US $12.94
If you own a boat, one of the first decisions that you are going to have to make is that if you are going to use a boat trailer electric winch or a standard boat trailer winch. While you can save money by using a standard one, safety and ease dictate that the electric boat trailer winches are the way to go.
If you are going to use a hand crank, you will need to use more strength in order to get your boat landed. You never know what kind of a day you are going to have on the boat and if you are there alone, you want to make sure that you can still get the boat landed. Using an electric winch lends more certainty that you will get the boat landed and do so safely.
When you are deciding on what boat trailer winch to buy, you need to not only account for the weight of the boat, but also for everything that is going to be on the boat when you are trying to land it. This means that you will have to figure in a full load of fuel and all the supplies that will generally be on the boat.
Another factor to take into consideration is that the boat is not going to be on land when you are trying to pull it in. Since it will be in the water, the load capacity will be even greater. That being the case, you will need a winch that can handle a greater line pull capacity than the actual weight of the items that we had mentioned above. You need to give yourself plenty of leeway in ensuring that your winch can get the boat out of the water safely.
In order to make sure that your boat is secured properly, you should not use the winch as the method of securing the boat. This is another mistake a lot of beginners will make as they assume that since the winch pulled the boat out of the water that it should be able to hold it during travel as well. These are the same people that you see with their boat in the middle of the highway. Play it safe and use tie-downs to secure your vessel.
While it is recommended that you use an electric winch, you are still going to need to know how to operate a manual boat trailer winches as well. Most electric models will have a manual option in case the electric winch fails. Make sure you are familiar with it on the odd happenstance that your boat trailer electric winch fails.
Finally, make sure that you regularly inspect your winch so that all parts are working properly. The cable can deteriorate over time and may need to be replaced. You will also want to check all moving parts to ensure that there is no damage. Don’t wait until it is too late, inspect it after every use and make sure that it is ready to go for the next trip.