Thought I'd start a thread on using your cordless drill to winch the boat on to the trailer
I've seen a few people mentioning it in other threads but thought it deserves a thread of it's own
I've been doing it for the last two years and apart from the winch needing to be shimmed to take up the lateral slack it works really well
My boat is a 5 metre glass cuddy cab that is pretty heavy with all the usual crap installed, Anchor winch, dual batteries, 115hp outboard & far too much fishing gear etc
The winch is an Atlantic 15:1 /5:1 /1:1
https://thewinchwarehouse.com.au/col...and-winch-rope
The drill I'm using is an AEG 18 volt Brushless with a 7/8 socket and it does it pretty easily
Pretty keen to see other peoples setups and uses because this is a pretty easy and cheap way to haul the boat up on to the trailer, So show us what you got
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I have 150 hp on the transom that "winches " it on really well.Especially solo. That aside, I did try using a good 18V 1/2" drive impact driver once on a previous boat, and it wouldn't shift it? Can't recall if I tried it on the lowest ratio. Looking at old mate in the video above, it was perfect to just drive on?
Yeah I don't think an impact driver is the right thing somehowOriginally Posted by ranmar850
I could drive it on but prefer to wind it up, I don't have a boat catch so it would be more of a pain for me, Drive it on and leave it in gear and hop out hook it up then hop back in and turn it off etc
One of my older boats that was setup for it I used to drive on but this is just as easy really
The drill does it pretty easy and I can see what's happening at all times, Driving it on doesn't always go to plan & I've seen some pretty monumental cockups at times
I would have thought an impact wrench would deliver a lot more grunt than a battery drill? I'm talking about a 1/2 " drive, for undoing wheel nuts, etc--mine delivers more impact power than any 1/2" air tool I've ever owned. It is, after all, about delivering torque, and the impact driver has that in spades. Any way, whatever works for you.
Yes, drive -on is great if appropriate. Crosswinds can make it hard, particularly with a light boat. I'm just back from the local ramp--went out for an hour to drop some craypots with a mate in hs old 5.8m plate hull. Seabreeze is 20 knots when we get back to the ramp, blowing across it at 90 degrees. He drives on--we are tied up on the downwind side getting blown off. Get the trailer in the water, he's on the wheel, I let the stern rope go, he takes off as I run up the finger jetty holding the bow rope. Even at a fast approach speed he's going more sideways than forward, is going to miss the vee, hits reverse, but he's lucky I'm hanging onto the bow rope, I drag it around as he backs up a little, and I drag his bow into line and he guns it forward, hits the rollers, straightens, then drives straight up. Very different if I hadn't had that bowrope in hand. We were at the top of the ramp talking to Fisheries, and look back down at the 620 Quinnie that had pulled up on the other side, same time as us. They were still struggling to get the bow onto the trailer to where they could start winching, and we were done. When I bought the Reefrunner, I approached drive-on with some trepidation, but the weight actually makes it easier than a lighter boat. Gets blown around less.
Hey Ranmar you are absolutley correct, your impact wrench should have more than enough torque to drive a trailer winch, I was more thinking about the damage an impact driver would do to the bushings and gears on a trailer winch, not whether it would have the grunt to do the jobI would have thought an impact wrench would deliver a lot more grunt than a battery drill? I'm talking about a 1/2 " drive, for undoing wheel nuts, etc--mine delivers more impact power than any 1/2" air tool I've ever owned. It is, after all, about delivering torque, and the impact driver has that in spades. Any way, whatever works for you.
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Either way referring to both of your scenarios above, As you pointed out a lot depends on the wind direction and experience of the the crew etc, I'm happy enough to winch up with the drill as I'm often on my own and it just works for me
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