Choosing the Right Size of Boat Trailer Winch

Are you getting ready for a fishing trip out at the lake? You need a trusty boat trailer winch to secure your vessel for the drive. To ensure that your boat is safely tied up, the trailer winch should be the exact size so that your planned fishing trip could go off without a hitch. Here’s how you can choose the right size of boat trailer winch:

1. Choose based on weight

Instead of choosing the size based on the length of your boat, you should take a harder look at how heavy it is exactly. Your winch should be able to handle the total weight of the boat, the gear and the motor.

Why Learning about Boat Trailer Winch Is Crucial

As in most other endeavors, becoming a full-fledged boatman entails preparations and learning. Before getting all the needed vehicle and equipment, it would wise to start with the basics, such as familiarizing yourself with nautical terms. Boating jargon might be a bit confusing for a newbie because the amount of technical terms and boat parts you need to know is almost as vast as the ocean.

A Quick Safety Inspection before Hitting the Road

Whether you are driving a trailer for the first time or the millionth time, you should always perform a safety inspection before you hit the road. In particular, you should check the following trailer parts:

Lights

As a wide load, your trailer lights serve to help you avoid accidents with other vehicles. Check the lights of your trailer if they work properly, especially the brake lights and turn signals. You may want to ask someone to help you do this so you won’t have to keep going back and forth between the driver’s seat and the rear end of your trailer.

Buying a New Trailer Winch? Consider these Factors

Boat trailer winches come with different specs and features, which means that buying a new one isn’t as straightforward as it sounds. For one thing, buyers should consider the purpose they intend for this equipment, because a winch with a permanent magnet motor is best suited for hauling light objects while a hydraulic winch is intended for heavy duty lifting.

Driving a Boat Onto a Trailer: A Few Points

There are two ways to load a boat onto a trailer from the water: by winch and by driving through the trailer ramp. While both are acceptable methods, there's a lot to be said about driving your boat onto the trailer. For the record, it's not as easy as you think.

Good Aim

You need to aim for the trailer dead center for the driving method to work. It's hard enough to do this in still water; doing it against a fierce current is a nightmare. In the latter's case, boat owners often set up their trailers facing the current so that the boat can be guided safely onto the trailer. Strong winds can also mess up your aim.

Good Rollers

Well-maintained rollers will keep the boat firm and steady as it drives onto the trailer. Otherwise, the boat will simply slide off once you attempt to load it. If you don't check your rollers regularly, resort to the winch method instead. It will save you time, fuel, and the trouble of tantrums from other irate boaters.

Not for Beginners

Driving onto the trailer takes masterful control of the throttle and steering. If this is your first time owning a boat, it's better to get a feel for loading and unloading by the basics. Use a good winch to assist you in launching and retrieving your boat.

Know Your Boat Trailer Winch

At the front of the boat trailer is a winch system that helps load and unload a boat. Obviously, boats are too heavy to be pushed or shoved off, even by a host of strong men. A winch is needed to do this job, pulling with a rating of as much as 2,500 lbs or even higher.

Winch systems come in different variants, and may be classified according to three major components: gear system, crank type, and drum type.

Gear System

Typical gear systems include the single and two-speed gear. The single-speed gear is simple to use—crank and go—and has a load rating of between 400 and 2,100 lbs. The two-speed gear can switch between low and high-speed cranking. The low-speed configuration allows greater loads--between 1,600 and 3,700 lbs--to be pulled with ease.

Crank Type

The standard hand crank is the most versatile type of cranking system for winches. It can work with most gear systems in loading and unloading a boat. A ratchet crank is more portable, but is not recommended for anything other than incline pulling.

Drum Type

The single and split reels are two known drum types. The single reel focuses the pulling power on one line, requiring a sturdy winch strap. A split reel, on the other hand, allows pulling from two directions. 

Which Winch Goes With My Boat?

Suppose you’ve bought yourself a nice boat for regular periods up and down the coast. The craft may or may not have their own berth at the marina. However, there will be times when you want your boat off the water and try your luck in another location, hence hauling them off on a trailer. The thing is: if you already have a trailer, you will need a winch to reel in the vessel before you can transport it anywhere.

The curb weight of your boat will be a major factor in choosing the proper winch. Some experts first recommend checking the manuals of the boat, motor, and trailer for each one’s weight. Add all three weight values and list down the sum in a notebook. Next, compute for the additional weight of gas and other items. Multiply the regular weight of gas per gallon– at 6.25 pounds– times the fuel tank volume, then add around 50 pounds worth of equipment. 


Add up the weight of the first computation and the second, then divide them by two. The result is the minimum weight capacity of the winch you need. Run the capacity by your boat parts seller so they can present you with some choice winches. Buy a new winch strap and some tie-downs to lock the boat on the trailer while in transit.

Choosing a Boat Trailer Winch

There are probably about as many different boat trailer winches as there are boats or trailers, so narrowing down your choices isn’t always the easiest thing to do. However, considering a few factors, finding the right boat trailer winch doesn’t have to be so complicated.

Capacity

Weight capacity is the first thing you will need to consider when choosing a winch. The capacity of the winch you buy should be at least three-fourths the combined weight of your boat and motor, fully loaded with gear and fuel.

In addition, there are other things you will need to factor in that can increase the capacity requirements for a winch. These include, steeper launch ramps, a trailer that uses wood bunks instead of rollers, as well as how far into the water you can go to launch the boat.

Power

A single-speed winch is suitable for lighter boats like dinghies, catamarans, and inflatables. A two-speed winch, on the other hand, can be used for boats that are any heavier than that. For truly big boats, an electric winch with higher gear ratios may be required.

Brake

While most boats can be launched safely by letting them slide freely off the trailer and into the water, bigger boats will require a boat trailer winch with some form of braking system. This should allow you to launch the boat into the water at a safe speed.