My first 2 boat trailers had chains and now my current trailer has cables. I think I like the chains better. What are your thoughts and why?
Safety chains vs cables
My first 2 boat trailers had chains and now my current trailer has cables. I think I like the chains better. What are your thoughts and why?
I was taught to cross the chains and adjust length so as to make a sling in case the trailer came unhooked. Actually saw it work once on a friends boat. If your cables are the coiled type the sling idea is pretty much null and void.
I prefer chains. Cables are annoying, get tangled up in things. So chains anyday :)
I just changed the coiled up wires to chains
tired of getting poked with rogue broken cable strands every hookup
and after a long day of hooksettin i didn’t have the strength the pull on those coils
they’ve got some tension on em...
Cables will weaken due to water and moisture getting inside the sleeve. Had one break on me
2002 Tr-19 200 ox66
I hated the cables on my last big boat. Chains are much easier to deal with.
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Mine are getting changed to chains..
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Chains. Coiled cables, as stated above, will rust due to the sheathing and if the trailer does come loose it will still make contact with the pavement and dig into the asphalt.
A cable can look perfectly good and have internal breakdown. I was hooking my boat cables up a couple of months ago and one snapped right off.Originally Posted by Triton420
Agree with chains versus cables for reasons already stated.
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This.
for those that don't know - the purpose of crossing the chains is so if the trailer ever comes off the ball - the chains crossed will hold the tongue up off the ground. So for this reason alone - I put chains on my trailer. If anything, call it peace of mind.
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last year I was in too much of a hurry to get to the local lake fishing for a few hours after work before dark. I was in so much of a hurry that I forgot to latch the tongue after I hooked everything else up. On the way to the lake I hit a bump on the back round and my trailer came off my hitch ball. It had the cables. Both cables snapped and the tongue slammed into the under side of my bumper then dragged on the road. I jumped out and picked it up off the road and hooked it back up and had that "im a idiot moment"
that being said, I changed to chains. Whats the point of cables, if they snap when they are supposed to prevent what they are meant for?
I’ve never had cables only chains. Had chains on a couple of travel trailers and a couple of boat trailers. Chains seem pretty stout and ready to do the job if needed.
you got that right about getting poked with the strands
I just added a swing tongue to my trailer and swapped the cables for chains. Much happier!!
Chains all the way, my old boat got t boned by a man that ran a stop sigh and the cables broke.
Swapped out the annoying cables this week for some shiny new chains! I'm happy now!
Did you add chains from the main trailer to the swing tongue then swing to ball.
My chains go from the main trailer just behind where the swing tongue cut line was to my truck. That way if the swing tongue portion were to break while trailering my chains will have a better chance of doing their job. I used heavy duty chain too not the smaller linked crap.
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