Hope I'm never in these shoes

[3 Squids]

Fortunately for me I'm young and dumb enough to lift 300lbs. I'm sure one day I'll regret it. I can lift it but usually that night my back reminds me why I shouldn't.

[Troutkiller2006]

Originally Posted by 3 Squids

Fortunately for me I'm young and dumb enough to lift 300lbs. I'm sure one day I'll regret it. I can lift it but usually that night my back reminds me why I shouldn't.

you wont hurt yourself lifting 300 pounds. but because of all the heavy lifting, one day you will bend over to pick up a pencil and bam!

[bradford]

I used to pick up all sorts of big heavy crap. Know a few guys a few years older than me that used to do the same thing and their backs are all screwed up. I use engine hoists, jacks, lift gates, boat stands, and engine stands now. Looking for some A frame gantrys. Bought some second hand at garage sales, craigslist, etc. Something to be said for having the right tools and not killing yourself or damaging stuff.

[randlemanboater]

I use the winch strap, a chain, and a ratchet strap on the bow eye, and transom straps on the rear lifting eyes.

Straps on the back will also keep the boat from coming through the back window in a crash.

[mawshj]

SLOWING DOWN and driving sensibly will help more than anything you can do

[bradford]

Helped out a guy yesterday that had his trailer hitch jump off the ball. He forgot to latch the coupler, thank God he had chains that held. Upon impact it broke the tongue jack off so he was on the side of my road with an under sized floor jack and a block of wood trying to get the tongue high enough to go on the back of his big fancy 70,000 dollar truck. The tongue weight was WAY too much, so I'm surprised it jumped off the ball really. I went to my house and got a good jack and we got him going. If the chains had not held it could have been a disaster. So make sure your safety chains are plenty big enough and you have some decent hooks that aren't gonna bend out straight in the event she breaks loose.

[1224bret]

Just looked at my bow eye last weekend... Went to remove it and the 34 year old piece of mild steel wellcraft used as a backing plate and it crumbled to dust when I tried to remove it. After removal found that the u bolt was bent and corroded also. So new project for the coming weekend I guess

[SkunkBoat]

I re-did mine with a big thick aluminum backing plate this spring.
It was not safe, really needed it.