[Rhodes22-list] Replacement of winch for motor lift

[Jesse Shumaker]

My boat had the Chicago Electric Remote Control 12 Volt 3000 LB winch, model
#95912.  There was no wired switch and the remote had seen better days. 
Towards the end of the season, the winch would occasionally keep running for
a bit, even I had let off the up or down button. 

Rather than working on this winch and trying to wire in a switch, I decided
to replace it with a Rugcel 3500lb waterproof IP68 that has a wired switch
as well as a couple of remotes.  It is 1.2HP.  It got the version that had
the nylon rope since I figured that would be easier to remove than the
version that came with a metal cable.  I got the winch on Amazon for $130. 
You can also buy them at rugcel.com, but that is the version with the metal
cable, which is a bit cheaper.
https://www.rugcel.com/products/rugcel-winch-3500lb 

Removing the old winch was straight forward, but it’s a two person job since
you need someone to hold a screw driver on the outside of the boat and
someone to use a socket or wrench on the nuts from inside the lazarette. 
Fun fact: it turns out that a 5’9” tall person can (barely) sit cross legged
inside the lazarette with the lid raised.

My new winch didn’t have a mount for the solenoid to strap on to the winch,
but I cut off the curved feet from the solenoid-to-winch mount from the old
winch and glued them onto the new winch and solenoid.  I also used a couple
of hose clamps to keep the solenoid attached.

The seatbelt that is used to raise and lower the motor is attached to the
winch with 5 small screws.  The old winch had some sort of plastic or
composite core.  The new winch has a metal core.  I drilled pilot holes,
tried some self tapping screws but ended up going back with small sheet
metal screws.  One of the screws got stuck before going all the way in and I
had to cut that off and drill a new hole nearby.  I used some Gorilla glue
to secure the seat belt along with the screws.

I was worried about having to patch the old mounting plate holes in the hull
and drill holes for the new mounting plate, but fortunately the new winch
could attach to the old mounting plate so I didn’t have to drill any new
holes.  There was a bit of corrosion on the mounting plate so I sanded it
and applied a coat of Rustoleum primer and then paint.  I also replaced the
bolts attaching the mounting plate to winch with stainless since the old
bolts had some corrosion.  I applied some silicone around the bolts that
went through the hull and also put some on the back of the mounting plate.

I mounted the switch on the the ridge that separates the lazaratte from the
cockpit, as close to the center of the cockpit as possible so I could reach
it.  The switch is supposed to be waterproof, but this placement keeps it
out of the weather, away from getting hit accidentally and avoided drilling
anywhere that is visible.  I can still easily reach underneath to operate
the switch.  The wiring is fairly self-explanatory based on the colors. 
There is a red wire from the switch that needs to go directly to the post
that connects to the battery, but it wasn’t long enough so I had to run an
extension for that.

Both the wired switch and remotes work well.  Some photos of before, in
progress, and after version of the project are attached.  Perhaps this can
helpful to anyone else considering a similar project.

<http://rhodes-22.1065344.n5.nabble.com/file/t907/WR001.jpg> 
<http://rhodes-22.1065344.n5.nabble.com/file/t907/WR002.jpg> 
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<http://rhodes-22.1065344.n5.nabble.com/file/t907/WR004.jpg> 
<http://rhodes-22.1065344.n5.nabble.com/file/t907/WR005.jpg> 
<http://rhodes-22.1065344.n5.nabble.com/file/t907/WR006.jpg> 
<http://rhodes-22.1065344.n5.nabble.com/file/t907/WR007.jpg> 
<http://rhodes-22.1065344.n5.nabble.com/file/t907/WR008.jpg> 
<http://rhodes-22.1065344.n5.nabble.com/file/t907/WR009.jpg> 
<http://rhodes-22.1065344.n5.nabble.com/file/t907/WR010.jpg> 
<http://rhodes-22.1065344.n5.nabble.com/file/t907/WR011.jpg> 
<http://rhodes-22.1065344.n5.nabble.com/file/t907/WR012.jpg> 
<http://rhodes-22.1065344.n5.nabble.com/file/t907/WRstern.jpg> 
<http://rhodes-22.1065344.n5.nabble.com/file/t907/Rugcel.jpg> 




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