Broken winch post on the trailer.

[Crocodile]

Hello all,

Here is a scary one.
On Monday my brother was towing his boat and the winch post snapped off.
All that was holding the boat was the webbing strap at the back.
Luckily the boat had moved forward a few inches and the rearmost roller had popped up behind the transom stopping the boat from rolling backwards off the trailer, which is just as well because that boat rolls off very freely indeed.
Luckily no steep hills with hill starts on the way home.
Boat is a five meter platey on a reputable brand trailer that is only four years old.
The break in new with no rust marks on the fracture.
The manufacturer is supplying a new post free of charge.
He has owned the rig for about three years so we don't know how it was treated beforehand but we have never towed it over rough roads etc.
I suppose that the moral of this story is to have some sort of tiedown that is independent of the winchpost.
On my trailer the winchpost does it all, so mine is at risk too.
On longer trips I use a strong rope lashed from the boat's towing eye to the trailer separately from the winch post.

[Noelm]

pretty common event unfortunately, especially on massed produced trailers, I tend to think (and I am no welder) that the material is as thin as it can be, and the welds are done by cheap labour, so the chances of bad welds and undercut is very possible. My mate and I were towing his boat and went around a corner, the post snapped and the boat just shot across the road, scratched the crap out of it, but no really serious damage, the winch post was still attached to the boat, thank god there was no cars coming the other way at the time!

[trueblue]

definitely need a chain down to the trailer, independant of the winch post

[Houseboat Guy]

I think the Winch post if only designed to pull the boat onto the trailer not hold the whole weight of the boat while bouncing along the road, i think "Trueblue" is onto something with the tie down strap idea!

[charleville]

This is a worrying thing to learn.

I never use a strap at the back. I might start using a quickly hitched chain to the trailer at the front now though.

Many thanks for making the thread, Croc.




.

[trueblue]

I have 2 chains on mine, both down to the trailer. one going from the bow anchor point backwards (stops the boat from being launched into the back of the tow vehicle in a sudden stop accident)

second chain goes from the winch post frame forward to near the tow hitch of the trailer (2 reasons, first is it takes all flex out of the winch post when driving the boat onto the trailer, latching the rope on, and backing off the power, second is that if the winch post broke off while driving, the boat can only come back a little way on the trailer)

cheers

Mick

[nicko233]

true dat true
nicko

[White Pointer]

G'day,

I think you have been very lucky not to lose the boat, especially into the back of your car. Don't be too concerned about your other BMT. It was most likely a random failure but an investigation of what failed and why it failed is warranted.

Trailers are often made to a price and the cheapest materials are used to put it together.

This makes a kind of illogical sense.

1. The boat must be ideal and that is where the real money is spent on size and fitout.

2. The engine must be within the power and weight range and a reputable brand is preferred. The compromises are few.

3. The left over dollars are spent on the trailer with little regard for quality or risk because the budget is stretched.

So the trailer sale is often a competition in mediocrity between brands. This does not encourage quality.

One major problem is the use of 250mpa steel to weld it all together and then dump it in a gal tank. Welding and galvanising take their toll on the strength of steel. If there is a breakage it is most likely to be very close to a weld or to a tensioning bolt. I would be interested to know where the winch post broke, whether it was braced and whether it broke just above the welded brace.

The solution is to make trailers with 450mpa steel. It will better withstand welding and galvanising and maintain strength. But unless it is thin wall and welding quality is improved it will impose a weight penalty that is simply unacceptable for trailer pricing.

The sensible long term solution is marine grade aluminium trailers. And here is the blatant plug for a company that I own a chunk of: www.originboats.com.au (http://www.originboats.com.au)

Regards,

White Pointer

[fisho64]

any chance of a pic of the winch post?
Some have a brace from halfway up forward to the chassis, which strengthens it immensely.

[GLXMAN]

Tks for the heads-up, very lucky:o

I pick up my new tinny tomorrow, hope the Dunbier post holds up,

Will throw in some extra tie-downs,

Never heard of this before? Heard of trailers coming off the ball joint but not broken posts,

Regards,
Gary

[Noelm]

most people have a good sized turnbuckle and a length of chain that is attached to the trailer somewhere rear of the winch post, when the boat is on the trailer and all tied down, the turnbuckle is installed through the winch hook thingy on the boat and the turnbuckle tightened by hand to pull down and stlightly back on the boat, if anything breaks, the boat is firmly held in place by the tie downs on the rear/over the top and the turnbuckle at the front.

[cormorant]

seen it a few times , had cracking , tear next to welds on ours, and when you ask the owners you often find that there had been a near miss and heavy braking incident avoiding a accident in the past. Ours was a very steep drive with a dip at the bottom and never tied down tight so the winchpost copped a flogging only 10 minutes from a ramp so we were lazy. lesson learnt without a disaster. Cars can brake so much harder these days, 10 times more sets of lights, and same old design on thinner metal in trailers and overloaded boats, big eskies, getting winched on so the winch post cops a hammering in both directions.

I know one thing that little tie downs and what they are connected to are pathetic trying to hold back a 500-2000kg missile. After seeing the results of a boat gettin loose into the back of a landrover it didn't take much for me to have a pair of chains to the drawbar on ubolted plates.

I like the movable winchposts done with ubolts as they are often welded with thicker metal and have a bigger base with decent brace

[trueblue]

hopefully mine is not going anywhere