Winch tower / bow roller repair

[FSH 210 Sport]

So on my recent trip to Lake Mohave, on the last day when I pulled the boat for the last time I noticed some marks in the gel coat and was like what the hell is that? I do not have a picture with the roller still installed but I have this one.


What cause that was this..



The bow roller bolt hole elongated enough to allow the bow to hit the steel when I was loading the boat.. I’ve towed my boat a long ways over the past 4 & 3/4 years, at least 30,000 miles, so I guess that high quality steel.. “poor soul, its just too high strung and couldn’t handle the stress” as Doc would say. So another gel coat repair to add to the list.. but in the short term it needed to be fixed. By the way, its interesting that one side deformed so much..

So off to the hardware store where I met my friend and he laid out a plan, my plan was to weld in a steel bushing, but he made a good point in that in changing the temper of this steel it might become brittle, so went with his plan. His plan was 1/2” ID bronze bushings that had a 3/4 OD. This meant I’d have to enlarge the holes in the tower area..



Drilled out the ears with a 3/4” bit and made sure the bushings would fit in the hole.. Also drilled out the Stolz bow roller components, had to enlarge them a bit with a file and a rotary bit to get the bushings to slide in them easily since the new set up would have the rollers rotating over the bushings.



For the bells we used a step 1/2” x 3/4” busing with a washer under the step to provide support..








While it is hard to see, there are washers on either side of the center roller and no washers between the bells and the steel.


Had to buy a 1/2” x 7” bolt at the hardware store to make the new set up work.. I’ll get a stainless steel bolt off of amazon or something.



All in all it turned out pretty good and I’m back in business. I saw a pic once of a guy who had put a boat buckle directly under the bow eye to provide just enough support to keep the bow from hopping off of bow rollers during travel.. think I’ll give that a long look.

 

[Tylenator]

Great fix.

I hope it never happens to me, but, if it does, I'm glad to have a solution.

 

[Jdz1]

Nice work, how was the striped bass bite on Mohave?

 

[anmut]

The OEM bow rollers and hardware are such junk... nice fix though. I like the idea of a buckle in the front - my boat ALWAYS creeps back, no matter how tight I get the winch. Drives me insane.

 

[FSH 210 Sport]

Nice work, how was the striped bass bite on Mohave?

Non existent… probably close to 30+ hours of trolling all over and never a strike.. only saw two schools of fish on the fish finder, trolled over them, nothing, went back and jigged and threw lures nothing. But! As will see from the up coming trip report there was some beautiful cruising and days on the water with old friends.. I also did a 125 mile round trip up to Willow Beach and back to Katherine landing.. thats longest jaunt I have done in a day..

I think if you want really good fishing on the Colorado river reservoirs, Lake Powell has a much better fishery, striper, crappie, walleye, catfish, perch, large and small mouth bass, mainly thanks to Wayne Gustafason who was the fisheries biologist from the lakes insertion to his recent retirement … check out Waynes Words web site, lots of great fishing information there. Lake Powell is also a great place to camp off of your boat.

 

[FSH 210 Sport]

The OEM bow rollers and hardware are such junk... nice fix though. I like the idea of a buckle in the front - my boat ALWAYS creeps back, no matter how tight I get the winch. Drives me insane.

Mine always creeps forward until it finds a set.. the transom straps keep getting loose and I do not tighten them too much from the get go. But I see the wisdom of a buckle on the tower as well. The Stolz bow roller has held up very well, its just the mount that was messed up.

I had originally wanted to just weld in these steel ones.. .but my friend was reticent on that idea as he was concerned about the metal getting brittle with the temper change welding could bring. As I was a metal fabricator at one point and have worked on a lot of bad steel I agreed with him that the bronze bushings were the better way to go. And now, the bronze bushings are softer than the steel, so if I do get some wear I can just flip the bushings around and if need be go and get new ones. I was flabbergasted when I saw what had happened and thought what POS… the bow roller really should have a crush collar set up so that you can tighten the bolt down tight and the rollers ride on the crush collar. As far as the boat buckle, it will pull straight down to keep the bow from jumping off of the roller when you go over bumps. Many of the interstates I’ve driven on in other states are in a criminally neglect state of repair.. like in WY in I-80, but I-15 in in Utah is billiard table smooth. The state highway up to Willow Beach in AZ is also in a state of decay that is fiducially criminal in its state of repair. So my boat and trailer have taken a beating on my long travels.. I have to check a lot of the screws and such on the boat after these trips.. I also make sure to grease the chassis as much as I can and or put spray lithium grease on the leaf springs and such.

 

[Jdz1]

Non existent… probably close to 30+ hours of trolling all over and never a strike.. only saw two schools of fish on the fish finder, trolled over them, nothing, went back and jigged and threw lures nothing. But! As will see from the up coming trip report there was some beautiful cruising and days on the water with old friends.. I also did a 125 mile round trip up to Willow Beach and back to Katherine landing.. thats longest jaunt I have done in a day..

I think if you want really good fishing on the Colorado river reservoirs, Lake Powell has a much better fishery, striper, crappie, walleye, catfish, perch, large and small mouth bass, mainly thanks to Wayne Gustafason who was the fisheries biologist from the lakes insertion to his recent retirement … check out Waynes Words web site, lots of great fishing information there. Lake Powell is also a great place to camp off of your boat.

