electric trailer winch users?

[MI_STEELHEAD]

Does anyone have a electic boat winch on thier trailer? I have been hand cranking my boats on trailers for past 10 years and I don't feel like slipping and sliding around anymore. I also wouldn't mind skipping the standing in the water part....I wanna just stand on the bummer, or a trailer step plate and press a button.

I also wanna be one of the fastest in and out of the water. I don't like taking up space at the docks while other fisherman are waiting around. I have bunks so I don't have to align my boat like I had to in the old days. I also now have rachet tiedown permantly connected to my trailer which I'd suggest to anyone. No more looking around for where I put those straps and making adjustments.

Wonder if anyone has any advice on size or brand for a electic trailer winch? Any suggestions...advice?

I have a 17ft Lund with an extra long trailer (better for loading......worse for parking and storing;-)). The boat sits on bunks so it takes a little pull to slide it on if i dont have the trailer burried in the water.

Thanks in advance for any help or insite.

[Priority1]

I have one on mine but I'm not sure of the brand. I took it off my former boat trailer. I power it from my 7 wire connector on my 03 Silverado. It was a cable winch that I converted to nylon strap this Winter. I have a roller shorelandr trailer and the boat is 22 ft.:)

[SalmonBum]

Running off the 7-pin is not a good idea. If the ramp is steep, then the motor will work harder and you have a possibility of buring up the power wire on the truck. That wire is only 14 awg, if I remember correctly. Most Powerwinches have a 60 breaker. The fuse in the truck is only a 40 amp, but the wire they supply is too small to handle that load. Again, if the ramp isn't steep, you'd bk ok. BUt when the winch starts strugglin', be careful.

I have a 28' Boat on a bunk trailer, 11,500 lb winch when set up on a double pull. I have no problem pulling my 10k boat out by myself in less than 3minutes.

[MI_STEELHEAD]

I am not sure of the weight of my Lund but it can't be more then 2k or 2.5k lbs I would think. I think the boat is around 1200....engine maybe 800? Does anyone have a guess at the weight of 17ft with a 115 on it....plus gas and misc. I looked at the Lund site and didn't see the info. I am not the best at guessing that stuff....weight of fuel + equip

Do you think I can get away with the cheap ~$200 Powerwinch for my aluminum boat? It says it will pull up to 4000 lbs which should work but it also says for boats 14 to 17. Kinda scarey to be at the top end of it.

If you don't wire it to the 7 way....what to you connect it too?

[MI_STEELHEAD]

Thanks for your help guys.

I got it figured out...i am going with a ST215 which will pull 4k. My boat is about 2500.....maybe 3 loaded. The ST has a strap which is easier to deal with on a smaller boat.

I am going to wire right to the battery with the provided kit to skip any issues.

[SalmonBum]

IF you launch all the time and use only one truck, your best bet is to wire directly. I used to launch my boat a few times a yr (now I'm in Ludville yr round) but I used different trucks. I threw an extra battery in the bed and just hooked it to that. Charge it once in the spring and it lasted all yr.

This yr I'm mounting a Toolbox on the front of the trailer and am going to lock a battery inside that, along with other tools and the powerwinch cable. I'm also going to wire it up so the 7-way will charge the battery in tow. Thsi way I can use either one of my trucks to pull it around if needed and don't have to move batteries.

[Jason Adam]

I also wanna be one of the fastest in and out of the water. I don't like taking up space at the docks while other fisherman are waiting around. I have bunks so I don't have to align my boat like I had to in the old days. I also now have rachet tiedown permantly connected to my trailer which I'd suggest to anyone. No more looking around for where I put those straps and making adjustments.


Maybe you do and It just didnt come out that way in the post, but ratcheting the boat down and such should be done in the parking lot out of the way of the ramps. Once your boat is on the trailer, hook the saftey chain on and pull out of the way of the ramps. Again, no offense if this is your procedure.

I pull my 2600 Striper out with a hand winch on a bunk trailer 15+ times a year, by my self, and am generally the fastest in and out of the ramp every time. The majority of problems I see at the dock are a result of people just flat out not having a system for launching/retrieving their rig.

Know where the boat has to be tied to the dock before you go to grab the trailer.
Know where the trailer has to be backed in relative to the dock and how far in the water.
Back the trailer in straight(and hopefully on the first, or first few tries)
etc...

Its almost that time of year for the "how not to ruin everyone elses day at launch time cause you're unprepared" thread.. ;)

[MI_STEELHEAD]

No offense taken. Your right and I do ratchet after I have pulled far away from the docks...off in the parking lot somewhere. Same spot where I collect all the crap that is going to fly out of my boat as soon as I hit the freeway. That did come across wrong. I guess I should have said is they help me hit the road quicker from the spot were I pack up for the trip home.

I never had those ratchets before and I think they are great. They are not new.....don't know how I missed them this whole time. Anyways....if you don't have them yet. Check them out. Cheap addition to simplify things. Over the entire year I didn't spend a minute looking for one of those removable ones which was nice. In the past, all too often I was hunting for the spot one of my guests stored them. I know....I had a specific spot for them.....they just didn't always make it there.....especially when someone else was helping me out.:-)


Maybe you do and It just didnt come out that way in the post, but ratcheting the boat down and such should be done in the parking lot out of the way of the ramps. Once your boat is on the trailer, hook the saftey chain on and pull out of the way of the ramps. Again, no offense if this is your procedure.

I pull my 2600 Striper out with a hand winch on a bunk trailer 15+ times a year, by my self, and am generally the fastest in and out of the ramp every time. The majority of problems I see at the dock are a result of people just flat out not having a system for launching/retrieving their rig.

