Strap marks on hull while trailering?

[rcoleman67]

I've got a 1988 Catalina 25 that I trailer. I live about four hours from the Gulf of Mexico and travel main state highways or interstates. I've got two large cargo straps that run abreast at the the stern and bow to help secure my Catalina while trailering. While trailering the straps are tightened as tight as I can possibly get them. The straps leave marks on the sides of my hull. I have been constantly buffing them out, but I'm hoping there's a technique or trick I'm not aware of that I can employ to prevent the rub marks and alieve the constant polishing work. Thoughts? Ideas?

rc

 

[dmax]

Carpet or something to protect the hull.

 

[Project_Mayhem]

Twisting your straps prevents the wind from slapping or moving them around. They'll look similar to a round rope after theyve been twisted

 

[Crazy Dave Condon]

As a former dealer for Catalina, I only used a strap on the back twisted to prevent side slap but never over the bow ..all Catalina 25’s were attached with the winch strap attached to the bow eye with also a safety chain that was shortened to prevent slapping the bow. In order to move the boat forward on the trailer, I would move forward and hit the brakes with each time tightening the winch handle. After 10-20 miles, I would stop and check that strap and tie downs. In addition as an ounce of protection I would always tie the winch handle down in case the safety failed

 

[Tedd]

As @Project_Mayhem said, twisting the straps works well. The strap has a resonant frequency that can be excited by vibrations induced by vortexes in the air flow. Making the strap "fatter" lowers the range of flow-induced frequencies, taking them below the resonant frequency of the strap--so, no more vibrating strap.

On my boat, the straps are hard against the hull almost all the way down. Rather than twisting them, I've put some padding between the straps and the hull. I took four of those foam "noodles" kids play with, split them open lengthwise, slipped them over the straps, and secured them with plastic tie wraps. I've been towing that way for a couple of years now and don't have any strap marks.

 

[Project_Mayhem]

When towing my motorboat with its cover on, Ive been known to use a bungie or strap to pull the cover straps away from the hull. There's many different methods