There is a discussion in The Lounge about power loading. Someone said that an advantage of it was to keep from stressing the bow bolt when winching the boat onto the trailer.
Since you find opinions masquerading as facts in The Lounge I thought I would ask the question here. What is the breaking point of the bolts used at the bow of bassboats? What about the hull? Can you damage either if you are on a shallow ramp and need to winch the boat onto the trailer?
2006 Triton TR196 w/ 200 Optimax \ 2021 AlumaRyder 1860 w/ 200 Rotax
I can’t use “facts” but I always thought that’s why the bow eye was there...to winch the boat up! I’ve seen some huge boats (saltwater) down here in Florida having the bow eye used by cranes, trailers, etc to move them and I’ve never seen one pop out!
2006 Triton SP-185, 2006 Evinrude Etec 90, PowerTech NRS3, Garmin Echomap Plus 73CV & 93SV
"to keep from stressing the bow bolt when winching the boat onto the trailer."
Not going to happen from just weight of the boat
About 14,500 pound rated for most USA made 3/8” and more like 18,900 for 1/2” USA made. Some of the imported ones are much less and the is variance.
Perfect. Facts are great!Originally Posted by Bass Cat Boats
The strap will break long before that.
Thank you.
2006 Triton TR196 w/ 200 Optimax \ 2021 AlumaRyder 1860 w/ 200 Rotax
When I was at the BassCat plant I watched them winch one off the rolling cart into the trailer all the way up to the roller. Said they do everyone of em like that.
2021 Skeeter ZX150
2020 Sea Doo GTI se 170
I see more people potentially damaging their rigs by power loading too aggressively than they could ever do winching the boat on.
I frequently bang really hard into the front roller with my bow bolt. Hope it doesn't hurt anything.
if you are banging the front roller hard it will eventually loosen the bow bolt in the fiberglass.
I've replaced three bow eyes on boats that were power loaded - two on my old Winner (25 years), (so I could put on an extended eye for that auto catch mechanism, and then to put the original one on, because the trailer-side assembly got beat to snot). The other eye on my current Ranger. None of the eyes were ever damaged, and the hull on the Winner is still as-new. Ranger, in their infinite wisdom, glassed-in a piece of wood to transition from the vee of the hull interior, to a flat surface, with a glassed-in piece of wood. That piece of wood was a little spongey, probably from moisture intrusion, but the hull is fine. Whacking into the bow stop over it's many years may have fractured the interior glass/resin, allowing the moisture in. Hopefully, they stopped using wood there... in 1991, and y'all don't need to worry about that.
The reason for all that power loading is our typical steep, sh%^tty ramps (sometimes, they even pave them woohoo!).... same conditions that led to putting that bow catch on. I get 3-5 years out of a urethane bow roller/stop.
1990 Ranger 362V Yamaha Pro-V 150
Old Town Predator MinnKota
+10
John Clark — Findlay, Ohio
We see bow eye damage directly relative to the quality of the hardware.
We have specified EPCO USA Made bow eyes for decades. They do cost more than imported bow eyes and there are a variety of grades in stainless steel options in bow eyes. There is a lot more to a bow eye than most would believe and there are dozens of them out there.
Many companies buy from varied sources and distribute imported bow eyes. There are imports from all sorts of brands and from all several different countries. The stainless steel business is difficult for many reasons and the foreign countries have lesser regulations. In no way are we saying all imported SS parts are bad, just that there is a huge range of durability due to quality stainless work.
Even with our EPCO USA made hardware that is regularly load tested we see occasional damage and breakage.
This is true I have had to snug mine up a few times through the years, I now try to be more careful now when power loading.
And one reason I went back to a plain old cheap black rubber bow roller on my Cat. I power load every time. Most times I hit it just right with just a slight bump when the bow eye hits the bow roller. But, occasionally, I come a little hot. The Stoltz (and similar) rollers are just too hard. Nothing wrong with a little extra cushioning. Just rotate them occasionally, and change them as needed.
BassCat Sabre FTD
Mercury 150 Optimax
"It's just fishing"
After reading some of the comments----
Boating isnt for everyone
funny. I’ve power loaded boats my entire 40years of owning them. Never damaged a boat, eye, or trailer. I have, however, damaged the $6 roller( that is replaceable by design) from years of bumping it with the eye.
You gotta be drunk loading to hit a boat that hard to damage anything other than a soft rubber roller.
Nobody has mentioned the damage to props and more importantly the washed out boat ramps due to power loading. Just coast on there and winch it the last 2 foot- its not that hard
xpress x19, 200ho G2, aluminum sawtooth cut prop, paper sack tackle storage, ugly stik pro team, color c-lector
There is a lot of good information on that site. Thank you for the link.
BTW - I started this thread with the name bow bolt because the design looks more like a U-bolt than an eye bolt. After thinking about it I should have said bow eye since it appears that is the name for a piece of hardware on a vessel regardless of the design as long as it meets the requirements of ABYC H-40..
2006 Triton TR196 w/ 200 Optimax \ 2021 AlumaRyder 1860 w/ 200 Rotax
That is because it is a discussion of the strength of the bow eye. It was meant to be a technical discussion. No need to have this thread go down the path of the power loading thread in the lounge.
Last edited by zelmo; 10-22-2019 at 08:11 AM.
2006 Triton TR196 w/ 200 Optimax \ 2021 AlumaRyder 1860 w/ 200 Rotax
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