I was just talking about this idea with my manager and he has another idea that may work also. I will try to attach a picture. To retract you would have a rope tied to the front and put the winch in free spool and just pull in. To deploy just crank the winch line loading the boat. Ok it wont let me add pictures. So tie ropes to the rear of the plank and run through pulleys an the front of the boat then back to a winch of some sort. Does this make sense?
Cat, I don't know if adding weight to the back end would help or not. I had planned to use a rope tied to the rear of the gangplank, like you suggest, I hadn't thought about adding a pulley at the front though. The problem without the fulcrum pole to hold the front up, is there would still be way to much pressure on the front of the housing to allow the gangplank to fully extend to where it would pivot down.
I like the idea of a roller of some sort for the fulcrum pole to ride on, that does make good sense. What ever we come up with, I will post some pictures, if possible. Cat I really appreciate your help, we are for sure on the same page.
By the way, I checked the garage door track, that is a little pricey around here. I may have to go a different route for the rollers and track.
