Firstly Ron I'd like to point out we're all here for our own fun not just to answer all and every question put on here....
As for yr winch and which winch, is best is like asking which is the best tyre....
It depends on what yr gonna do with it, personal taste etc.
May I tactfully suggest you read about how to use a winch.
Join a club and watch how they use winches and even have a go yourself with someone elses ( if they let you obviously ) so that when you come to buy one you'll have a very good idea what you want, why you need it and more importantly how to use it.
As an aside to anyone thinking of buying a winch apart from aesthetics or using one for competitions or with friends.
DONT buy one with a view to self recovery.
And if you need that explaining to you, you really do need help because you may have put yr self in a potentially dangerous situation.
Hi Broms,
Thanks also for your answer too.
My "Thanks for your quick reply" was aimed at Mad Hat for replying within minutes of me posting.
I didn't ask "Which winch," I hate those questions as much as the next man.
I was asking if someone with experience of winches could give me an opinion on the one I had linked to on Ebay.
Thanks for the advice on reading up on how to use a winch, I would be doing that anyway, but I hadn't thought about asking someone to demo the use of one.
Self-recovery, my friend, is the only reason I might need a winch. As I explained, I know what I want it for and the purpose for which I would be using it, but I'll re-type it just for clarification.
I bought my land rover to help when I launch/recover a little boat on a couple of rocky beaches, as my Peugeot Partner was not up to the job. I am a bit paranoid that one day I might get stuck as the tide comes in and I wouldn't want to let my defender get submerged. Therefore, I see a winch as the ideal solution to this worry. Both locations I launch at, have a pier. There are huge big rings sunk into the concrete at intervals along the piers to which I could easily anchor a winch line. I would then be able to give my landy a straight pull forward to get me out of trouble and then drive up the beach.
I am not, in any shape, form or manner, disputing the level of professionalism needed by guys who use winches to do most recovery work, but I think I am capable of managing something as simple as a straight forward pull on a reasonably level beach, after all, it's little more than a straight tow up a very slight incline.
Up until I got the landy, I simply used a long rope to haul the boat trailer up the beach to the car park, but it didn't look too pretty so I bought a landy.
While I appreciate the fact that some folks might think a winch has a certain aesthetic appeal, I am most definitely not one of them. I personally think they look horrible and I'd much prefer one that could be hooked up when needed, but I suspect the only ones that could be used in this way wouldn't haul a landy and a boat up a rocky beach
.
Anyway, thanks again as you have put forward one very good point in getting a demo. A couple of my work colleagues have winches on their Disco's so I could arrange that no problem, though I don't think they can be that hard to use. Press this button to reel out and that one to reel in.
Like I said, I'm not into off-roading or greenlaning or self-recovery, nothing more extreme than what I have described above.
Thanks again.
R.
