I can understand the wire rope flailing around when it snapped. Take a wire rope of a winch and all it wants to do is curl up again. So when it snapped.. it was flying through the air and trying to curl up. That is why I removed the wire from my electric winch and replaced it with a tape. Wire ropes are very dangerous if abused.
Having spent a great part of my lifetime working with the thompson capstan winch..and ropes of all sorts.. when they snap..and we broke them very regularly.. trying to haul heavy lead cables into the ground.. they generally travelled back in a straight line and dont flail around like the wire ones. However Im sure there are exceptions to every rule so dont take it as gospel. We used gate guards with their face flat on the pavement to help contain the rope if it did break as Joe Public were always walking past.
Quote:
Originally Posted by jlanng
That's exactly where it is 
The winch idea would be great, but then I'd have to run power to it. I don't fancy the idea of another battery to keep conditioned. |
Here are another couple of ideas for you.
I was once a member of a small boat club .. and they had a similar problem. They over came it by installing a large hand winch at the top of the slipway..something like the one in the photo below. The club has long gone though..as Im sure health and safety laws would have wanted the winch tested regularly and small clubs would have found that and the insurance issues associated with it too much to deal with.
As it is in your own property..you wont have these issues and a hand winch pulling in a straight line ..is very much safer that pulling in a dog leg with a vehicle.
Another idea..if you dont want a battery operated winch on your trailer ..why not use the hand winch that is already on it ?
I do this often too..if I forget to charge the battery for the electric one. I haul a 350kg boat and engine over stoney and often steep beaches this way. (I realise your boat is probably twice this weight..but perhaps your trailer winch is suited to it too)
I attach a 9mm rope to my tow ball.. and winch the boat up this rope using a "jumar" left over from my mountaineering days. The tapes from the boat winches are not long ..so when I wind them up.. I chock of the trailer wheels ... unwind the tape and slide the jumar up the rope ready for another pull. The jumar bites tigher into the rope the more it is pulled..so wont slip. Its slow but steady work with the trailer winch but it has very little risk as you have a hands on feel for the tensions.
I was shown how to thread the rope through a shackle..and it also locked on the rope ..in a similar fashion to the jumar. I just cant recall how the "knot" was done now as I didnt pay much attention.. but Im sure I could find out if you wanted to try it that way.
best luck however you decide to do it..at least you now know some solutions and also the dangers ... so you are in a far better position to decide how to do it.
