Electric winch

[JSP]

Has anyone ever tried fitting an electric winch to the trailer instead of a handled winch?

[jyasaki]

Not uncommon, but it's not as straightforward as it first seems.

You need some fairly beefy wiring to the winch, and a current source that will supply enough to run it. In general, this means a fused cable run back to the tow vehicle's battery (though I suppose you could add a battery to the trailer, as well, and wire that up to charge from the tow vehilcle.)

Trailer parts, if used often, are subjected to a lot of salt spray, salt air, and the occasional dunking/splashing, as well as rain water, rinse-down water, etc. Make sure the winch you get is seriously waterproofed.

Dutton-Lainson and Powerwinch seem to be the more popular over here.

Also advisable to get a winch with a manual backup in case power fails or the winch quits working.

Luck;

jky

[CJL]

I'd be interested to learn how you get on with this as it's something I've been considering for some time. I don't suppose the 12v socket in the boot of my car is quite up for a winch though!

C

[Jon H]

I have a 12 V winch attached to my tow bar.

Beefy connected goes straight to the battery

Works great for pulling anything

[MarkM]

I use a Powerwinch ST712, not with a steel cable but a strap, 'cause a cable gets all mixed up and you can't pull it out again.
Can take the winch off, see picture.
Use a thick cable with a 60 Amp. fuse direct to the battery.

[Jeff]

Fitted a Dutton Lainson ('Strongarm')as JKY mentioned. Good piece of kit and no problems after 2 years of regular use.
My 2006 My Volvo XC70 had the baatery in the boot so very simple to wire up a mating Anderson connector at the rear to coonect to the winch. New 2009 MY - and they have 'progressed' to putting the battery under the bonnet; which meant a couple of hours running a cable from the battery to boot
Jeff
.... also specified a strap rather than wire like MarkM

[JSP]

Thanks everyone, that's exactly the kind of thing I had in mind. My van's a good 16-17ft LWB so I don't fancy running cables through. Maybe get a leisure battery and keep it in the boot.

[paul holder]

i have a 6.5 ribcraft with a 200hp on the back + dive tanks & weight belts ect .the trailer is rollercoaster .the slip is 15 deg.the area is subject to tides & wind .the hand winch was far to hard & slow
take weight of boat + out board + other equipment=total
each lay of the drum reduces the pull by 10%
therefor if total =1000kg & 5 lays off the drum you require 1000+10%+ect =1700kg.
i went for superwinch from machine mart .
i have 2 x 120 amp batteries in series giving 24 voltt therefor 1/2 the current & charge these from the mains ph

[codprawn]

The main problem with straps is that they degrade with UV - those covered designs look perfect!!!

[havener]

Other option is to have a pully on the boat with the cable run back to the winch post, thus creating a menchanical advantage to ease load on the winch.