Boat winch question for easier turning of handle

[Hoffer]

Posting this for my Brother.

He just bought a newer used boat and its a little heavier than his older one and also doesnt roll on quite as easy.

He has some arthritis in his wrist and its difficult to crank down hard on the winch he has now to turn the handle. Are there any options out there to replace the current winch with one that is geared better so it turns easier etc

If so, how do you tell or know? I looked at one store the other night and they had replacement winches but I couldnt tell if they would be geared any differently than the one he has now.

Thanks for any advice!

[amateurfishing]

my boat & trailer came with a combo winch (or whatever it is called), has 2 wheels on winch and you can attach handle to desired wheel for either fast or slow retreive. not sure if this would make a difference but slow retrive may help for a bad wrist, have no idea where to look for them though if interested...rogers/owatonna store, GM?

[CAMAN]

Some winches have two speeds, one geared for speed the other geared for torque.

Check out Northern Tools HSOforum, they have the gear ratio's listed for most/all of their winches. Just so you know, the bigger the number out front the slower the winch speed, the easier it is to winch in.

I don't know how bad his arthritis is, but going super slow probably won't help him much if it takes him an hour to reel the boat in. If you can find the model number of the winch that is currently on there and find the ratio that would help you tremendously. Winches vary widely from a very fast 2:1 all the way up to 20:1 or more, but that would take a heck of alot of cranks to get it up on the trailer.

[Tom7227]

There are electric winches. Might get a bit pricey but sometimes you have to pay when you get old.

[EBass]

How much does your bro's boat weigh Hoffer? Get a winch that handles way more than that.

I have a 14' jon boat w/25H and the winch was old/beat up, so I bought an Overton brand winch from Gander rated for 1200 #'s which is overkill, but it's so easy to winch it up now vs. what I was using before.

I'm checking out the Gander site now and they have some Elec from $160 to $500.

Good luck

[Hoffer]

Hey everyone

Great advice.

He emailed me tonight and he talked to a marine guy and apparently its the smallest winch they could have put on the trailer.

Hes going to check in to some bigger winches with better gear ratios...thanks for the tips - he will know what to ask for now!