I fish Havasu almost weekly for striper and it has been a really tough winter compared to last winter. I have hit Mohave also and been skunked. I'll have to look into Powell, sounds like fun.

 

[FSH 210 Sport]

I fish Havasu almost weekly for striper and it has been a really tough winter compared to last winter. I have hit Mohave also and been skunked. I'll have to look into Powell, sounds like fun.

Right on…. I did take my boat down to Havasu while I was down, my friends snow bird there.. did a cruise around the lake to check things out.. first time I’ve been there… there was just a few of the spring breakers there.

I went LP in 2021 with friends and we rented a houseboat and took my boat along for the fun bus… super fun I highly recommend that for anyone.

 

[CanTex]

I installed a "boat buckle" on the bow eye hook a few years back, well worth the investment.
Prior to installing the bow eye "boat buckle" the boat would slide back on the trailer (1"-2") I suspect this was caused to stretching in the winch strap. Also, while towing (I only tow 2x per year) the bow would sometimes bounce on the trailer. Both issues now resolved.

 

[tdonoughue]

Trying to envision where the boat buckle is installed... anyone got a pic?

 

[FSH 210 Sport]

Trying to envision where the boat buckle is installed... anyone got a pic?

In my mind, directly below the bow eye..

 

[tdonoughue]

Well, yes. I got that part... But I think on mine that is between the two pieces of box steel. I think (and I don't have my boat here) if I am directly below the bow eye I am on the concrete. So trying to figure where you would attach it to the trailer.

Equally likely I am just deft and when I look at my boat on trailer I will be like, 'duh...'.

 

[drewkaree]

Not sure how your trailer is set up, I know some of the older trailers have a cross member and a different winch post than these, but there's lots of real estate to bolt in a hook for either the OEM transom straps, or mount a Boat Buckle. Those bells and setup were the recommended version at the time I got my boat, and I tried another brand because "ooh look, the shiny blue color matches-ish", but I didn't like how it sat on the bow, so I went with this version of center roller and bells. Had to buy them separate, as no one offered them as a set, but it cost about the same as every other set when all was said and done.

@anmut I dunno how your winch post is set up, but if I run the bow eye right up to the roller and then tighten everything down, I don't have any movement on mine. I don't really have a fair test of the setup though, as the longest I tow anymore is 10 minutes to town to fill the boat up, and 10 minutes back, but when I used to tow 30-45 minutes, I never had movement when doing this. I did move mine up to the position it's at in this pic, I think it was at least one hole down, but may have been two.

 

[anmut]

Not sure how your trailer is set up, I know some of the older trailers have a cross member and a different winch post than these, but there's lots of real estate to bolt in a hook for either the OEM transom straps, or mount a Boat Buckle. Those bells and setup were the recommended version at the time I got my boat, and I tried another brand because "ooh look, the shiny blue color matches-ish", but I didn't like how it sat on the bow, so I went with this version of center roller and bells. Had to buy them separate, as no one offered them as a set, but it cost about the same as every other set when all was said and done.

@anmut I dunno how your winch post is set up, but if I run the bow eye right up to the roller and then tighten everything down, I don't have any movement on mine. I don't really have a fair test of the setup though, as the longest I tow anymore is 10 minutes to town to fill the boat up, and 10 minutes back, but when I used to tow 30-45 minutes, I never had movement when doing this. I did move mine up to the position it's at in this pic, I think it was at least one hole down, but may have been two.

View attachment 233006

I do that exact procedure - with a brake check to get it really snug. You know, now that I'm contemplating this... my boat buckles always loosen up when traveling, even if it's just the 7 miles back from the landing. But that wouldn't make sense to the boat moving back... if it was moving back and the straps were tight on the transom, the transom straps would TIGHTEN.

The boat must be moving forward... and not backwards. Jeeze, don't tell my wife that I've been wrong about this all along.

 

[CanTex]

Trying to envision where the boat buckle is installed... anyone got a pic?

 

[FSH 210 Sport]

I do that exact procedure - with a brake check to get it really snug. You know, now that I'm contemplating this... my boat buckles always loosen up when traveling, even if it's just the 7 miles back from the landing. But that wouldn't make sense to the boat moving back... if it was moving back and the straps were tight on the transom, the transom straps would TIGHTEN.

The boat must be moving forward... and not backwards. Jeeze, don't tell my wife that I've been wrong about this all along.

My trailering distance varies widely, from 10 mins to two days.. on the longer tows whenever I stop I check the transoms straps, they’ll continue to loosen until a certain point then they stay where I set them. I don’t set my transom straps bow string tight, just snug. I do think the buckle or oem style transom strap at the bow, straight down, thanks for the pic @CanTex, set just snug will help keep the boat in position and keep the transom straps from loosening so much as it will keep the bow from riding up the bow roller, again, not tight just snug.

 

[tdonoughue]

I get it now... Mostly duh. (and thanks for the pics)

I always pull over and recheck the boat straps after I have been driving 15-30 min. Usually there is something a little looser than I wanted, which I then snug up. I then check every so often, but typically after that first snug-down, I find no movement.