Step 1 Before install, look at the position of the eye of the boat and the roller on your trailer. Is the eye of the boat touching the bottom of the roller on your trailer? If it is touching move on to Step 2. If it is not touching you will need to adjust your winch arm up or down in the next few steps. The eye must be directly under the roller and touching. If your eye is not touching and your winch stand is not adjustable, our clamp will not work and you may want to begin the return process before damaging the clamp.

Step 2 Remove the roller or bow stop. To get access to the roller you must do one of three things, either remove the boat from the trailer (If you have a welded winch stand), push the boat back on the trailer (roller trailer) or slide the winch stand forward (adjustable winch stand).

Step 3 Install the roller and bracket. The sticker MUST be facing up and able to read. Make sure you do not put this on upside down.

Step 4 Install clamp on the winch arm bracket. Start with the center hole (Hole 1 The best option) Use the shorter bolt for a 3 inch roller bracket and the longer bolt if you have a larger roller bracket. The extra washers we provide are only needed if you need to fill in the gap of a bracket larger than 3 inches. Be sure to use one zinc washer on both sides of the outside of the bracket. Tighten the bolt until it is a snug fit and the clamp can pivot. You do not want this loose, but do not over tighten. Roughly 18-20 ft lbs.

Step 5 Bring The Boat In And See How It Rests

WELDED WINCH STAND – with the trailer shallow (NOT DEEP), slowly drive your boat onto the trailer. The eye of the boat should slide into the clamp and lock in. Now pull out of the water and look at how the polyurethane lines up with the bow of the boat. Is there a gap larger than ½ inch between the poly and the bow? If you have no gaps, further adjustments are not needed. If you have gaps SCROLL TO GAP INFORMATION BELOW.

YOU SLID YOUR STAND FORWARD TO INSTALL – Once the clamp is installed, make sure the handle is down in the catch position and the cam is already open and ready to receive the boat. Slide the winch stand back into the boat. You should see the eye of the boat come into the clamp and lock in. If it will not lock because the eye is lower than the clamp, you will need to slightly lower the stand down to line up with the eye. If the eye comes over the top of the clamp, you will need to raise the winch arm up. It should slide into the clamp and lock. Once locked in look at how the polyurethane lines up with the bow of the boat. Is there a gap larger than ½ inch between the poly and the bow? If you have no gaps, further adjustments are not needed. If you have gaps SCROLL TO GAP INFORMATION BELOW. Also, you may notice the winch stand does not go back to it’s original spot, this is ok. The boat position is what matters, not the stand.

YOU PUSHED THE BOAT BACK ON THE TRAILER – Simple crank the boat back into the clamp. It should lock in. If it will not lock because the eye is lower than the clamp, you will need to slightly lower the stand down to line up with the eye. If the eye comes over the top of the clamp, you will need to raise the winch arm up. It should slide into the clamp and lock. Once locked in, look at how the polyurethane lines up with the bow of the boat. Is there a gap larger than ½ inch between the poly and the bow? If you have no gaps, further adjustments are not needed. If you have gaps SCROLL TO GAP INFORMATION BELOW.

Have Enough Room In Your Eye To Attach The Strap And Chain?

If your eye on your boat is too small or your strap hook is too big, we recommend our strap hook adaptor. Attach the adaptor to your strap hook. The adaptor then hooks onto the eye of the boat. This adaptor is available here Strap Hook Adaptor

GAP INFORMATION FIX

• NO Gap – The clamp is installed correctly. Hookup your strap and chain for travel. If you are unable to fit all 3 in the eye, you have 2 options. Our clamp is considered a secondary lock and can replace the safety, but if you want all 3, you can purchase our strap hook adaptor. This should solve the issue.
• ½ INCH GAP OR MORE AT THE TOP – The clamp is setting too low. You will need to adjust the winch stand up until it lays flush. If you have no stand adjustments then install the clamp in a different mounting hole. Uninstall the clamp and try using hole #2 first then hole #3 if needed. And recheck Step 5.
• ½ INCH GAP OR MORE AT THE BOTTOM – First look under the boat and make sure the boat is resting on the bunks on the trailer.
  • GAP BETWEEN BUNK AND BOAT – If there is a gap between the bunks and the boat, this means the boat is hanging from the clamp. If you installed the clamp in the center hole, we do not have a fix for this. The only solution is to add a spacer, board, extra carpet or poly slides to the bunks to fill the gap. Otherwise you will need to return the clamp for a refund.
  • NO GAP RESTING ON BUNKS – The clamp is setting too low. You will need to adjust the winch stand up until it lays flush. If you have no stand adjustments then install the clamp in a different mounting hole. Uninstall the clamp and try using hole #2 first then hole #3 if needed. And recheck Step 5.

Step 6 – Install the handle.

• SHORT HANDLE – The automatic handle comes preinstalled on the clamp.
  • INSTALL MANUAL HANDLE – Remove the automatic handle. Now Install the manual handle by tightening the bolt and nut fully, then loosen the nut ¼ turn. The handle should be able to move freely. You DO NOT want the handle bolts to be fully tight.
• LONG HANDLE – If you are adding a rope to the handle, we recommend ONLY using the main release with the rubber grip. The extension piece is not needed. If you want to reach over the front of the boat, we recommend adding the extenion. You must allow 13 inches between the handle and the bow of the boat for the handle to travel (less if no extension is used).