do you hook the winch strap to the 2 tow hooks on the Stern? i was thinking of trying your setup with the winch on the wall.
what size and kind of bolts did you use to mount the winch to the wall?
I just found some big lag bolts at the hardware store, put the first board across 3 wall joists (used a stud sensor of course) and drive them in good & tight. Added the 2nd board so i'm not rapping my knuckles against the plasterboard every time. Its not "ideal" since you can only crank it about 1/4 to 1/2 of a crank at a time but its very controlled when its only sliding an inch or two at a time.
You might have to re-position the stand a couple of times since once its 80% of the way there with just the front of the ski on the trailer and the back half of the ski on the stand you will find the stand tends to roll backwards away from the trailer due to the pressure from the rear of the ski, I let it slide back 5-6 inches then I get under and push the stand back towards the trailer, get up and crank a few more times.
I do that so I can center the ski on the stand as close as possible, I need the main weight in the center (the engine usually). For a big 3 seater I will have to do that at least once if not twice, for a small ski like an xp its not necessary. Once its about 90% then I just push the ski back off the last few inches of the trailer (hold my breath a little every time waiting for it to tip off, but it never does). then I crank in the winch, tuck the rope away and i'm done.
I do not tie the stand to the trailer since I usually need the stand to slide back to get the ski far enough on that it won't sip, and I hate climbing under the ski/trailer to unhook it, I feel vulnerable under there lol.
For a connect point I generally use the tow hook, If you ski has the two holes in the back instead (my yami had that) you can loop a small 6-8 foot piece of looped nylon water ski rope through the two holes and make a triangle and hook the rope to the winch hook. Basically I just use
one of the short pieces from one of these kits (fortunately I bought a ski that came with a crapload of rope and a couple of tubes, so I used what I had on hand)
Actually I almost always loop a short piece even if using the tow hook because then I don't have to pull the winch strap half way across the garage and winch it all the way back the full 15 feet, you only really need about 6-7 feet of actual winch pull.
If you line up the trailer pretty close to the center of the stand it will come back straight, so make sure you mount the winch pretty close to the middle of the garage so that even with a double you can line up either ski centered. Ps, i've tried to use my impact wrench but that didn't work, by hand is best. but a few times i've used my impact wrench to coil up the line, you just have to go slow and make sure the winch strap stays straight.
my next project will be to rig up a pully on the ceiling so I can lift engines out, I really could have used that this weekend and while I was breathing heavy I was staring up at that ceiling thinking about next weekends project
You will need to buy the lift strap, if you are going to use the lift method.
If you decide to use the sliding method, then spray the skids to ease the sliding.
Some use soap or silicon spray with water. Both on trailer and cart. There may be other stuff that members can suggest.
Silicone helps, even just a few squirts from a water bottle helps, I have the plastic sliders on my trailer, not on my stand, I don't want the stand to be slippery, especially since i'm using the trailer winch to go from stand to trailer, plenty of power to drag the dead weight.
