No Center Attachment for Hauling onto the Trailer

[Clay1]

Hello, this is my first post.
I just bought an early 90's Crest 18' pontoon. It appears that the only attachments for pulling the boat onto the trailer are on the front of the pontoons. Is this normal? Is there a way to attach a pulling bolt to the front/middle of the boat?
Thanks in advance for your input.

 

[Scott Danforth]

yes, that is normal.

do you have a v-bunk trailer or a scissor trailer?

 

[Clay1]

yes, that is normal.

do you have a v-bunk trailer or a scissor trailer?

I have a bunk-type trailer.

 

[Scott Danforth]

got a pic? on most V-bunk setups, there is a goal-post arrangement for the bump stops with a single winch in the middle, or two winches, one in front of each toon log.

your crest is most likely a 2-log pontoon

with a single winch, usually a bridle is used

which one do you have?

most 2-log 'toon decks do not have the structure to "pull" a boat up. most pontoons are floated on the trailer or floated off.

 

[jlh3rd]

?...is there some confusion.
my '06 pontoon with a bunk trailer has a center bow eye for attaching the winch strap and safety chain.
Most all pontoons have a center bow eye for winching the boat up the trailer. No bridle.
This is assuming the pontoon has been loaded "normally".

 

[Scott Danforth]

?...is there some confusion.
my '06 pontoon with a bunk trailer has a center bow eye for attaching the winch strap and safety chain.
Most all pontoons have a center bow eye for winching the boat up the trailer. No bridle.
This is assuming the pontoon has been loaded "normally".

a mid 90's crest would not have a center bow eye. most were sold with scissor trailers

 

[redneck joe]

Welcome to the forum.

 

[Clay1]

got a pic? on most V-bunk setups, there is a goal-post arrangement for the bump stops with a single winch in the middle, or two winches, one in front of each toon log.

your crest is most likely a 2-log pontoon

with a single winch, usually a bridle is used

which one do you have?

most 2-log 'toon decks do not have the structure to "pull" a boat up. most pontoons are floated on the trailer or floated off.

This is very helpful. My only other boat was a 16' utility boat, hence the ignorance about pontoon boats. You are right about the goal-post arrangement. It is two logs, and a single winch. You mentioned a bridle. Do you mean something like an O'Brien bridle? The one with the odd shaped connector?

 

[redneck joe]

This is very helpful. My only other boat was a 16' utility boat, hence the ignorance about pontoon boats. You are right about the goal-post arrangement. It is two logs, and a single winch. You mentioned a bridle. Do you mean something like an O'Brien bridle? The one with the odd shaped connector?

i think just a Y shaped system, one rope to crank splitting to the two toons is my thinking, but don't really know.

 

[captmello]

when I switched to a bunk trailer, I added a piece of aluminum straping, 10 to 12 feet long and bolted it down the center to grab as many crossmembers as possible to distribute the force of the center winch to multiple points, not just the front crossmember. I also added some aluminum angle iron as backing to the front channel. I then added a bow eye.
All these additions need to be tied together to make the bow eye structurally solid enough to crank up the boat. let me know if you need clarification on this. or, float it on.

 

[Jeff J]

A lot depends on how much force is required to move the boat. Winching a pontoon boat with a Y-type arrangement will likely cause the eyes on the front of the tubes to bend in towards each other. The closer to the stop, the more side load applied. The tubes are fragile and are not intended for that kind of stress. Most manufacturers warn against hoisting a boat using the eyes on the tubes if you read the owner’s manuals.

The newer tri-toon Crests have a center deck mounted eye to latch onto. They have a beefy aluminum piece the eye bolts into behind the edge trim. I don’t know what structure your boat has for that.

 

[Scott Danforth]

. Most manufacturers warn against hoisting a boat using the eyes on the tubes if you read the owner’s manuals.

if the boat is ABYC compliant, ABYC H-40 would disagree with that statement.

 

[Jeff J]

 

[jlh3rd]

"I added a piece of aluminum straping, 10 to 12 feet long and bolted it down the center to grab as many crossmembers as possible to distribute the force of the center winch to multiple points, not just the front crossmember. "

This is how mine came from the factory