Reviews  ....

About 12 months ago I fitted a great locally designed gadget to the front of my boat and about 200 launches down the track I can report that it's one of the best investments I ever made.

The patented Release and Retrieve Boat Latch is by far the cleverest device of its kind. Constructed from high-quality marine-grade stainless steel, it is designed to eliminate most of the problems associated with drive-drive off trailers.

A lot of boaties these days prefer to power their craft on to and off their trailers - a manoeuver which takes a little practice to get right, but ultimately removes much of the effort involved in a manual launch or retrieve.

The new device isn't intended to replace the trailer winch mechanism or safety chain, but when operated according to the instructions, it makes the whole boat ramp exercise safer and quicker.

It takes about 30 minutes to fit it to the bow of most trailer craft [aluminium or fibreglass] and then remains as a permanent fixture. It consists of two components - a latch assembly that is attached to the trailer winch post and a snare that's fitted to the existing bow hook of the boat. When it's time to launch the boat, the trailer is reversed to the water's edge with the latch in the locked position.

The original safety chain is then removed and the winch is released so that the boat can move back and be caught by the latch. At this point the trailer winch cable hook can be disengaged and the latch lever moved to the release position.

Next step is to reverse until the boat is in the water, start the motor and then power slightly forward. This enables the latch to automatically release and the boat should glide off the trailer.

Retrieving is the reverse process. The driver powers the boat up and onto the trailer and rests about a metre from the latch. After allowing the boat to settle and line up straight, the driver then applies more power until the snare component is engaged by the latch.

The tow vehicle then moves forward and the winch hook and safety chain can be connected. The rig is then ready to be pulled completely out of the water. In a traditional drive on retrieval, it's necessary for the driver to maintain outboard power to hold the boat's bow in place while someone hooks up the winch cable and safety chain, but this device does away with all this.
 

Rick Huckstepp from Trailerboat looks at a nifty system that will keep the peace with the Missus and take the strain out of launch and retrieval.

Over the years drive on / drive off trailers have been perfected to alleviate many of the hassles associated with boat retrieval. Super slick skids, spring loaded multi rollers, keel-line grabbers for the front and back of the trailer - as long as we keep boating some-one will keep inventing gizmos to make life easier for us.

Many of these inventions make launching and retrieval a less stressful operation for small groups on a boat - and take it from me, if you want to shorten your family's boating career, have an unhappy outing,  or attempt one too many short handed boat retrievals.

Bow Retainers
An easy bow retainer is designed to catch the bow ring when you drive up onto the trailer.  This means that your deckhand no longer has to stand in the water with the bow towering over them as you drive the boat onto the trailer and is great for solo retrieval, as it doesn't rely on helpers to secure hooks or "D" shackles. Once caught the boat pulls back and is retained by the hook.

Having sold my old Catch-it retainer system with my old tri-hull trailer I have been doing the manual labour of drive on, leave the boat in gear, crawl over the bow, bruise the ribs on the windlass and hang upside down like a bat, trying to install the safety chains and winch cable hook.  Enough is enough - clearly, the bow retainer catch is easier...

Setting Up
I saw a nice setup early this year on display at the Whyalla Snapper competition at Easter. Designed by an Adelaide bloke, the production was of high quality that caught my eye. Made of stainless steel with a polished finish, it was simple and strong.

I saw this contraption again at the Adelaide boat show, and while it wasn't the cheapest outfit on the market at just under $400 it oozed quality.  Having been around saltwater all my life, the fact that it was stainless steel sold me.

Biting the bullet and convincing my other half of the huge benefits of avoiding domestics at the boat ramp I did the deed and placed an order.

The unit has an elongated catch ring. This is what caught my eye in the first place, as I have had experiences where the boat ramp was excessively steep and the hook on the catch is either above or below the ring and it will not catch. Should you then manually winch the boat onto the trailer, when you drive out and the transom settles the ring damages the hook. The oblong ring alleviates this problem and gives it more scope to receive the hook.

When it is all set up, launch and retrieve the boat with an observer at the winch post. After connecting with the trailer drive forward until a metre from the winch post and let the boat settle on the rollers, then gently power forward. Should you gun the boat all the way the bow up attitude will have the retainer ring well above the hook and when it all falls heavily as power is removed, the result will be damage to the hull or catch assembly.

Once caught on the hook, the boat can be powered off, and motor tilted up. Attach the safety chain and tow away onto the hard (parking area).
This bow retainer set-up has to be a marriage saver !
 

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