Small Boat/trailer winch question (180Kgs - ish)

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mkn1ght

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This is for a University project but please feel under no compulsion to reply.

For the project I am required to redesign an existing winch, I would like to know what are the main qualities you look for when buying a trailer winch?

I.E. Price, load capacity, build quality, lifespan, etc.

Any help would be greatly appreciated.
 
Is this a manual or electric winch? I've got to say the existing simple manual trailer winches seem pretty good, durable, and efficient. It's still possible to seriously hurt your fingers by disengaging the ratchet at the wrong moment and allowing the handle to spin: some room for improvement possibly with a brake/ratchet interlock? then again, the markings fell off the mechanism in about 1984 and i forget which way is which, so probably could be put down to user incompetence!
The detachable handle is a mixed blessing: it's necessary to use the two differently geared shafts for the two drive ratios, but means it's been detached by some other lowlife when you need the thing.
Good luck with the project.
 
The very first figure I'd go by is load capacity.

You might find it useful to google Dutton-Lainson, they are a very large winch company in Nebraska, my type of boat uses one of their braked trailer winches to lift the 950lb keel; they're a very clued up outfit with a good website.
 
It has to be user-proof. i.e. with safety interlocks to prevent it overspeeding or failing to control outrun.

Rust proof construction when left soked in salt water over winter :o

Stitching of tape (if used) to be a safety pattern, not just repeated straight line.

If a wire line, then non-rusting.

Potential for adding a 12v motor as an extra?

Quickly demountable, so that it is not nicked when the trailer is left parked up.

High speed and low speed reeling.

Bright colour to make the brand visible (Hey that trailer's got a MacFluggle winch" !)

Comes with rainproof hat
 
How about a cunning mechanism to prevent it running out fast under load? I once nearly had my head taken off by someone letting a Shrimper on its launching trolley run down the ramps off the road trailer. I was leaning in to check that a pin had been removed, and some uninvited moron (part of what's been described as the "Emsworth Shrimper Mafia") opened the ratchet on the winch causing the handle to spin round an inch from my forehead as the boat shot off the trailer.

It would need to run out freely under light tension (pulling out the strap to hook onto a floating boat ready to haul out) but insist on the handle being unwound manually when loaded.

Pete
 
Pete,

such a thing already exists, the Dutton Lainson winch I mentioned above; it uses a fibre brake and looks just like a British Witter, but won't let things run away.

My keel clicks up on a ratchet as one turns the handle, to let it down I just turn the handle and the keel drops as fast as I turn, but there's never any load and it just stops when I stop.

Andy
 
Seajet said:
My keel clicks up on a ratchet as one turns the handle, to let it down I just turn the handle and the keel drops as fast as I turn, but there's never any load and it just stops when I stop.
Click to expand...

But can you pull it out fast by hand?

Obviously this doesn't matter for your purposes, but if you're trying to recover a boat onto a trailer it would be laborious to have to unwind all the strap or wire by turning the handle, instead of just pulling it out.

Pete
 
With the D-L winch you can't just tug it and get a load of slack, as obviously that would be a runaway; but ideally with 2 people one could pull to keep it paid out while the other wound, it would go out pretty fast, I'd think as fast as anyone could want.

Alone, one would have to wind with one hand and pull to keep paid out with the other; remember I'm talking about the 7X19 flexible wire used for lifting my keel, one could use webbing etc but not sure how you'd anchor it on the winch, with wire it clamps to the inside turning side by the handle.

mk1ght,

for my purpose with this winch one should correctly use 7 X 9 6mm galvanised wire, not stainless which is a common mistake; galvanised will happily go around much smaller roller radii and doesn' work harden.

sm14934.jpg


Dutton Lainson winch ( bottom centre of pic ) in situ', Anderson 22' lift keel sailing boat. The grey near vertical strip evident betweeen similar white painted angle-iron struts is the leading edge of a 3/4" mild steel plate, with a 900lb ballast bulb suspended on the end below the boat.Winch rated capacity 1200lbs.

The lift wire is slack as a steel pin - see in sunlight - has been inserted to take strain from the system; this is not strictly necessary and not part of the winch manufacturers' instructions, but strikes me as the boat owner as being kind to the winch, and of course a 'positive rather than frictional' lock on the keel.

silentrunnninglayout011-3.jpg
 
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Seajet said:
With the D-L winch you can't just tug it and get a load of slack
Click to expand...

