Recommended Trailer Winch for Loading and Unloading Canoe into Canoe House with Greater Ease

Question:

We have a fairly heavy long canoe that we presently yank, lift, and push by hand from our dock and up a slightly inclined bank into our long canoe house. This is getting harder as we get older. We are thinking we could put a winch at the back of the canoe house on the outside and crank the canoe up into it. This is a flat-bottomed canoe and just slides over some rug-covered cross beams on the floor of the canoe house. We have determined we would need 30 foot of cable or strap. and, I think also a left-handed crank since we would be standing at the back of the house and cranking with our right hand. We would probably have to mount the winch onto a block or something that sticks out a ways from the back of the canoe house so that there would be room to turn the handle then we would make a hole in the back of the house to run the cable through. Do you have any suggestions as to which Dutton winch would work best for this job, if any? Thanks

asked by: Jill

Expert Reply:

I recommend the Dutton-Lainson # DL14830 for greater ease of loading and unloading your canoe into the canoe house.

This winch will work great for your canoe. It has both a high and low gear which will make loading a snap, it also has a reverse ratchet which will assist you in lowing the canoe when you want to unload it from the canoe house. It features a free spooling option with a hand brake to give you controlled lowering and guiding down your ramp.

Since you will be standing behind the canoe house while winching, you will want a right handed winch, like the # DL14830 is. I have attached an image of the proper front and back of the winch, our images show the rear to give a more detailed view of the winch.

I also recommend the 50 foot hand winch cable with safety hook # DL24045 for the winch. This will mount into the winch just great.

Another great idea to improve the ease of loading and unloading, in addition to the winch, is a set of Dutton-Lainson Boat Roller Bunks # DL21741. I've had a customer with a similar setup to yours email in and he used these in addition to the winch.

I have linked all the above mentioned products to this page for your convenience.