Winch rating

[manfishing]

I was at the dealer today, all lund trailers. I noticed when I look at the winch capacity it said 1800 pounds. I know boat moter boat gas bateries and supplies will weigh 2800 pounds. Is this winch rated high enough. Thanks

[REW]

Man,
It is very seldom that a winch has to do a vertical lift on the loaded boat and motor.

I have had a couple of cases, where the boat was down under a cutbank on a barren north Dakota lake and we needed to lift the boat vertically to get the boat up and onto a trailer.

Before the job was done, the bow hook had snapped, the broken hook had punched a hole through the deck lid of the vehicle that the trailer was hooked to; but the winch did lift the boat and motor successfully on a vertical lift.

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But, having said that - a higher capacity winch is generally a good thin; as opposed to a lower capacity winch.

Simply put, for those times when the boat has to be winched up a long ways on a shallow launch or for some over very necessary reason; it is nice to have the winch capacity to move the boat and motor onto the trailer as needed.

Again, the use of a 2-speed winch is also a very nice thing to have on heavier boats. That way, if the boat is coming up easily on a slick bunk, you can use the high speed setting, but for the final pull to the winch stand, you might want to shift to low gear for the final pull to the winch stand.

More winch power and or a two speed winch might often be appreciated by some folks on some rigs. By others - and different rigs, the extra capacity of the winch might be totally wasted.

Good luck

p.s.
When I first purchased my boat and trailer, I had a reasonably sized winch that worked all right. But, after a few years, the winch was in need of changing. About that time, I just happened to run across a new winch that had double the capacity of my original winch that I purchased at a good price. I mounted the larger winch and couldn't be happier. Much much better with the use of the larger winch.

[last chance]

the winch is rated at lifting weight. pulling a boat on a trailer takes much less to get it pulled up. I've loaded a 2000# plus boat with a 1200# winch. I had a 3000# electric winch on the trailer for a 28' sea ray that probably went somewhere in the 8000# range. never had a problem pulling the boat on the trailer. if you find your having trouble getting the boat pulled up you can always change out the winch to a fulton 3200# 2 speed winch. you can get an off brand off ebay for less than 50 bucks if you want to save a bunch of money.

[jeroff]

Originally Posted by manfishing

I was at the dealer today, all lund trailers. I noticed when I look at the winch capacity it said 1800 pounds. I know boat moter boat gas bateries and supplies will weigh 2800 pounds. Is this winch rated high enough. Thanks

From experience, yes the winch is most likely rated high enough unless you have some extremely sticky bunks on your boat and the trailer isn't backed far enough in. The 2,800lbs you referenced is weight with respect to gravity... A winch is only pulling the boat laterally against mostly friction, and the slight incline of a trailer is not nearly significant enough to analogize it to the weight of gravity.
That being said, like many said above me, over-sizing a winch is rarely a bad thing, especially when it comes to a 2,800lb boat on a bunk trailer, and the availability of 2-speed winches.