'd rather not get in it.

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atgep
Master Marine Consultant

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1009 Posts

Response Posted - 04/21/2007 : 23:30:31

I put mine in last spring here in Puget sound. I used the seaplane ramp and had to swim to the boat to get it off the trailer(solo launching). It is COLD but....bearable and much cleaner than the river water back East! I would suggest a pair of water shoes and swimsuit. A short wetsuit would not be a bad idea if you had to go over the side for anything more than a minute.

Tom.

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