Nearly 2 years ago I built a 3.5t trailer for a 26ft boat that I refitted, at the time, I put on a 1000Kg hand winch thinking it should be enough to haul the boat out, after the first trip out I tried to put it back on the trailer and nearly did my shoulder muscles in. Next bright idea was to put an electric winch on.
At the time I thought that a 4000lb winch ($160) would be enough, but that little voice in my head kept nagging me get a bigger one, however the next size up was double that price (and 3 times the weight) was a 13000lb winch about ($350) which I thought was way overkill and so trying to save some money I modified the trailer post as the new electric winch was bigger than the hand winch and fitted the 4000lb one, after about 9 trips the 4000lb winch broke, at least the spool flange broke off, Damn it, I should have listened to my inner voice!
Anyway, that involved cutting off the first extension I put on to fit the 4000lb winch and making a new fitting with a roller, I had to drop the winch underneath the post, as the new winch has a much wider spool so when the boat gets close to the post it would pull the front of the boat to one side depending on where the rope was on the spool at the time, the roller keeps the rope centered and the distance between the spool and the top roller also allows the rope to spool on to the winch correctly. Also made a frame to hold the winch to the trailer. Had a small piece of heavy channel lying around which the winch just barely fitted into, (12mm thick on the short sides and 6mm on the wide part), but because of the radius inside the channel it was just a smidge too tight, so I added a small flat bar of 12mm to lift it up and also reinforce the wide part of the channel. The 4 bolts holes holding the winch were drilled through those flat bars. Next, I used the plasma cutter again to cut out some semi circular cutouts out of 10mm flat bar to reinforce the ends which had to go under the motor and gearbox.
Now before anyone comments, yes I know my welds are a little bit wonky, I put on a roll of 1.2mm wire which had been sitting around in the shed for a long time and had developed a lot of rust spots on the wire , the result was that the wire would stop, start and be jerky half the time, should have just pulled off the rusty wire and been done with it, but I continued and put up with it, anyway my welds got better towards the end when all that rusty wire was gone.
Welded a 100mm x 12mm piece of F/bar to the small edge which would hold it down, 2 x 1/2" high tensile bolts through it and another 2 for the edge would hold it to the trailer
Cut out some plate (10mm) with the plasma cutter and drilled a 16mm hole in both for the roller bolt. Turned up a stainless roller wheel on my lathe with a 10mm radius for the Dyneema rope to go on, then welded them on to the trailer post.
Made an aluminium box to protect the winch, cable and electrics, and also extended the drawbar by another 300mm to give me some more clearance between the ally box and the bumper bar of my Jeep when turning corners. That also was out of the same sort of channel, I cut the excess out of the middle to match the width of the drawbar, welded them together and then welded a piece of 10 mm flat bar over the lot and to the remaining draw bar then welded the side flanges to join the two sides together. All up the topside of the drawbar extension is now 16mm and the sides are 12mm, more than strong enough.
All together the additions added about 55kg to the tow ball weight, so I removed the battery box off the trailer and placed it in the back of the jeep to keep the weight almost the same on the tow ball. I needed a bit more weight on the tow ball before the mod so this worked out OK.
This new 13000lb winch sucks the juice out of the battery really quick, dropping the boat off into the water isn't an issue, but pulling it out required me to hook up a pair of heavy duty jumper leads I made for it (out of 2/0 cable), just connected them up from the main battery under the bonnet, and to the battery in the back, got the missus to rev the motor up a bit and it just winched it out with no dramas. At least now I have peace of mind that this winch ain't going to break! Tested it out on the weekend when I put the boat it in the water for a spin, cruised over to nearby Moreton Island and stayed the night, it was a nice sunset over the mainland, anyway it all works well now.
So to sum up, all this extra work could have been prevented if only I had listened to my inner voice at the start and put the big winch on from the beginning.
Cheers
Ed.
At the time I thought that a 4000lb winch ($160) would be enough, but that little voice in my head kept nagging me get a bigger one, however the next size up was double that price (and 3 times the weight) was a 13000lb winch about ($350) which I thought was way overkill and so trying to save some money I modified the trailer post as the new electric winch was bigger than the hand winch and fitted the 4000lb one, after about 9 trips the 4000lb winch broke, at least the spool flange broke off, Damn it, I should have listened to my inner voice!
Anyway, that involved cutting off the first extension I put on to fit the 4000lb winch and making a new fitting with a roller, I had to drop the winch underneath the post, as the new winch has a much wider spool so when the boat gets close to the post it would pull the front of the boat to one side depending on where the rope was on the spool at the time, the roller keeps the rope centered and the distance between the spool and the top roller also allows the rope to spool on to the winch correctly. Also made a frame to hold the winch to the trailer. Had a small piece of heavy channel lying around which the winch just barely fitted into, (12mm thick on the short sides and 6mm on the wide part), but because of the radius inside the channel it was just a smidge too tight, so I added a small flat bar of 12mm to lift it up and also reinforce the wide part of the channel. The 4 bolts holes holding the winch were drilled through those flat bars. Next, I used the plasma cutter again to cut out some semi circular cutouts out of 10mm flat bar to reinforce the ends which had to go under the motor and gearbox.
Now before anyone comments, yes I know my welds are a little bit wonky, I put on a roll of 1.2mm wire which had been sitting around in the shed for a long time and had developed a lot of rust spots on the wire , the result was that the wire would stop, start and be jerky half the time, should have just pulled off the rusty wire and been done with it, but I continued and put up with it, anyway my welds got better towards the end when all that rusty wire was gone.
Welded a 100mm x 12mm piece of F/bar to the small edge which would hold it down, 2 x 1/2" high tensile bolts through it and another 2 for the edge would hold it to the trailer
Cut out some plate (10mm) with the plasma cutter and drilled a 16mm hole in both for the roller bolt. Turned up a stainless roller wheel on my lathe with a 10mm radius for the Dyneema rope to go on, then welded them on to the trailer post.
Made an aluminium box to protect the winch, cable and electrics, and also extended the drawbar by another 300mm to give me some more clearance between the ally box and the bumper bar of my Jeep when turning corners. That also was out of the same sort of channel, I cut the excess out of the middle to match the width of the drawbar, welded them together and then welded a piece of 10 mm flat bar over the lot and to the remaining draw bar then welded the side flanges to join the two sides together. All up the topside of the drawbar extension is now 16mm and the sides are 12mm, more than strong enough.
All together the additions added about 55kg to the tow ball weight, so I removed the battery box off the trailer and placed it in the back of the jeep to keep the weight almost the same on the tow ball. I needed a bit more weight on the tow ball before the mod so this worked out OK.
This new 13000lb winch sucks the juice out of the battery really quick, dropping the boat off into the water isn't an issue, but pulling it out required me to hook up a pair of heavy duty jumper leads I made for it (out of 2/0 cable), just connected them up from the main battery under the bonnet, and to the battery in the back, got the missus to rev the motor up a bit and it just winched it out with no dramas. At least now I have peace of mind that this winch ain't going to break! Tested it out on the weekend when I put the boat it in the water for a spin, cruised over to nearby Moreton Island and stayed the night, it was a nice sunset over the mainland, anyway it all works well now.
So to sum up, all this extra work could have been prevented if only I had listened to my inner voice at the start and put the big winch on from the beginning.
Cheers
Ed.
