I've been tasked with coming up with a winch that can be built in place for hauling and launching a floating dock.

Ideally, gas engine powered. 110VAC would be second choice, battery a distant third but doable.

I priced up a 12,000 pound pull winch, with mount, battery and solar maintainer for around $650 and the customer didn't blink at the price but wasn't sure 12K was enough grunt. Given the size of the dock/float and the condition of the beach, I tend to agree.

It's currently costing him $2500 annually to have an excavator come in and pull the float up onto the beach. He's more than willing to spend up to $2K and amortize it over a few years.

So, questions:

1. What battery/truck winch has the highest line pull rating within our budget?

2. Same question, 110V or Gas Engine winch?





I built this beast some years back to haul/launch a big trimaran, but can't find a source for the mechanical winch that is the heart of the system.

With a 17 horse gas engine and the extra reduction of the S10 transmission, it'd haul the makeup off of Tammy Faye Baker.

Double the purchase on the electric winch and it will pull 24,000 lbs. Google "double purchase rigging".
That winch pictured looks like the winches for all the anchor cables for our docks at the yacht club.There are a few in the "bone yard".
FL

How does the dock get back out?

I would think a good off road winch, rigged with a pulley would pull that in. You need a winch that has a good long duty cycle. I also think a battery bank with 4 good golfcart batteries would work with a solar charger with a good charge controller will be fine in maintaining the batteries.

much smaller than what you have pictured

quote:

Originally posted by mark_a:
How does the dock get back out?

He is planning to set an eye in the ledge at the low tide mark and use a pulley to back-haul it.

And doubling the line through a snatch block for the in-haul was part of the plan.

https://www.harborfreight.com/...ing-brake-62194.html

Check out this Harbor Freight winch. 18000 lbs, $699. Substitute that winch into the system you put together earlier, and you would probably come out of it for around $1000. If the winch ever fails, he can take it back and get a new one. I wouldn't use a Harbor Freight winch on a vehicle I was going to get stuck in, but for something like a dock that will only get used once or twice a year it will probably be perfect.

edit- Nevermind. I thought they had a lifetime warranty on their winches, but it looks like that one only has a 90 day guarantee. They might not replace it if it ever quits.

quote:

Check out this Harbor Freight winch.

Although I use big Warns on the trucks, I use Harbor Freight winches on all of my equipment. We abuse the heck out of of them and they hold up well. Whenever we do manage to destroy one I simply toss it in the trash and buy another.

How heavy is the dock? Is it on some sort of wheels/rollers or are you dragging it on the ground? What type of surface are you pulling it across and how steep is it?

quote:

Originally posted by a1abdj:

quote:

Check out this Harbor Freight winch.

Although I use big Warns on the trucks, I use Harbor Freight winches on all of my equipment. We abuse the heck out of of them and they hold up well. Whenever we do manage to destroy one I simply toss it in the trash and buy another.

How heavy is the dock? Is it on some sort of wheels/rollers or are you dragging it on the ground? What type of surface are you pulling it across and how steep is it?

Thanks for the tip on the HF winch. The extra 6K would be comforting.

I haven't put the Mark 1 eyeball on the situation, but knowing the area, it'll be a rocky shore. If it's towed in at high tide, the vertical distance shouldn't be much, the horizontal over rocks could be 25 feet or more.

They plan to put metal skids on the bottom of the framing. This is a "float" not a dock per se, don't know how big it is or have a reasonable guess on the weight.

The builder that requested this project (he does closings/openings for summer homes as part of his business) seemed to think that a 12K pound winch doubled through a snatch block should be enough but left room for doubt.

For rough numbers, you'll need about 66% of the gross weight to drag on a level non-miring surface. At a 15 degree upward pull you'll want to add 25% of your gross weight, an at 30 degrees 50%.

Don't forget that your winch ratings are the maximum on the first layer of cable around the drum. Each additional layer reduces that number. By the time you're at your fourth layer, you may be at 65% of your rated pull.

Pulling a number out of thin air, say your dock weighs 20,000 pounds and you're pulling it on it's skid up a 30 degree incline. That's a 23,200 pound pull.

