There's no doubt in my mind  that if one tries to pull a badly mired and
heavy westy out of a difficult situation, the single front 'tow loop' is not
up to severe loads at all.

you want tow and rescue points like to be able to handle at least double the
weight of the vehicle.

----- Original Message -----
From: "David Beierl" <dbeierl@ATTGLOBAL.NET>
To: <vanagon@GERRY.VANAGON.COM>
Sent: Tuesday, May 24, 2011 6:10 PM
Subject: Re: Place to mount shackles?

> At 07:56 PM 5/24/2011, Dave Mcneely wrote:
>>Mr. Squirrel, my '91 camper has tow loops on the front, as well.
>
> Does yours have two?  I've only ever seen one on the front, on the right
> side.
>
> Just to be picky, neither the one(s) in the front nor the back are
> "tow loops."  They are "holdfast points" by means of which the
> vehicles are lashed down to the deck during their ocean passage from
> builder to point of sale, and they're meant to take a strain pointed
> maybe 30-45 degrees downward.  What you do with them afterwards is
> entirely up to you.
>
> In particular I'd be inclined to be very cautious about applying side
> loads, especially to the forward one.  I don't have any hard data on
> this, just a feeling.
>
> Yours,
> David