# Has your boat popped of the trailer yet



## permitchaser (Aug 26, 2013)

I was loading my Flats Boat to take it to the Cap Off Restore guy and was in a hurry.  I checked after I attached the coupler and it did not come off.  As I drove up hill to the top of my driveway I heard a pop and saw my precious boat rolling down the hill into the woods.  I got lucky now damage other than a trailer wire.  Lets hear your stories


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## telltail (Mar 11, 2007)

No, dude. I have safety chains...


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## permitchaser (Aug 26, 2013)

yep I do too but the hooks bent straight. I know have big honking shackles


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## telltail (Mar 11, 2007)

really? - scary then. Could only imagine what would happen if on the highway doing 65? How big were the hooks that failed? Could be a lesson for us all.


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## richg99 (Nov 28, 2009)

Yep, I want to hear the size, too. 

Once, I had a 20 ft Gulf Coast (BW copy) with a 150 hp O/B jump off of the hitch-ball at 50 mph on a highway. Got lucky and, due to the safety chains holding, was able to drag her onto the shoulder of the road; slow down ....VERRRRY SLOWLY...When we came to stop, I had to lever the tongue weight back up onto the ball. 

Proceeded 1200 miles down the highway without a further incident. My fault, I didn't tighten the screw-on connector properly.

If my hooks didn't straighten out, I'd sure like to know what size yours were.

thanks for posting. rich


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## Gramps (Nov 1, 2007)

Nope. Hooks and chains are rated for the weight of the boat, trailer, and accessories with a 3x safety factory included. Cheap azz insurance to keep bad things from happening.

Those hooks had to be too small, way deteriorated, or you took off like a bat outta hell! ;D Scary to say the least, I'm glad nothing really bad happened.


When I was a kid our bass boat coupler lifted off the ball and was caught by x'd safety chains. There was a weird wobble in the van and the trailer was noticeably tongue down in the rear view mirror. Nothing but a thang, pulled over and re-connected.


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## Brett (Jul 16, 2008)

Regular trailer maintenance includes checking the nut that adjusts the tension to the coupler.
It will spin loose over time and allow the ball to escape the socket.
I've also seen the results of galvanic corrosion between the galvanized steel coupler
and the aluminum I beam of a float on trailer. The coupler remained attached to the tow vehicle
along with the safety chains, but the boat and trailer ended up off road and in bad shape.
The aluminum I beams had sheared completely off at the bolt holes to the coupler

previous post:  http://www.microskiff.com/cgi-bin/yabb2/YaBB.pl?num=1256913793/30


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## permitchaser (Aug 26, 2013)

> really? - scary then. Could only imagine what would happen if on the highway doing 65? How big were the hooks that failed? Could be a lesson for us all.


I got the hooks from Tractor Supply in the trailer dept. Now I have honking shackles


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## DuckNut (Apr 3, 2009)

Never had it happen - I always check it after I put the lock on it.

From your pics it looks like your chains are 5 feet long?? The chains should prevent the trailer from digging into the ground if it comes unhooked.


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## anytide (Jul 30, 2009)

good thing you got all those tree's or youll never have found it..... 
-you need short /big chains on the tongue and boat to winch stand.


Permitchaser
Off Shore Mirage 18.2
Suzuki DF140
Lenco Tabs
Flats Jack plate
21.6 Push Pole
no safety chains


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## Recidivists (May 9, 2011)

> good thing you got all those tree's or youll never have found it.....
> -you need short /big chains on the tongue and boat to winch stand.
> 
> 
> ...


Lmao.


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## permitchaser (Aug 26, 2013)

those chains you see are not the one I use. They are from my friend who had to use a winch to lift the tongue up enough to get it on the ball of his 4 wheel drive


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## cutrunner (Jun 8, 2010)

No


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## --AL-- (Nov 28, 2012)

Nope. But I did find this when I bent over to spray up my trailer suspension:










Not sure what happened here. I fixed it but I wonder what might have happened if it hadn't held together like it did. I'd also like to know how to keep this from happening again.


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## Gramps (Nov 1, 2007)

> This is the honking Carabineer my Boat Mechanic put on my chains


Fixed it for you


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## permitchaser (Aug 26, 2013)

Thanks Gramps. How did u do that


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## Gramps (Nov 1, 2007)

Gotta make sure your "img" tags are correct. Your link had the url in the wrong spot. It is supposed to be :IMG: http://i1330.photobucket.com/albums/w564/tevans48/SAMPLEPHOTOGRAPH :/IMG:

Used a bad link just to show the orientation of the tags.


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## Brett (Jul 16, 2008)

Gramps...use the code bracket to display the image brackets  


```
[IMG]http://i1330.photobucket.com/albums/w564/tevans48/SAMPLEPHOTOGRAPH.jpg[/IMG]
```
Are we havin' fun yet? :-? ;D


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## fishinjeff (Mar 5, 2007)

NOPE, NEVER....Why, what did you hear....there were no witnesses..lol. I went around the corner too fast once at 3AM and flipped the old john boat rig over. That cost me $$$


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## PG350 (Jan 19, 2012)

Never lost the trailer but I backed my gheenoe into the water with the plug out. It was full of water and soaked a Glock 20 that was in the boat. The Glock had a light coat of orange rust all over it but it cleaned up and looked as geed as new. I still have some of the rounds that were in the gun, they are all discolored from the salt water.


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