Ratchet Strap Protectors

[Peter Cockerton]

In the past I have used soft sleeving which protects the CF poles during delivery which Matt gave me years ago, however the straps still seem to mark the woodwork when tensioned. So I’m looking at different available protectors and can’t quite decide which ones to go for to protect the hull, for the gunwales I could use the plastic formed corner type or the flat plastic with what looks like some sort of sponge on the back. To protect the sides of the hull and rubbing strip either the same flat plastic type or the soft sleeves, all available on EBay if you search under ratchet strap protectors. Has anyone tried these products and have any recommendations.

Peter C

[david]

Hi Peter,

If you are talking about using the straps when securing to the trailer, I use pieces of Carpet. I can make the size I want and with the carpet down to contact the hull, no markings etc in the past five years. I like the no cost to these also.

[Graham W]

I use Chok-A-Blok strap protectors.  The only real advantage that they have over carpet is that they mostly stay attached to the strap on removal, ready for the next time they are needed.  Carpet pieces tend to go walkabout.

[Peter Cockerton]

David and Graham

Thanks for taking time to respond, David I would have had old carpet in my garage loft but other  half insists I'm a horder and persuaded me it will never be used along with many other items

Graham

Spotted your Chok a bloke protectors and they are in my saved items in Ebay. Do you use the flat ones and bend them around the gunwales.

Peter C

[Graham W]

Peter,

The flat ones bend nicely over the gunwales.  Once bent, they stay that way, more or less.

[Peter Cockerton]

David

Hopefully i have achieved the best of both yours and Grahams advice with solution, i found a door mat in the garage, one of those thin rubber backed thin pile type designed to remove water and mud from pets paws. So i have cut four strips and cut slits in top and bottom of the strip so the 25mm strap will slide through and stop in place with the rubber gripping the strap. So they are free to make, won't go walk about when not in use and will protect the gunwales and the rubbing strip.
Thanks for suggestions.

Peter C

Am i bored without a boat to sail in, roll on September when new boat ready.

[Peter Cockerton]

Another question on ratchet straps, I secure the non-ratchet end of the strap by hooking it on the trailer welded loop (no wrap around the trailer leg first) I secure the ratchet end hook in the same manner but put a wrap around the trailer leg to shorten the length of the strap so the ratchet mechanism is kept away from the hull. I have found whilst checking the boat over after the start of the journey that occasionally the hook has come out of the trailer loop (non ratchet end) and as such made the strap ineffective.

So I put this down to me not tensioning the strap sufficiently in the first place but I am always loath to putting too much tension on the hull.

Whilst checking one of my old straps today I have found it to be worn (chaffed) where I have had it on the front of the boat and it has rubbed against the tabernacle fabrication ( I normally pad this area but it must have found a place to rub). So this brings me to the trigger for this post, whilst looking for a replacement strap I see a design which doesn't have a hook on the non-ratchet end but is a continuous strap which you would put under the hull and I guess the trailer leg to keep the hull pulled down on the trailer.

Would this be a better way of securing the hull whilst travelling, anyone else found above issue with hook dislodging from securing loop, anyone else use this continuous strap type, does it work more reliably ?

Peter C

[Rob Johnstone]

Terence didn't have the welded loops on the trailer side bars: this posed a problem! This was solved for the  the ratchet end by running the hooked end of (short) ratchet strap under the trailer side bar and then hooking it onto the bolt that secured the strap to the ratchet.  The other end was less elegant. I held the hook of the long strop a couple of inches clear of the side bar and then used the strap to  fashioned clove hitch around the side bar. I then fed the strap through the V made by the hook before pulling the whole thing tight and sending the strap over the boat. It seemed to work well.

The end of the strap, once it had been fed through the ratchet and tightened was wrapped around the ratchet hand to stop it coming open and secured with a half hitch, with the tail of the strop flapping backwards.

As far as protectors where concerned, I used ex exhibition carpet as protection. Each strip was about 18 inches by 4 inches, with 2 slots cut across the long centre line about 14 inches apart. The slots were a bit longer than the width of the strap, so the strap could be fed through one slot and then the other. This held the protectors in place and stopped them flapping in the breeze.

