Boat trailer winch ?

[W.olly]

Morning all

I am in need of a decent quality block winch for the boat trailer. to be bolted to the winch post. Only small so ill leave it fitted and covered.
The boat is 2600kg so i am thinking a 3300lb/1500kg winch with Dyneema. Trailer is full keel roller with bunks.

I used the block winches many years ago but they were not he best and wonder if things are any better now ? What are the better quality ones nowadays for these little winches?

Oh and to make life easier and safer it would be on remote

 

[hotponyshoes]

I've given up with remote on boat trailers, easier? maybe but I'm not convinced. I've done what I would call a "quality professional install" (admitting I'm not a pro winch installer) and still had problems after a couple of seasons of salt exposure.
Then you still need to faff about making sure the battery is charged or, if you have an anderson connector on the towing car, pray you never get the tides wrong and have to use the harbour Sanderson or something other than your dedicated tow car.

I've also seen one jam on after the guy pressed the button. All the control components were in a silicone sealed box and he had no tools to open it up. He didn't have an isolator fitted (I've never fitted one either). Luckily it was during launch rather than retrieve so there was time to unclip the boat before it got to the end of the rope and started winding itself back in again.

If you are only using the boat in fresh water then electric would probably be fine.
Fit a secondary, sealed, manual button for when the remote eventually fails on you!
You could make a cover to keep the weather off the winch but I've seen plenty of winches left exposed for years with no problems.

If everything goes your way then you can just pull a boat onto a trailer by hand so may not need a lot of winch power.
Again, depends on the slip you use.
Bunks will need more power than a full roller trailer.

Also, I'd go for a flat strap rather than a rope. Rope tends to dig in and can get sticky when it drys out. Not a big problem though. Although you need to watch the rope is laying evenly as you wind. A strap is just one less thing to keep an eye on. It's also more comfortable to walk on a strap in bare feet if the need ever arises..

I currently have one like this,


Generic thing that came with the trailer.
Not sure what rating it is. General guide is a capacity of at least half the weight of the boat (including fuel etc)
Mine is 2-speed, you change gear by moving the handle from one peg to another.
A more powerfully winch is lower geared so means more winding. I only launch/recover once a year so it lives on the low speed setting. I might change that if I launched every weekend.

If you get one with a removable handle make sure you strap it in place.
Mainly because it can bounce off when towing. Bungee cord/string/velcro will be fine but I put a couple of cable ties around mine. I use cable ties as I've only actually lost one when towing but I've "lost" 2 more when the trailer was parked up at the harbour as obviously some other scrote had lost theirs when towing as well!!

 

[steve t]

My winch is rotten the side of it fell of last time out so made for an interesting recovery and this thread has just reminded me thanks. Don't think I'll be going electric though.