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My boat is square on the front and is a lowline river jon.
Last time out I was pulling the boat out with the ratchet crank and POP...the thing you hook the hook to broke one of the two bolts.
So I'm wondering what the heck you call the thing.
It looked a whole lot like a handle on a drawer sort of.
Plotting on how to repair the thing and am thinking about some sort of gate handle like on a garage door. Not the latch but just a simple handle. Already have a nice thick piece of aluminum to use as a backing to bolt it too.

Any better ideas?
Here are some visual aides.
The boat front. See the holes where the thing was? I need to cut up another pallet and replace that busted wood too.


Beefy handle.

What about a u bolt? Drill through the wood and aluminum. Use a backer plate on the inside of the boat, bolt it down and boom good to go.

The reason I suggest this is because of the screws and wood. Over time the screws will pull out of the holes.
The u bolt will be pulling again the aluminum and the backing plate (just a piece of flat bar with holes drilled for the u bolt) will distribute the force applied when pulling it up.

team216 wrote:What about a u bolt? Drill through the wood and aluminum. Use a backer plate on the inside of the boat, bolt it down and boom good to go.

The reason I suggest this is because of the screws and wood. Over time the screws will pull out of the holes.
The u bolt will be pulling again the aluminum and the backing plate (just a piece of flat bar with holes drilled for the u bolt) will distribute the force applied when pulling it up.

Way ahead of you on the backer plate. U-bolt is a brilliant idea. I'll take it.

I had planned on using machine screws and the backer plate. Wood screws in .100" metal ain't a gunna work.

Yea, I think you're going to want bolts with nuts holding it in, not screws.

I'm assuming that's what you attach the winch line too?

Goldfish wrote:Yea, I think you're going to want bolts with nuts holding it in, not screws.

I'm assuming that's what you attach the winch line too?

It sort of looked like my dad had repaired it or something. All there was was some sort of fiber backing. Tough stuff like carbon fiber or something but it failed. The thing that was on there before had very small bolts and threads. Needed a fender washer or something. Hard to believe my dad would do anything so poorly. Everything else is first class.
I'll beef it up and use a galvanized or stainless u-bolt it I can find one. Already have a 5/16" thick aluminum plate for the backing.
When I get done it'll be like fort knox.

I didn't think that far ahead. I saw a handle, a 2x6, and wood screws. So I just put it together take handle off door, put on boat (my simple mind haha). But yeah the way you put it. It's essentially the same thing as I recommend with the u bolt. Might as well use what you have around the house.

U-bolt idea is better. The hook on the strap only has 3/4" of diameter and that handle in 1" wide. It was an idea, just not a good one. I knew it but used the picture as an example. The u-bolt idea is perfect and after thinking about it a while I know I've seen at least one jon-boat with a u-bolt on the front.

Once someone said "U-bolt" I searched for stainless and found this one.
http://www.marineparthub.com/53816_Eric ... oCctPw_wcB
This is what I'm buying. Now I have to decide which way to mount it. Horizontal or vertical.
I'm thinking vertical. The other thing was horizontal and it made problems with the hook hooking onto the board when it went by. Had to force it to go by almost every time I took boat out of the water.
That's why it's all tore up.

I think you're better off with vertical. There isn't going to be very much side to side pressure, it'll all be forward/up and if you have something horizontal, there's less strength when pulling up.

Goldfish wrote:I think you're better off with vertical. There isn't going to be very much side to side pressure, it'll all be forward/up and if you have something horizontal, there's less strength when pulling up.

The hook is designed to go with a vertical setup. The flat part would get caught on the wood bumper every time.
Put some new wood on the thing while I had it off.
Now I got to cat hair and glass where the holes from the old one were. Touch it up with the spray can camo and done.
Already put the bolt on the boat. Will put the crank back on the trailer after I do the glass. Can't find the hardener so I'll go buy more and then find it. lol (don't it always work that way?)

Does the wood hot the front rail or what's that for?

The wood is sort of like a bumper. There is a right thing but to get it on I'd have to switch a lot of things. That winch was set up originally to have a rubber wheel type thing and that's the origin of the problem and the odd solution. Am a carpenter and doing things with wood is what I do in a pinch.
It works so I aint fixing it.
Patched the holes last night. I'm going to put another thin coat of bondo on and paint it camo.
Teal season is sneaking up on me.

Here's some more pics to give you an idea of what's going on here.
The "bumper" is slid way up so I can do the body work. It slides back down to where the board is just above the u-bolt if you know what I mean. I wonder if I'd taken it in to a boat shop what they'd have wanted to repair the front end and make it so I can hook up again like I just did. Bet it'd be a weeee bit more than $20.

Heck the bondo is pretty much the right color so I'm not gonna paint it.
Mud it up and it's perfecto.
She's done for now. (til the next time I bash into something with the front).


Them buckets....one has all the hooks for the trotlines and the other has the cast net. Hoping I can stick a few more cats in the freezer before hunting season. Dang boat broke right when they quit biting. They spawned and bam...quit. We pulled lines and then broke the boat.