Know where the boat has to be tied to the dock before you go to grab the trailer.
Know where the trailer has to be backed in relative to the dock and how far in the water.
Back the trailer in straight(and hopefully on the first, or first few tries)
etc...

Its almost that time of year for the "how not to ruin everyone elses day at launch time cause you're unprepared" thread.. ;)

[MI_STEELHEAD]

That is a great idea.....mount a plastic tool box!!

How is the 7 way going to charge the battery?

My buddies tow my boat sometimes. I never even thought of that.

I guess I could always just manually override it and use the handle if it was on the back of someone else's.

Could you use a small motorcycle battery for this? Wonder how long one of those would last.


This yr I'm mounting a Toolbox on the front of the trailer and am going to lock a battery inside that, along with other tools and the powerwinch cable. I'm also going to wire it up so the 7-way will charge the battery in tow. Thsi way I can use either one of my trucks to pull it around if needed and don't have to move batteries.[/quote]

[Jason Adam]

I never had those ratchets before and I think they are great. They are not new.....don't know how I missed them this whole time. Anyways....if you don't have them yet. Check them out. Cheap addition to simplify things. Over the entire year I didn't spend a minute looking for one of those removable ones which was nice. In the past, all too often I was hunting for the spot one of my guests stored them. I know....I had a specific spot for them.....they just didn't always make it there.....especially when someone else was helping me out.:-)

I have these that I installed 2 or three years ago. I have found the followiing two problems with them. A.) It almost takes 3 hands to get the damn strap out while pulling the hook(strap), lifting the release lever, and the other ratchet thing.. Maybe other brands are different. B.) If you spray your hull with acid, these things will get tore up. I didnt even unhook mine first. They probably would have been better off if they were retracted. Other than that, They are nice and you dont forget to put them on.

[Priority1]

Running off the 7-pin is not a good idea. If the ramp is steep, then the motor will work harder and you have a possibility of buring up the power wire on the truck. That wire is only 14 awg, if I remember correctly. Most Powerwinches have a 60 breaker. The fuse in the truck is only a 40 amp, but the wire they supply is too small to handle that load. Again, if the ramp isn't steep, you'd bk ok. BUt when the winch starts strugglin', be careful.

I have a 28' Boat on a bunk trailer, 11,500 lb winch when set up on a double pull. I have no problem pulling my 10k boat out by myself in less than 3minutes.

My boat is a 22 ft Aluminum, and the Lund in question is a 17 ft. I powered mine off a 10ga wire in my 7 way, fused with a 30 amp fuse in the truck, that will protect the 10 ga wire just fine. I have never had any problems. The 10 ga. wire is used for nothing but the winch. The wire was not fused from the factory. I had to buy a 30 amp fuse for it.:) This set up would NOT handle a boat like Salmonbum's that weighs 12,000#.:) It will work just fine for a 17 ft Lund.

[SalmonBum]

My boat is a 22 ft Aluminum, and the Lund in question is a 17 ft. I powered mine off a 10ga wire in my 7 way, fused with a 30 amp fuse in the truck, that will protect the 10 ga wire just fine. I have never had any problems. The 10 ga. wire is used for nothing but the winch. The wire was not fused from the factory. I had to buy a 30 amp fuse for it.:) This set up would NOT handle a boat like Salmonbum's that weighs 12,000#.:) It will work just fine for a 17 ft Lund.

Right on. You did it the right way by running your own wire (10 ga) back there.

I'm not sure what truck you have, but my '03 GMC has a power wire already set up to the 7 way. If your looking into the adapter on the truck, it's the one at 1 o'clock. To activate it, you need to remove a dummy fuse in the fuse compartment under the hood and replace it with a 40 amp fuse. Now just run the power wire to the battery in the trailer and ground the neg to the boat trailer or ground on the 7 way. From what I hear, it takes about 5 hrs for a full charge.

You could do it like Priority1, just make sure to use the 10 Ga wire, nothing smaller

The fuse setup above is for a GMC diesel, and I hear it's different for the Gassers. I'm going to figure it out for my 06' F-150, but that truck won't be used to pull this boat, it's not big enough

I was at the boat last night and got some dimensions off the trailer to design my plates for mounting the tool box. I should get that done tonite, or atleast started.

[Ogre]

http://www.etrailer.com/faq/wiring.asp

[Priority1]

Right on. You did it the right way by running your own wire (10 ga) back there.

I'm not sure what truck you have, but my '03 GMC has a power wire already set up to the 7 way. If your looking into the adapter on the truck, it's the one at 1 o'clock. To activate it, you need to remove a dummy fuse in the fuse compartment under the hood and replace it with a 40 amp fuse. Now just run the power wire to the battery in the trailer and ground the neg to the boat trailer or ground on the 7 way. From what I hear, it takes about 5 hrs for a full charge.

You could do it like Priority1, just make sure to use the 10 Ga wire, nothing smaller

The fuse setup above is for a GMC diesel, and I hear it's different for the Gassers. I'm going to figure it out for my 06' F-150, but that truck won't be used to pull this boat, it's not big enough

I was at the boat last night and got some dimensions off the trailer to design my plates for mounting the tool box. I should get that done tonite, or atleast started.

The 10 ga wire was already there from the factory. It is a heavy red wire. Looking into the 7 way on back of the truck it's at about 2 oclock. Just had to add a 30 amp fuse under the hood. The smaller ga wires are for the lights and are not hot all the time. The connection at 2 oclock on the trucks 7 way is hot all the time once it's fused. This is on a 03 Silverado. I was told GM doesn't fuse it because it may be used for different purposes.:)