Electric winch

[bedajim]

Hi

I'm going to fit an electric winch for recovering the rib onto the trailer
Nos can tell you why

Winch sorted I think unless you can tell me otherwise

http://www.winchsolutions.co.uk/winc...wspecheet5.htm

But with only 12 m of cable as you lose 18% of the pull with every turn on the drum (I wanted to go for the rope but have been advised not to )

To power it I was going to fit a very large battery in the back of the truck and charge it from the caravan plug on the tow hitch so it has a full charge when ever I need it. The caravan plug is powered through a relay and I would fit a fuse on the battery.

Anything else needed

James

[MarkBarker]

It should be fine for the job. I put 12,000 lb on mine but I also use it for pulling out trees etc - I have never had any problems pulling my boat onto the trailer, even when the cable is almost fully wound. If you are finding it is not enough, you can always block and tackle it to double or treble the pull - just be carefull you don't bend the chassis!

Unless you are concerned about your truck batteries, is there any reason why you do not wire it into the main battery? If you keep the engine running while you are winching it should not cause any problems.

One other hint, put a tow witch on the front bumper, not sure what you use for towing but a front mounted winch is more useful and does not get in the way of the boot / take out knees in quite the same way.

Mark

[BumbleAbout]

I had a quick look at their web site, but I couldn't see any mention of :-
a) freespooling clutch (pull the wire/ rope out by hand)
b) line speed

If the line speed is 6ft per minute, then it is going to take a long time to get the rope out to the rib and then a long time to haul it in - so worth checking !

[MarkBarker]

Just re-read your post and realised that you are probably planning to fit the winch to the trailer. If so, ignore my previous comment.

[BumbleAbout]

Originally Posted by MarkBarker

Unless you are concerned about your truck batteries, is there any reason why you do not wire it into the main battery? If you keep the engine running while you are winching it should not cause any problems.
Mark

I doubt that your alternator will cope with a 260A load for very long (many of them are only rated at 65A) - this is why many 4x4 winch configurations have a dedicated battery which is not connected to the alternator during winching operations (the battery is charged later via a split charge relay). This of course may be an urban myth put about by split charge manufacturers since I can't see why jump starting another car (400-600A) would not blow up the alternator !

[MarkBarker]

Originally Posted by BumbleAbout

I doubt that your alternator will cope with a 260A load for very long (many of them are only rated at 65A) - this is why many 4x4 winch configurations have a dedicated battery which is not connected to the alternator during winching operations (the battery is charged later via a split charge relay). This of course may be an urban myth put about by split charge manufacturers since I can't see why jump starting another car (400-600A) would not blow up the alternator !

Not an expert by any means, and I have mine mounted on a Defender which maybe has more of an alternator, but I only have one battery, and have used it to winch oak trees up a 30 metre bank and have had it running quite hard for reasonably extended periods - no problems as a result. Probably find it will all go horribly wrong next time though!

[Sarah G]

Originally Posted by MarkBarker

Not an expert by any means, and I have mine mounted on a Defender which maybe has more of an alternator, but I only have one battery, and have used it to winch oak trees up a 30 metre bank and have had it running quite hard for reasonably extended periods - no problems as a result. Probably find it will all go horribly wrong next time though!

As you type, the wee little gremlins will be nibbling away at the electrics...

[bedajim]

Originally Posted by MarkBarker

Just re-read your post and realised that you are probably planning to fit the winch to the trailer. If so, ignore my previous comment.

Yes the idea is to fit the winch to the trailer and have the battery in the back of the pickup.

I'll find out about the line speed

[Rogue Wave]

Make sure you get a real good deep cycle battery , ya wont regret it

Maybe an Ultima or an opima.They make the job a lot easier

[bedajim]

Originally Posted by bedajim

Yes the idea is to fit the winch to the trailer and have the battery in the back of the pickup.

I'll find out about the line speed

Unloaded line speed is 30 ft/min which will drop with a load

[jyasaki]

I'd be a bit concerned that the winch appears to be a 4x4 type of gear. Not really marine-hardened in any way. For instance, it has galvanised cable, rather than stainless. The drum is steel. Neither of those is going to hold up to salt water for very long, I think.

