Quote:
Originally Posted by sailrib
Not to stir the pot with the old guard in this thread but I will have to say I have seen many worse tie downs in my life.
Looking at the first photo (white rib) I see a separate tie down on the bow and the winch connected to the bow. I also see a tie down on the stern to trailer. Nothing wrong with that.
In the second pic I see the same thing but I can not see a tie down on the stern, not to say there isn't one on the starboard side out of frame. There a reputable lot so if they say they did then I will believe it until proven otherwise.
The straps over the tubes is something I see often done in the UK and without anything else but the winch on bow. I wouldn't condone that but I don't see that in those two pics and info given.
This dealer appears have added the straps over the tubes as a secondary back up tie down. While not necessary, I don't think it would bring too much harm to the tubes if well protected (soft side of carpet facing down) and not too tight (as seen in pics) and not going too far (1 day). It certainly wouldn't bother me if I was driving behind it on motor way knowing there's extra hold down straps on a boat in front of me.
I once witnessed a J-24 sailboat do cart wheels off a trailer that fishtailed and wasn't tied down well but it was tied down in several locations. Once you see something like that you'll always add extra straps for the what if's.
The people at Humber seem to be good respectable people and make solid ribs at a fair price and should be supported for that. They've been in the business for a long time and I'm almost sure this was not the first two ribs that have left the factory tied down like this and if it was a problem reported by customers then I'm sure they would have changed the way they tie the boats down for there customers.
I have no affiliation with them and yes we could nit pick with there tie downs but it's not terrible until proven otherwise and just thought we should be commending Humber for their service to the boating community. I would love to continue to see more utilitarian Humbers on the water as long as there not all colored in safety orange.
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I guess they've been letting them leave the factory tied down like that for at least 16 years, because that's exactly how ours was presented to us, though we had a bespoke boat cover on too. We towed her all the way to the west coast without seeing any lying broken at the side of the road. However, that was the last time she was towed any distance. If I did a lot of towing now, especially on our potholed, bumpy Argyll roads, I would be inclined to tie the stern down a bit more solidly though.
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