Importance of the safety straps

[CountryDMan]

2 weeks ago my brother, father and 2 buddies were out on Lake St. Clair (outside of Detroit) fishing for Muskies (http://muskie.outdoorsfirst.com/ “Time for Giants!”). As they were headed out of town on 16 Mile Rd (4 lane divided highway with 25 yards of turf between the east/west bound lanes), they found themselves head to head with a Ford F150. They guy was traveling east at 50mph in the west bound lanes. My brother swerved, barely avoided a head on collision, and was side swiped. The F150 hit our 21 ft Triton 205 port side at about a 45 degree angle. His F150 ricocheted off the boat and into the ditch, probably saving lives of the drivers behind the boat.

The wench strap snapped. The 2 transom mounted tie downs snapped and the steel hooks were straightened. The only remaining safety strap was the trailer to boat eye steel cable. That one remained in-tact and saved the boat from catapulting back at the truck or into the other lanes.

Luckily, no one was seriously injured during the crash. One of our buddies went to the ER and was released a couple hours later.

I think it goes to show that all the safety precautions that we take (the boating community) are well worth the time and money.

When is summer again?

[Duncan]

Wow. Glad you and your family are safe and no others were injured seriously.

We were visiting a friend out of state who had a Bu. His primary tow vehicle was in the shop. He asked me to pull the Bu with our Armada. I looked over the trailer and noticed there was no bow safety cable and no rear tie downs. He had a prior trailer stolen and for the replacement trailer had not yet installed the extra straps.

I said no way would I tow that trailer without the front and rear safety straps. And I took some grief for the decision but I stand by it.

[skippabcool]

Glad no major injuries

[Ewok]

Good lesson on the safety strap. My trailer did not come with one so I added a cable for my safety strap.

[NHarp1]

Safety Straps

Never get too comfortable thinking the rear safety staps will hold if in a serious accident. Fortunately for my family, the bow wench strap held my 2008 Tige down! Nobody hurt other than a totaled truck and boat!

(Vehicle struck the back of my trailer while he was texting and driving! He was underinsured and my insurance had to pay the difference. Kentucky is is a no-fault state.))

[IDBoating]

Good lesson on the safety strap. My trailer did not come with one so I added a cable for my safety strap.

Same thing here. There was a mounting loop for a safety strap but none was present from the factory. I installed a galvanized chain with a corresponding snap hook, which I suspect is stronger than the loop on the trailer.

[chpthril]

Never get too comfortable thinking the rear safety staps will hold if in a serious accident

Im thankful no one was hurt in either accident but think about how much energy was absorbed before they finely gave way.