Does anyone use one of the mounted ratcheting tie downs for a safety strap for the front of their boat? It sure seems like it would be easier than messing with a cable.

They make a bow version of the ratchet tie down. I use it. I welded a piece of angle iron on my trailer and bolted it to that.

The straps are more less for keeping the nose from bouncing up and down. The wrecks I've seen, all straps are broke.

I would never use a strap as the bow safety. That safety chain is intended to keep the boat out of the back of your truck in a sudden stop or collision. If your bow is bouncing, then your boat and trailer are not aligned properly. The winch strap will fix the bouncing if boat and trailer are properly setup.

My Skeeter has the strap, but it also has a cable that is bolted to the trailer with a hook on it to keep the boat from coming off the trailer if the strap broke. It seems strong enough but maybe it should be a chain. Just wondering after reading lakeforkfishermans post.

Would anybody have time to post some picks of their "set-up" in the front?

Here you go.

I would never trust the light weight ratchet straps that "secure" the transom to the rear of the trailer. Those help for bouncing...but would do little in big wreck. The front winch and big strap are WAY heavier. My Ranger trailer has 2nd safety strap in the event the winch disengages or fails. This strap serves the same purpose as the pictures above of secondary chains and cables. Excellent "backups" in case the winch disengages. But those light weight ratchets? No. I had my pristine vintage Ranger 361v totaled out on the freeway a few years ago. The boat slid down the freeway off the trailer after getting slammed by another driver. My winch held but my winch strap broke. This trailer had no secondary "backup" devise. Can't cover every base for every possibility but that heavy winch strap and winch are way heavier then those ratchet straps.

My Xpress didn't come with a safety cable or chain so I fab'd my own.....I wanted mine as close to the anchor point of the trailer as possible to minimize movement in an emergency...

I have a cable like Okie's pic. Extremely useful when launching the boat by myself.

I had a cable like okie had. I just put on one of the stainless boat buckle bow tie downs. Its rated for more lbs than the transom tie downs. I hate it when your boat comes off the roller a little on the way up the ramp and it bounces the whole way home. Now I can ratchet it tight down on the roller. I cant pull the whole boat forward with the winch but I can pull it down snug with the bow tie down.