Trailer winch mount location change

[am_dew]

Last summer I moved my trailer winch to allow the bow stop to be on top of the bow eye. Here is a pic that shows how it looked before the modification:

And what it looks like now:

This is working out great except one thing...the winch handle hits the boat sometimes when the boat is up to the bow stop, depending upon how the boat loads onto the trailer...this is despite my already cutting a couple inches off of the handle. I suppose I could cut another inch or so off the handle, but I was just wondering if anyone might have a better solution on what I might be able to do. I don't really want to go out and get another winch post if I can help it.

Thanks!

 

[Silvertip]

Re: Trailer winch mount location change

You did the right thing by moving the winch. The key point however, is not so much "where" the winch is, but where the bow eye is in relation to the bow stop and the winch strap. In other words, if you could have left the winch where it was, and changed the bow stop position so the strap passed under it that would have worked. Unfortunately I don't see an easy way to achieve that with the current winch post. If the horizontal piece at the top of the winch post had the bow stop mounted higher (as in cut the two tabs off and mount them so the roller sits higher) then the strap could pass under the roller. The post is height adjustable so you could easily position the bow stop where it needed to be. Again, a bit of cutting and welding would be required but any fab shop could do that easily.

 

[am_dew]

Re: Trailer winch mount location change

Thanks Silvertip. I'm assuming I would move the winch back to it's original position. If so, that horizontal piece would have to be raised about 6" in order for the bow stop to sit higher than the winch strap. Another thing I thought about is mounting the winch to the vertical part of the winch post, which I think would move the winch handle a few inches away from the boat, but I'd have to do some measuring to be sure. Doing that though would also change the angle of the strap in relation to the bow eye; I want to try and keep the angle that the strap and bow eye are in relation to one another so that the strap does not pull the bow eye from too much of an angle and put undue stress on the bow eye's shaft.

 

[tashasdaddy]

Re: Trailer winch mount location change

mount another piece of channel on top of the present, mount the bow stop roller and extended it far enough to clear the handle.

 

[am_dew]

Re: Trailer winch mount location change

tashasdaddy, thanks for your suggestion.

I just need another inch or two...I think cutting the handle off a bit more is the easiest thing to do here rather than fabricating something.

 

[Reel Poor]

Re: Trailer winch mount location change

Mount the winch to the upright post instead of the roller stop bracket. This will move the handle toward the front of the trailer about 5-6 inches.

 

[am_dew]

Re: Trailer winch mount location change

> Mount the winch to the upright post instead of the roller stop bracket. This will move the handle
> toward the front of the trailer about 5-6 inches.

Yea, that would probably work as long as the angle of the strap in relation to the bow eye is such that it won't cause undue stress on the bow eye shaft by pulling it either up or down too much. I would think you want the strap to pull on the bow eye at nearly the same angle the bow eye is mounted.