OTOH, I've thought about an electric winch on the trailer as well; just have too many other things to get first...


jky

[ScottyDog]

You could always use rope instead of cable. Spectra is popular as it keeps weight down.

A good, much cheaper alternative to the Warn or Superwinch brands is Britpart. Never had any problems with these winches. We use them for all sorts of purposes. www.britpart.com

A wireless remote would allow you to control it while running about in the water as is often the case when trying to aim straight for the trailer.

If you use a 24 volt setup (i.e. a pair of batteries which can be split charged then used in series) for the winch it will almost halve the current draw for the same power allowing a longer run time.

If you want to speed up the retrieval you could use a pulley the other way round and tie off one end of your line to the trailer (at the tail end) then toward the winch, through a pulley attached to the winch cable then out to the boat. This will haul in the line at twice the speed although double the effort experienced by the winch but it should be enough to get a boat onto a trailer and it may perhaps save you getting the winch line wet.

[Jeff]

Originally Posted by jyasaki

OTOH, I've thought about an electric winch on the trailer as well; just have too many other things to get first...


jky

Have a look at these when you get round to buying one >>> they fit on standard winch posts and have a freewheel capability.

Even with shipping and taxes to the Uk I thought it was worth it - and in use for over a year with no problems. .... of course, no or low shipping for you

Jeff

[martini]

I've got a superwinch X9 for sale, 4 ton pull, freespooling clutch see here:http://www.superwinch.com/X9_9_000_lbs.html

It's the complete kit with wire rope, fairlead, wiring harness, master switch etc. Cost me over £800 all in, only used a couple of times, I can let a fellow Ribnetter have it for £200!

[ian parkes]

come on then Nos4 tell us why he wants an electric winch , did something else happen at penmarlem saturday eve after i went home .

Dunno why you want an electric winch my missus gets most of the winching done while I make sure the boat is lined up properly , just that last 2 feet is a bit hard for her in the high gear

[Nos4r2]

Well...during the recovery James was looking a bit worn out so I started winching for him.
When I stopped to change position the ratchet slipped and did a bit more than a full turn of the handle before it caught again.
It DID only catch the back of my hand a glancing blow and it looked worse than it was-nothing broken, just a bruise.

There were more events than just that after you left- my car nearly went for a burton but I won't say why...

[Hugh Jardon]

when i looked at winches for the motorhome i came across the same issues, you are better off having a nice decent battery as you described, not using the car one unless you put some serious wiring from the battery to the winch.

free spooling and braking for letting the line out is key, plus the retrieve speed, especially under load as some are really very slow when the line is a long way out

i know why you are doing it as it is quite a task to wind it on. i suspect paying a good bit more for a high capacity/fast retrieve item would be well worth while

the 4x4 guys use a rope that seems much more friendly to use and seems very high capacity as well

[bedajim]

Originally Posted by Nos4r2

There were more events than just that after you left- my car nearly went for a burton but I won't say why...

Again I was in it the first time

[bedajim]

Originally Posted by Hugh Jardon

when i looked at winches for the motorhome i came across the same issues, you are better off having a nice decent battery as you described, not using the car one unless you put some serious wiring from the battery to the winch.

free spooling and braking for letting the line out is key, plus the retrieve speed, especially under load as some are really very slow when the line is a long way out

i know why you are doing it as it is quite a task to wind it on. i suspect paying a good bit more for a high capacity/fast retrieve item would be well worth while

the 4x4 guys use a rope that seems much more friendly to use and seems very high capacity as well

Yep going for the rope and high speed retrieve but I wanted to keep the weight down so that it can be removed to "remove temptation from others"

[Nick Hearne]

I have been thinking about putting one on my trailer instead of the hand winch something like this!
http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/Powerful-12V-E...QQcmdZViewItem

Then I had the idea of fitting a windlass to do the same job like this!
http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/QUICK-EAGLE-WI...QQcmdZViewItem
But has anyone a idea what I would need to pull a rolling weight of say 2tons??