Free Hand Winch!!!

After our last camping trip turned out to be a little chilly, we have been waiting for warmer weather to head out under canvas again. As with all these things, life gets in the road of camping adventures, and finding free weekends seems to be more and more challenging. Still we can take solace in the beautiful weather that has graced the Southern Highlands recently as we re-discover our old friend, the Sun.

With a busy schedule of birthday parties, school excursions and home renovations, I haven’t had much time to tinker with the Terracan or the Camper, Matilda. Indeed the camper lies under wraps eagerly anticipating the next opportunity to get dirty, whenever that might be.

Always an opportunist I had been keeping an eye out for a Hand Winch. Second hand winches are available, but the quality was a concern. Also cheap winches from China seemed to make the grade, but I was not confident to leap in and purchase one. You can thus imagine joy when I ducked into Repco for a couple of small hose claps the other day to discover a 20% discount for NRMA members and a lonely Hand Winch and Tree Truck Protector looking for a new home.

To her credit, Jo didn’t even roll her eyes when I came home with my $400 hose clamps that came with a free winch and tree trunk protector…. I am a lucky man!

But having a new toy in its packet is a sad state of affairs. I was determined NOT to be on the side of a track, bogged to the gunwales, only to find out the new winch is missing some critical piece of hardware or worse still I am unable to make it work. I elected to give the winch a try on the weekend.

So I took it out of the packet – tried for several minutes to open the spring gate by manipulating lever C into a seemingly impossible location (until I got the knack) and then winched the Terracan up the drive and back down the drive using the reverse winch function.

From Hand Winch

Setting Up

Bottom line – it worked!!! At 55mm a throw of the winch it would take a long time to winch the full 20 metres of cable, but I was more than happy with the result.

From Hand Winch

Of course the Little Fisherman and Little Helper were very excited to see the whole process, and after I released the tension from the rig and released Mum from the driver’s seat, they rushed in with all sorts of good advice and posed for photos.

From Hand Winch

The Little Fisherman shows how it is done!

From Hand Winch

Packing Up

Handy Tips.

I found the winch hook didn’t fit over the Terracan’s recovery point, so I used a rated shackle from the Snatch Strap kit. If you don’t have any rated shackles – the winch would be useless.

Operating lever C takes a knack – once I got it sorted it isn’t too difficult, but I would recommend trying it before you need to use the winch in anger.

Spare Shear Pins are located in the handle of the winch body – not the handle you use for winching!

Hose clamps are not worth $400 – no matter how valuable they are in protecting your engine from catastrophic failure. Try to find another excuse!

More snaps can be found at our album here: