Electric Winches ?

[RainyEye]

I'm starting to think that it might be nice to have an electric winch now that I'm getting older and have some back issues. My boat is the Alumacraft 165 Trophy Plus with a 90HP Honda and a total weight of approximately 1500 lbs. I don't have a power outlet on my trailer hitch, but I do have a 12V. 10 Amp outlet in the back of my SUV. Any ideas or suggestions would be appreciated as I know nothing about them. Thanks.

[Capt. H (Ret.)]

I am getting just a tad older and have often wondered about these. A friend of mine has one that he hooks to a battery in the the back of his truck. It seems to work great. Did I mention that I am getting just a tad older???!!!

Good luck!!!

Mike

[delmuts]

While not trying to be a smart!!@@#, but. If your trailers have bunks; be certain to get the entire bunk wet before loading. After you drive the boat on, but still have a couple of inches needed to get it tight to the roller this makes cranking it much easier. ( i have a 17 ft ranger[ and a bad right shoulder] and can do this)

I have seen several trailers with the elec. winches. They ran a wire out the back of the auto along with the trailer wiring for power.

[Surface Tension]

The 10 amp socket won't do as a medium/heavy duty wench has a 40 amp load.

The wench should come with everything you need to hook up to the tow vehicles battery and to ground. That'll include the wire with a circuit breaker to protect the wire. I would add the same size wire provided for + connection and instead of going to ground, go to the - battery terminal.

After all most trailer light problems are ground related and you don't need that headache with a trailer wench.

One problem there is you have to use the trailer with the tow vehicle wired for a wench.

A solution to that is make an adapter to the power plug at the trailer that will accept a remote battery. Or forgo wiring the tow vehicle and use the remote battery all the time.

Just don't forget the battery at home and keep it charged.

Lastly, you could get a bigger manual wench. Bigger as in geared lower or better yet a wench with two sets of gears that you select by handle location. Use the higher gear drive for faster retrieval and then switch to a lower gear when the cranking gets hard.

[RainyEye]

Thanks guys for the information, it is a roller trailer, and I'm not in the habit of driving on so there is more cranking involved. It sounds like a remote battery in the back might be a good way to do it with less hassle.Does anyone know of a particular brand or place to look for an electric winch? I talked to a guy loading his boat on Mille Lacs the other day and he suggested a winch with a strap rather than a cable, I guess I'll have to look around.

[Ice_Fishin07]

I would second wench with strap rather then rope/cable. I have one with rope and have had new issues with the rope.

[delcecchi]

I would second wench with strap rather then rope/cable. I have one with rope and have had new issues with the rope.

I'm not sure about a wench with either cable or rope but I'm not into that kinky stuff. Oh, you mean winch... Never Mind.

[Wish-I-Were-Fishn]

Could you use the trolling motor battery, assuming you have one in the front?

[RainyEye]

That may work, but mine is under the console which would be a bit of a reach.

[Sonicrunch]

That may work, but mine is under the console which would be a bit of a reach.

Run some aux wiring to have an easy access point.

Of course, that'll have to a lot of wire, depending on how for you usually get the boat before you start winching.

[RainyEye]

That's a good idea, I do have the bow mount trolling motor plug-in up front, maybe I can find the right plug for it.

[clKiekhafer]

I just had one installed today for the very same reasons my age and sore back that just flared up. My electric wench was mounted on top of my current Shore Land'r wench. They replaced the current 5-pin plug with a 7-pin. The sixth wire is for power from the truck to the wench. It is a much heavier wire in the truck harness to handle higher current loads. They then installed the winch using the heavy wire that came with the unit. I still have access to my manual wench and can use the power one as well. This is the best of both worlds as far as I'm concerns.

[Surface Tension]

Problem with using the trolling motor battery in the boat is, its in the boat and the wench is on the trailer.

[RainyEye]

Chester, that sounds like a good way to do it and then you still have the old winch as a back-up. Where did you get it from?

[clKiekhafer]

I sent you a PM.

[Tom7227]

What do your wives think about you having all those wench's around you boat? I suspect if she knew about the wenches she would use a winch to string you up.

[Surface Tension]

[clKiekhafer]

You catch me on that one!

[RainyEye]

Thanks Chester, but my PM box is empty

[clKiekhafer]

Let's try this one more time, check your PM box.

[RainyEye]

Sorry Chester, I've never received a PM before, I went to "my stuff" and selected messages, but I don't see any messages?

[clKiekhafer]

I'm not sure what to say. There are two options that I have checked in my profile,

Accept private messages from other users?

and

Do you want to be notified via email when you receive a private message?

Are both of these checked "yes"?

[RainyEye]

Thanks, they weren't checked yes, but now they are,hopefully that will work.

[clKiekhafer]

PM Sent

[RainyEye]

Well Chester, I appreciate your efforts, however I still can't see anything coming through. Maybe it's my browsers fault. Can you give me the first letter of the store where you got it or some clue, perhaps? Thanks.