Yes , you want it as close to the tow vehicle as possible. "most people" when building a hauler or hoist etc are only interested in the STATIC weight of what their carrier can hold. What NEEDS to be considered or rather "worried about" is Dynamic weight. (static muliplied by external forces .. i.e gravity/motion/gforce etc. ) i have a background in metallurgy so i take tensile strength/safety factors into all of my builds.
As for the bow stop .... yes they are nice but unless you only want to carry ONE model of ski for the life of your carrier then you would need to make it adjustable. is it possible .. of course and I MAY GIVE THIS OPTION IN THE FUTURE for a cost of course. i would make it on a double tab off the main tube ( swivel) with a slide in and out tube attached to the bow stop. ( in 6 years of building these .. I nor even one single customer has lost their ski due to a strap failure / or rack issue)
As for people making them for less than i charge .. by all means .. absolutely , when looking at my prices ( which i believe to be extremely fair) please take into consideration ... materials ( gas, welder rod, grinding discs, band saw blades , tabs ( race car style that i use on the main tube for tie downs )carpet , wood , hardware , drill bits , staples, time and material to make a "jig" , electricity and last but definitely not least MY TIME as a welder.
Can you make ONE for cheaper than you can buy it from me?? of course ( unless of course your time is as valuable as mine ...) I guess what im saying guys like my website says .. im not doing this to get rich ... i have a full time career .. i did this first to solve a problem that i had ..... then i noticed that others had the same problem so i started making them and offering them as inexpensively as i possibly could taking into consideration the factors that i have mentioned. And i offer a discount to members of this site because I CARE ABOUT THIS SPORT.