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Random Quote: Life's too short to sit around and be bored.
Buying a winch is pretty straight forward, all you need to know is the weight of your boat, motor, a full tank of gas and plus another 500 lbs or so....then buy the next size up winch you can find at the best price. To my understanding manual winches don't come with cables or straps, you buy whatever type you like and install them yourself.
Pretty much any marina sells trailer jacks I would think they would be the best ones to talk to about what size you need.
You don't need to match the winch capacity to the boat weight. I doubt you would even find a trailer hand winch rated for more that 5,000 lbs. A 3,000 lb 2-speed would be fine.
__________________
That is crap.
Which idiot told you that CO2 only makes up 0.039% of the atmosphere?
When I looked in the marine catalog I have, it looked like the basic hand winches were rated far below the weight of the boat. Any suggestions on sizing a winch? My winch's handle broke off about the same time that I snapped the strap. I tied the strap back to the hook to get it on the trailer, I'll need a replacement before I have to move it more than the 50 ft from the ramp to it's parking space.
To Select T Winch Capacity:
Minimum Winch Capacity = Maximum Weight of Boat,
Including Motor, Fuel, Gear ÷ 2
Example: Boat, Motor, Fuel, Gear Weight = 2,800 lbs.
2,800 ÷ 2 = 1,400 lbs.
If shallow water or steep inclined launches are
expected to be used ÷ Maximum Weight by 1.5
Example: Boat, Motor, Fuel, Gear Weight = 3,100 lbs.
3,100 ÷ 1.5 = 2,067 lbs.
__________________ There is nothing - absolutely nothing - half so much worth doing as simply messing about in boats
Yeah, I was gonna say that if my boat doesn't have enough water under it, the winch post has enough flex that I'm sure that winch capacity is not the limiting factor. It won't pull the boat up the trailer across the bunks on the ramp. Only if part of the boat is still in the water.
__________________ "All bad precedents begin with justifiable measures."
Julius Caesar
If you're limiting your choices to a manual winch, get the highest capacity 2 speed you can find (I think Fulton makes a 3700lb) and use enough cable so that you can double the capacity with a snatch block if needed. Even if the launch you use now is a piece of cake, you may go somewhere in the future that's a horror show. You can't go too big on a manual winch. BTW, a modification I always make to a manual winch is to weld the handle to the shaft. The handle has an oblong slot that keys onto the shaft and this is the spot that fails first, with the handle hole getting enlarged and slipping on the shaft.
__________________ Ed Panzella
"BAITS MOTEL"
2450 MAYCRAFT PILOTHOUSE
Higganum, Ct
Winch Size 