Sorry, no pictures. Just a rough sketch of the protector at
https://www.dropbox.com/s/7wjnt84k9tnzkfh/protector.jpg?dl=0

Regards

[Peter Cockerton]

Rob

Thanks for your input, I use the same method of looping back the strap at the ratchet end and securing the hook on the strap securing bolt but I do feed the strap through the welded loop first. This is never a problem it’s the other end where the hook drops out of the  welded loop, only way it could do this is for the tensioned strap to become un-tensioned for whatever reason, and it only needs to be a few centimeters to do this.
So I will replace the strap this year and see if this resolves the problem, this stern strap only performs the role of pulling the hull onto the trailer to reduce it bouncing about where as the bow strap I use where it is positioned in front of the tabernacle and back on both sides to the trailer loops stops forward movement of the boat and holds the boat down on the trailer. Thinking about it if the hull at the stern point where I secure the boat is supported by the side rollers could the flexing of the hull at this point whilst travelling be responsible for the strap hook to come out of the welded loop.
My home made protection strips I made are on the same design as yours.

Peter C

PS

When is your Coast 250 going to be available

[Peter Taylor]

Stores that sell carpets often have old carpet sample books which they are happy to get rid of. The carpet samples are good for protecting under straps. You just have to put up with varying patterns and colours!
Peter

[Sea Simon]

Strap ends, with hooks.
I cut off the hook ends on that type of strap, (which I've been lucky enough to have a regular supply of) and fit a shackle or more usually a large carbine clip/carabina, into the now free webbing loop. This solves the dropping off issue,  whatever needs the set up on the trailer. Allows you to clip in to a welded loop, or back on itself  around a trailer longitudinal.   Use appropriate clips/shackles to preserve the SWL of the strap set.
Most hooks seem to be "special steel", so you need a dremel or angle grinder to crop out. A hacksaw wouldn't touch the ones I've done!

Protectors.
I've found old wet suit arms n legs to be very effective, the tubular config helps. Kids suits are ideal. My supply of those has, for the time being, been exhausted!

[PeterDT]

I use cheap garden kneeling pads. See photo. My wife even found them in racing green
, the hull colour of our BRE.
Peter DT

[Peter Cockerton]

Peter

I did think of using those kneeling pads but with the strap occasionally coming loose the pads would have blown away as they are not attached to the strap, I do use two of them as fenders however as I can tie them onto the wood rails in the cockpit and keep them very high to protect the gunwales, this is especially useful at pontoons like the ones at Rutland where they float very high and the boat can slide under their rubber fenders on the pontoon and rub against the steel.

It appears that Simon has experienced the hook on the tie down strap coming out of the trailer loop despite tensioning the ratchet in my opinion quite hard and feeling the strap is taught before travelling, i would still like to know how this happens if anyone has any ideas.

Peter C

[Sea Simon]

Yes. I too have experience of straps "loosening", to the extent of ends becoming free, and therefore load not secured at all! Hence strap end mods.
However, this did not solve the "loosening off" of strap tension.

Imo, the straps cannot really be loosening, as i even tie off the free ends in a couple of half hitches.

I think the straps seem loose, because they cannot be really tightened hard against a soft load like a boat  (without the risk of damage) the boat/trailer flexes on the road, the boat moves a little, therefore the straps then appear loose?
Regular stops, checks and strap tension adjustment seems all that is possible?
However, I have seen online some straps that appear to combine bungy with ratchet straps in an attempt to solve this problem. Have not tried them.

[TimLM]

I included Swallow Yachts straps when I ordered my boat. I struggled for a year with them undoing or falling off. Elastic clips helped a little but were not my eventual answer. I went back to my dinghy days and thought it through. The boaat flexes both laterally and longtitudaly loosening whatever securing system used. The answer of course was to have a securing system that also flexes, so I bought a reel of nylon rope and used it doubled in the same places using the same sort of carpet Peter did to prevent chafe and everything is now just fine.