After I bought a slick kit from Cabelas for the bunks on my tracker trailer, when I go to put the boat back on I have to leave it in gear at a 1/4 throttle so the boat won't slide off when I go to the front to hook the bow strap. I really didn't feel safe doing that on top of the debris around the dock stirring up and hitting my prop. So I hopped on the good 'ol internet and did some homework and found Boat Buddies from Cabelas.
I hopped on a few forums, read reviews, and talked to other boaters before I spent the money. There are two types depending on the size of your boat. I went with the heavier one to be safe. Basically it is a device that takes the place of the roller on the winch mount that has a spring loaded pin that pops through the bow eye after it trips the trigger when you drive the bow of the boat against it.
I must say it is one of the best things I ever bought for a boat and I highly recommend it. I have launched the boat 130 times since I installed it and it works the same every time and is holding up very well, I am really impressed and happy with it. So I took some pics of the install so you guys have an idea what it looks like and what is involved.
The hardest part of the install is if you need to install a longer bow eye, which comes with the kit and unfortunately I had to do to get it to work right. Depending on what type of boat you have this can be easy or a nightmare. In my case it was very difficult but I got it done.
Here are the first 3 pics of the original roller and winch setup.
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