MacGregorSailors.com

Interesting. In EU you MUST use tie downs.

But... Can you imagin a Situationen, where the exits the Trailer backwarts?

Kurz,
Not probable, but possible.

Guy sure has a potty mouth.

Boat owner made a tragic mistake.

I had the sound turned off; I didn’t hear anything.

NiceAft wrote: ↑Sun Jan 25, 2026 5:18 am Kurz,
Not probable, but possible.

I cannot immagine that I can start so fast that the will get lost from the Trailer. I think in the vis the Trailer had rolls.

Your solutions for securing the bow are simpler and probably stronger than mine.

The only reason I didn't connect to the bow ring is that if it somehow broke it would represent a single point of failure. Both the cable and the winch would break free.

The only way you will lose the boat off the back of the trailer is if you accelerate hard enough to pull the trailer out from under the boat (like in the video). That boat was not attached to the trailer at all; not at the winch or with a tie-down strap over the gunwales. It also looked like it was on rollers. That was not an equipment failure. That was an operator failure.

A very quick, very rough calculation of the force needed to slide a dry 3000 pound boat off of the trailer (no rollers) suggests that the trailer would have to be accelerating at the rate of 5G (likely more). If any of you have a tow beast that can turn in a sub-3 second quarter mile with the boat attached you should be very careful how you pull away from the traffic lights.

I’ll keep that in mind.

Be Free wrote: ↑Sun Jan 25, 2026 12:40 pm f any of you have a tow beast that can turn in a sub-3 second quarter mile with the boat attached you should be very careful how you pull away from the traffic lights.

Oddly enough, we do tow with a bit of a beast: 835hp. 0-60 <3s... but I drive like the old guy I am. No chance of leaving the Mac behind. Probably should keep an eye on the admiral though.

NiceAft wrote: ↑Fri Jan 23, 2026 8:57 am By now he is at, or near the Keys; waiting for his report.

Is Steinhatchee northern enough in Florida to catch any of the snow coming on Sunday

Yes. It is snowing in Steinhatchee today.

SC snow day!
The state is basically shut down!



Meanwhile NH didn’t skip a beat with the last storm

Getting back to the topic of tie downs…..

I should have taken photos of a set up I saw a couple of years back where a guy made a pair of padded 3/8” thick sheet metal/plate J-hooks that he placed over the gunwales which were attached to HD ratchet straps to the boat trailer frame.
With one per side it left the midsection cockpit open and unobstructed.

He said he did it that way as the boat didn’t have any stern eyes to hook into and his trailer didn’t really extend aft far enough either.
To be honest it looked like something that would work out for our own Mac26X usage, especially when in ‘camper mode’! We have been using the big strap over the cockpit near the pedestal for years because it’s just the way our PO had it set up (which has worked but has become more awkward as the years go by.. ). As the strap we’ve been using has gotten some age on it I’ve been considering replacing it… which might be a good time to try this new approach this new year…

Best Regards,
Over Easy