as I get older is getting harder to crank boat onto trailer. has anyone used a power winch that can plug into  the box socket on newer pickups. dont want to mess with wiring or having another battery expense if possible. Thanks

It depends on your outlet. Is your outlet A/C or D/C ?  My outlet on mine is A/C 120V with 400 amp. Then you need to check and see what amps the winch will draw. Then what does the boat weigh to see the size of the winch you’ll need. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

GaryH, I think you will find that 120 VAC outlet closer to 400 Watts than 400 amps.  Huge difference between Watts and Amps.  400 Watts is only a little over 3 amps.  Thats not going to run much of any kind of motor of any size.  

 

bn2fish, Even then, my concern would be messing around with 120VAC at a boat ramp with a trailer in the water.  Old saying "S**t Happens" and even at 400 watts, that's enough to light your eyeballs up and could prove fatal if help is not close by because you are not going to turn loose of it if it gets you.  After all, we would like for you to be able to stick around, and this not be you first and last post.

 

They make 12VDC power winch's just for that purpose.  I would go that option and not even consider something is 120VAC.

You can mount a 12v battery on your trailer under the front of the boat on most trailers. Use that to power the 12v winch. You do NOT want a 120 volt winch anywhere near the water. As you said, you can also power the winch with the aux outlet in the back of a truck or SUV ...IF the load is not too much for the wiring to the outlet. If all else fails, you can have a shop run a heavy duty aux outlet to the back of your truck/SUV to get the job done. 

Just a thought....I wonder if you could power the winch from the trolling motor power hook up. If you are running a modern heavy duty trolling motor, the wiring could be heavy enough. You would just have to run a "pig tail" to feed the winch.

Just for the heck of it, I looked at some of the cheaper 2,000 - 2,500 pound units.  Harbor Freight and a similar one on Amazon doesn't give power requirements specs or line speed.  One at Norther Tool is the only one I found that gave power and line speed but I figure those other cheap ones are going to be very similar.  NT's was 280 watts so at 12VDC that's a little less than 25 amps.  #10ga wire would easily handle that.  The butt kicker is the speed.  ONE FOOT PER MINUTE!   Sure hope you are not in a hurry when loading the boat.

 

I would not look at power it from the boat.  It would only take one time forgetting to unplug it to probably screw some stuff up as the boat slides off the trailer.  It just wouldn't take much to run one piece of #10 wire from the battery to the back.  The frame back there would take care of the negative side.  If you have the factory towing package it may already had a power port with #10 wire going to it.  

 

I would suspect if you wanted one with a faster line speed, you're gonna have to dig a lot deeper in your pocket than those in the $100 price range.

I know Keith Poche runs a pretty heavy duty (and fast) winch on his "off the grid" boat. I wonder what that one is and what was involved in wiring it up? His is built right into the front of the boat.....I doubt that would work for your boat, but the winch itself could. I have no idea what it cost him.

I bought a couple of Harbor Freight 12v winches to lift my boat in my dock when I had a place near Bradenton, FL.  They were about $60 each and I ran them with a U1 lawn mower battery and had a solar charger on the roof.  Plenty of power for my 14' glass boat with a 25hp outboard.  They would easily pull a bass boat on a trailer.

20 hours ago, Way2slow said:

GaryH, I think you will find that 120 VAC outlet closer to 400 Watts than 400 amps.  Huge difference between Watts and Amps.  400 Watts is only a little over 3 amps.  Thats not going to run much of any kind of motor of any size.  

 

bn2fish, Even then, my concern would be messing around with 120VAC at a boat ramp with a trailer in the water.  Old saying "S**t Happens" and even at 400 watts, that's enough to light your eyeballs up and could prove fatal if help is not close by because you are not going to turn loose of it if it gets you.  After all, we would like for you to be able to stick around, and this not be you first and last post.

 

They make 12VDC power winch's just for that purpose.  I would go that option and not even consider something is 120VAC.

You’re 100% right. Why i said amps is beyond me. 👍