Right. So when I said

"It would need to run out freely under light tension (pulling out the strap to hook onto a floating boat ready to haul out) but insist on the handle being unwound manually when loaded."

and you said

"such a thing already exists, the Dutton Lainson winch"

you hadn't actually read what I was suggesting?

Pete
 
prv said:
Right. So when I said

"It would need to run out freely under light tension (pulling out the strap to hook onto a floating boat ready to haul out) but insist on the handle being unwound manually when loaded."

and you said

"such a thing already exists, the Dutton Lainson winch"

you hadn't actually read what I was suggesting?

Pete
Click to expand...

Pete,

if you have a problem with me come out and say so, I am tired of slightly antagonistic digs from someone I hoped was better than that.

If YOU had read MY INITIAL description, you would see that these winches pay out as fast as one can wind them, no more, no less, not affected by f******g UFO's, Wookies, Smurfs, Badgers, or even Bavaria owners, it's as I described ratchet up as quickly as one's strength allows, lower down as fast as one's winding and one's minion pulling on the wire / whatever they can manage.

Dutton Lainson make a range of quite useful winches among other things.

I had always thought the 'trailer winch' pulling up the keel was a 'Witter' but when it failed after a hard 30 years use ( fail safe keel down so I had to go into a marina ) I took the winch off, and was horrified to find ' Dutton Lainson - Made In Nebraska ' stamped on the back.

I called a friend ( this was before wi-fi ) and she found them on the 'net, amazingly after all that time now a huge thriving company, more to the point still making the same braked winch...

I ordered one PDQ, and was extremely impressed by D-L's service, they even told me which ship my order was on and what date & time she would dock !

The replacement unit is I believe - as a fellow owner had one by the same route more recently - around £110 which I consider excellent value.

No connection apart from happy customer;

http://www.dutton-lainson.com/
 
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Trailer winch

I have a winch on the trailer of my 1000kg boat. It is similar to what you are concerned about but does have a gearing ratio. It has 7X19 galvanised wire which I just realised is 32 years old but apparently ok. I worry about the wire snapping and lashing out to injure people. Webbing would safer in that respect.
I winch the boat onto the trailer once or twice per year. Yes it is tedious and yes i would like an electric winch but hardly seems justified for the amount of use.
It has a paul onto a gear which becomes a rachet and seems to work OK.
Yes it is tedious to have to pull the wire out to connect onto the boat. I have the habit of taking the boat to the steepish ramp release the paul (rachet) and let the boat slide down pulling the cable out with it. I then have to hold the boat and pull the cable a bit more to release the hook. (while balancing on the trailer structure to avoid getting wet.) A hook that can be released under load would be the only suggestion I could make to improve the arrangement. (apart from electric drive)( the cable hooks onto the trailer and stays unrolled for 7 months until the following autumn. It takes perhaps 2 or 3 minutes to winch the boat onto the trailer. (a bed of rollers) (hard work for an old git).

I have an interest in a 6m RIB (rescue boat) at the yacht club. It is now moored? parked on a floating dock consisting of a lot of cube shaped plastic floats each about 40cm cubed. There is a lower area in the middle for the keel (partially sunk floats) and a simple hand winch mounted at one end. There is a 4 purchase tackle on the winch cable to boat. This means that on recovery the boat must be well up the floats before the cable from the winch will reach. The techmique seems to be to nudge the bow against the entry point. Get your crew to jump onto the dock ready to attach the cable (tackle) then power up the 60hp engine to drive it onto the dock.
Hold the power on until the crew has attached the cable then cut the power and winch in.
I used the technique of letting the boat pull the cable out and leaving it out until return. However found on return the cable was out too far and so much winding in needed becuase the engine pushed it too far up the dock.
The dock is new with half a dozen different skippers so we are still trying to get SOP for the arrangement. I would go for electric winch myself.It get launched twice per week. Problems then with providing power of course.
Back to OP I think he has been sent on a wild goose chase it can't be improved. If so let us know. olewill
 
My Dutton Lainson winch has simple gearing, once one gets into the subject it's very hard to do without gears, the only really simple way around that of course is the size of the roller / drum one is winding around but that is very limiting, especially with manual power.
 
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You could reduce the friction.
Reduce corrosion?

We winch a small RIB on to its trailer in shallow water.
That normally involves pulling out 6m of webbing, so its good if it runs out freely.


I do not think it is possible to combine that with an idiot proof release under load?
 
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