The Winches come with standard length cable and strap. Our Hand Winches and Industrial Load-brake Winches comes as a bare unit but please contact Absolute Lifting and Safety to customise a cable or strap to suit your requirements.
Generally, a 2-to-1 ratio is appropriate (1100 lb winch for a 2200 lb boat), but there are factors to consider. When a well-equipped and maintained roller trailer is used and the ramp setup is such that it allows the boat to float partway onto the trailer, the ratio can be stretched to 3-to-1. On the other hand, if the ramp is steep, a carpeted bunk trailer is used, or conditions require the winch to pull the boat a longer distance, the ratio should be reduced to 1-to-1.
How many handle revolutions it takes to turn the spool once. A gear ratio of 4:1 means that it takes four complete turns of the handle to turn the spool 360 degrees.
Two drive shafts are used on a two-speed winch, to allow a choice between “low” and “high” gears. Lower gear would be used in steep or otherwise difficult situations, while the higher gear would result in faster operation. To change gears, the handle is removed and installed on the other drive shaft (no tools required).
The term “two-way ratchet” is often misunderstood. All it means is that, prior to using the winch the first time, the user can choose which direction to wind the line onto the reel. Once that’s done, the extra ratchet position serves no purpose. Because of this, we developed and patented a reversible ratchet that is easier to use, but performs the same function. The ratchet pawl is installed with the assumption that cable will wind off the top of the reel (which is true in almost all cases), but it can be easily removed, turned around, and re-installed to allow cable to come off the bottom if needed.