Electric Winch and extension rope

[Windsurfer]

Couple more pics

[Windsurfer]

The bottom flatter section of the beach we can pull the boat along fine, then i have a small electric winch bolted on my draw bar of the trailer to get over the banks of shingle at the top of the beach.
I made some long leads up out of welders cable for the winch and cut up a old bbq cover to make a cover for the winch and leads all strapped tightly down when not in use and traveling.

[Oldman2]

Thanks for the insight into how you are now doing it, do you unhitch the wheels once launched and carry them in the boat or return them to the car? They would fill my boat up!

[Peter_C]

What do you have under the bow for wheels? Looks like it has something in the pics as the boat is level. Unless you are carrying the bow weight? Got a photo?

If you would please also share a picture of your winch setup that would be appreciated

This was what I had built for the winch. It was powered by the boats removable electronics tower, but I could also plug it into my vehicle. The winch was mounted on a 2" receiver tubing that was reversible so it could be used on a vehicle to winch trees, etc. Hard to steal from the trailer when it isn't stored there, but they are only $35usd.

[Windsurfer]

Originally Posted by Oldman2

Thanks for the insight into how you are now doing it, do you unhitch the wheels once launched and carry them in the boat or return them to the car? They would fill my boat up!

There’s normally a few of us on the beach , family and friends so they would just get left on the beach or put back in my van parked at the top if no one around.
Yes sure they would take a lot of space up in a car , you could lock them to the trailer I guess if you had to.

[Windsurfer]

Originally Posted by Peter_C

What do you have under the bow for wheels? Looks like it has something in the pics as the boat is level. Unless you are carrying the bow weight? Got a photo?

If you would please also share a picture of your winch setup that would be appreciated

This was what I had built for the winch. It was powered by the boats removable electronics tower, but I could also plug it into my vehicle. The winch was mounted on a 2" receiver tubing that was reversible so it could be used on a vehicle to winch trees, etc. Hard to steal from the trailer when it isn't stored there, but they are only $35usd.

When we pull it i have a 9mm piece of plastic sofit board under the bow tied on so it stays with the boat ,it slides across the stones really well and acts a a ramp when winching up the steep sections.
Im looking to buy a heavy duty plastic sled to replace the sofit board!

In the picture there isn't anything under the bow.

I like how your winch is set up high , i haven't really got enough room to do it like that so just bolted it on as the picture.

[Windsurfer]

[Peter_C]

Thanks for the pictures. I wonder if you removed the two inner wheels and built some type of steerable dolly for the front using the wheels that were removed if it might travel over the beach easier? I would at least try removing two the wheels next time and see how it travels over the beach with just two wheels at the stern. You can always throw them back on if it has too much rolling resistance.

[Windsurfer]

I did think about having just the two wheels but was concerned about the max load on each wheel is only 50kgs, also i didn't want a dolly to carry around/store on top of the wheels and brackets.
It probably would work better with two wheels front and back on the flatter sections but over the banks i would still need a plastic sled.

I went with the smaller wheel diameter so it would be slightly easier to take them on and off.

[Peter_C]

One of the ideas running around in my head is putting a 3cm or so round tube vertically welded into the bow of the boat. If you can picture an aircraft landing gear plugged into the tubing, it would allow it to pivot for steering, tiller style. Then Flip it around and store it upright on the top side of the tubing while out and about. The wheels would have to be installed out of the water, or with someone in the water which is fine if wearing a drysuit in calm conditions.

The four low stern wheels must make it very stable. Mine wallowed a little bit, but never came close to tipping.

Were you thinking a semi flexible sheet of HDPE for the sled? A snow sled would probably get torn up quickly.

[Limecc]

Interesting problem and beach.
On ours the previous owner fitted a second manual winch to the trailer that is used to pull boat and trailer back to the car for shallow beach launches. Used in conjunction with a rope split into several different length sections (joined by caribiners). The rope is a thick one so for safety so other beachgoers can see it and dont walk into it.

[Windsurfer]

Originally Posted by Peter_C

One of the ideas running around in my head is putting a 3cm or so round tube vertically welded into the bow of the boat. If you can picture an aircraft landing gear plugged into the tubing, it would allow it to pivot for steering, tiller style. Then Flip it around and store it upright on the top side of the tubing while out and about. The wheels would have to be installed out of the water, or with someone in the water which is fine if wearing a drysuit in calm conditions.

The four low stern wheels must make it very stable. Mine wallowed a little bit, but never came close to tipping.

Were you thinking a semi flexible sheet of HDPE for the sled? A snow sled would probably get torn up quickly.

It is really stable , ive been using a pieces of 9mm x 225mm upvc sofit board as a temporary sled and its doing the job for now but does slide about sometimes.
Think im going to knock something up out of timber , scribe a couple of short sections to the hull , bolt a handle on and fix the plastic to the underside curving up a the front a little.