New winch for camper - cheap

[1533rl]

I have had my forward folding camper for a while now and it came with an electric winch at the rear to fold up the camper, but it had a manual winch on the front for opening the whole thing. I found it easier to close the camper manually as when it opens you have to pull out all the canvass so the manual winch at the front got more use than the electric one at the back.
I was working out how to move the electric winch to the front and the manual winch to the back when I discovered just how cheap you can get these things for. For $115 I got a new winch (with remote and cable control) within 5 days, chose dyneema instead of webbing strap.
There is a bit of a story about the installation but it's too embarrassing to tell here !!! Moved the existing winch controller from a crowded electric compartment into a wheel arch space and wired up the new one in parallel, both covered by a circuit breaker at the battery. Had a small mod on the winch mounting plate to avoid getting my hand chopped off when using the jockey wheel. Anyway I now have an electric winch front and rear. Such a cheap labour saving mod that I should have done as soon as I got the camper.
One small thing I have learned while doing this mod is that these controllers do draw power while they are sitting waiting for you to use them, so I now knock off the circuit breaker until I need power and have noticed much less drop off on the battery when it is just parked up.
Cheers
Peter

[Dicko1]

I have had my forward folding camper for a while now and it came with an electric winch at the rear to fold up the camper, but it had a manual winch on the front for opening the whole thing. I found it easier to close the camper manually as when it opens you have to pull out all the canvass so the manual winch at the front got more use than the electric one at the back.
I was working out how to move the electric winch to the front and the manual winch to the back when I discovered just how cheap you can get these things for. For $115 I got a new winch (with remote and cable control) within 5 days, chose dyneema instead of webbing strap.
There is a bit of a story about the installation but it's too embarrassing to tell here !!! Moved the existing winch controller from a crowded electric compartment into a wheel arch space and wired up the new one in parallel, both covered by a circuit breaker at the battery. Had a small mod on the winch mounting plate to avoid getting my hand chopped off when using the jockey wheel. Anyway I now have an electric winch front and rear. Such a cheap labour saving mod that I should have done as soon as I got the camper.
One small thing I have learned while doing this mod is that these controllers do draw power while they are sitting waiting for you to use them, so I now knock off the circuit breaker until I need power and have noticed much less drop off on the battery when it is just parked up.
Cheers
Peter

I had a couple of these electric winches on my old soft top camper for hauling boat and the motor up. I mounted mine with the control box and everything on a base and had the main lead to an anderson plug. Capable of being extended another 500mm if needed as well.Camper had a couple of anderson plug outlets with 100amp fuse. . Worked well. On the new forward fold I am not bothering as I find it just as easy to use the hand winch for hauling boat and lifting tent. Cheap enough though and the wireless remote is real handy if by yourself.

[1533rl]

New winch for camper

mounted mine with the control box and everything on a base and had the main lead to an anderson plug.

Thats a clever idea. I could have one controller for both winches and the only winch that operates is the one that is plugged into the anderson. Filed away for next time.

I used to find a lot of things easy, then I got older !

Cheers
Peter

[Dicko1]

mounted mine with the control box and everything on a base and had the main lead to an anderson plug.

Thats a clever idea. I could have one controller for both winches and the only winch that operates is the one that is plugged into the anderson. Filed away for next time.

I used to find a lot of things easy, then I got older !

Cheers
Peter

Poverty and old age can both see us design things that work really well for us and most likely something we wouldn't have worried about if we had money or youth on our side!!!


I,ve a bit of a dicky back so whatever I do ...I design it around taking care of my back.

[muryan]

I had a couple of these electric winches on my old soft top camper for hauling boat and the motor up. I mounted mine with the control box and everything on a base and had the main lead to an anderson plug. Capable of being extended another 500mm if needed as well.Camper had a couple of anderson plug outlets with 100amp fuse. here. Worked well. On the new forward fold I am not bothering as I find it just as easy to use the hand winch for hauling boat and lifting tent. Cheap enough though and the wireless remote is real handy if by yourself.

How much are those? Wanna buy one

[Dicko1]

How much are those? Wanna buy one

Mate they are around $100 on e-bay. I think mine were Ox brans. On the old camper I used the dyneema that came with the winch. After a while I switched it to a webbing strap as it was smoother and as it ran over the edges of the boat rack it spread the pressure out better on the rack. They are cheap but excellent. One word of warning .....KEEP THE LINE PULL STRAIGHT. Try and use the winch at 45 degrees and you,ll likely split the spool! How do I know....