You're using a snatch block which halves your load where a 12,000 pound winch will pull it. But that's only on the first layer. An 18,000 pound winch fully wrapped may pull 11,700 which gets you pretty close to being able to pull it regardless of how far the cable is out.

We need pictures!

I would avoid an electric winch, unless you were able to use a large reduction gear as well.

A 300 hp pickup truck has fantastic amounts of power compared to a 12,000 lb. pull electric winch.
Has your customer tried it with a 4x4 pickup?

Traditionally boats have been brought up for repair using a donkey motor, which was a gas motor and a big reduction gear.

quote:

Originally posted by c1steve:
A 300 hp pickup truck has fantastic amounts of power compared to a 12,000 lb. pull electric winch. Has your customer tried it with a 4x4 pickup?

I'm sure that option has been considered and rejected. If it's the location I think it is (I was asked to run over and check the mooring lines before a storm hit) you couldn't get a straight pull on it without trashing the lawn.



I'm considering getting this one and converting it to engine drive.

Isn't winch on first?

if a double purchase won't do it, you can add as many purchases as necessary. 3-1 or 4-1 on a 12k winch should pull damn near anything. You will need a LOT of cable though.

quote:

Originally posted by Sig2340:
Isn't winch on first?

That's not how he signs his checks.

quote:

you can add as many purchases as necessary

and this is your answer. You can do this with anything given you have the provided purchase.
Cascaded if necessary. The classic method of doing this is to lay two parallel ways and pull on top of those rather than skids on the float. Before I owned my excavator I hauled my docks easily with a gas powered winch cascaded through blocks up ways made from pt timber. they weigh about 10K. But without a bit more on size, shape, distance terrain etc. I'd be reluctant to say what might work.

quote:

Originally posted by trapper189:

quote:

Originally posted by Sig2340:
Isn't winch on first?

That's not how he signs his checks.

Here's how to sign Czechs...



Link to original video: https://youtu.be/KzPWMkLH_Ng

Hydraulic pump and hydraulic motor, driven by a small (less than 5 HP) gas engine. Gear reduction on the hyd. motor to drive the cable drum?

Entire system might be set on something like a kids wagon to move it around and put it away. The detail is to be able to anchor it to something so it wouldn’t pull itself into the water.

Only trying to be funny but do they haul a lot of docks in PA? The form of driving the winch has nothing really to do with any of this. really. hydraulic, gas, electric, manual etc. are all the same in the end when faced with a similar gear reduction, drum size, pull ratio, etc.
I live in a fishing town on the coast. Because it freezes solid around here in all but one harbor collectively all but a few docks come out of the water each fall. Those probably vary in size from my small ones at 10K to the larger fishing docks of concrete at perhaps more than 100K. If we have some idea of the size of this activity we can give some thought to the required winch. I've seen hundreds of these hauled with all kinds of different mechanism's.

Winch Man!

After discussing Dale's requirements (power, convenience) and the landowner's requirements (appearance, safety, removed when not in use) we decided that a big honkin' winch and a battery was the best way.

So, I ordered a Horror Fright Badlands 18,000 pound winch. I knew it was was gonna be big, but DAYUM! The bare winch has to weigh over 100 pounds judging by how much my eyes pooched out when I picked it up to put it on the bench. (Won't be doing that again...) Roughly 28 inches long from clutch to motor, and look at the size of that hook!

We'll either haul it out or tear it up.

I have to make a mounting plate for it that will bolt down to a gonzo concrete pier Dale is gonna form up and pour on site. Top of the pier will be nearly at grade so as not to offend the owner's sensibilities when not in use. The plan is to bolt it down, haul the float, unbolt it and store it and the battery away and put a low profile cover over the pier to protect the studs, keep the yard looking decent and keep the kiddies from impaling them selves.

We bought one of those 12k winches from HF and installed on tilting flatbed trailer to haul scissor lifts onto.

The only issue we've had is you need to pay close attention to guiding the cable back onto the spool. If not, it won't wrap up nice neatly back and forth. Why does that matter, well it will roll up on whichever side is easiest for it and the rollup diameter of the cable spool will begin to exceed its capability and bind up. Force it and you'll pay hell pulling it back out.

Do keep us posted with pics of the project.