Lining Up Your Boat Trailer's Winch

It took a while, but I finally smartened up. The belt on my winch kept bunching up on the handle side of the winch. To make matters worse, the edge was chaffing. Other than having a plastic cover, my winch is pretty much as shown in the images below.

I cannot powerload on most of the ramps at the ponds I fish, so I have to winch the boat onto the trailer. Because of the bunching, I'd crank the boat up a foot or two, then back the belt off the winch, and lay it on evenly. Still, it would pull to the handle side of the winch, even for the last inch or two.

To make matters worse, the belt has a cut about a quarter inch deep into the edge of the belt, caused by a raised ridge on the side plate, caused by the stamping process. It was cut at the last inch or two pulling hard over the edge of the plate, where maximum stress occurs.

While perusing the winch, and the chaffed belt, it finally dawned on me that the winch should be aligned so that the belt should favor the opposite side plate, because it is curved away from the center of the winch at the outer edge. That allows for the belt to slide onto the spool without having to ride over the ridge on the opposite plate.

To correct the problem, I did two things. First I positioned the winch so the belt was clear of the flat side plate and touched the plate with the curve at its outer edge. To account for the times when the boat may be slightly off center, I took a fine file and chamferred the edge of the flat plate, eliminating the offending ridge.

You can see the difference in the side plates in the images below. Some winches have flat plates on both sides. Check the alignment carefully, and remove any ridge that can chew into the winch strap's edges.