Wondering which electric winch to buy

[Marz-Bar]

Getting too lazy to crank my boat up on the trailer, wondering what is most important to look for when shopping for an electric winch? Thanks.

 

[Fl_Richard]

Re: Wondering which electric winch to buy

Capacity - If you need a pully to pull the boat up it will come up half as fast. Elec winches are slow to pull so make sure yours is big enough to pull up the boat without a pully or you'll be there forever

Good luck!
Richard

 

[Marz-Bar]

Re: Wondering which electric winch to buy

Anyone have any thoughts on how reliable electric winch manufactures specs are? Was not thinking of Harbor Freight, would like to buy a well made long lasting product.

 

[dingbat]

Re: Wondering which electric winch to buy

Make sure you read the fine print in the specs. I have a winch from a very respectable winch manufacturer. Rated one of the best on the market. I?m happy with it but the specifications are a bit misleading if you don?t or can?t read between the lines.

I have a "4200 lb" winch. Figured I need something between 2.0 ? 2.2K lbs for good operation. The speed was better than most so I went with a 4200lb winch for some built in capacity.

I got it home and started reading the installation instructions. They had a section on adjusting the cable length to the application. Its here they tell you that the winch is rated at 4200 lbs of pull with minimal cable wraps on the spool. If using the winch with a full spool of cable the pull drops pull down to something like 2200 lbs of pull.

The winch pulls the boat with ease with a lot of cable off the reel but gets darn right doggish the last 3-4 feet before the boat hits the bow stop. Had I know this in advance I would have bought the next size up instead.

 

[Wee Hooker]

Re: Wondering which electric winch to buy

Make sure you use over rate wire gage and weld the winch to your trialer. An electric winch is only good if you feed it ALLOT of juice and or it's still there when you return to the ramp. Been There-Done That.

 

[Marz-Bar]

Re: Wondering which electric winch to buy

Most winches I am looking at supply 20' or 25' of positive power cord. Just assumed that if the company supplied it, it would be heavy enough to power the motor. Something to think about.
As far as theft goes, where I load and unload my boat is about as safe as it gets, everyone knows everyone else, and watches everyones stuff.

 

[Jeep Man]

Re: Wondering which electric winch to buy

Can't go wrong with a Warn winch. Tough and well made.