Hi, I have a small hand operated winch mounted just behind the tow hitch. It's
a small winch with a ratchet type winding handle like you might find on a
sailing
dinghy trailer to wind the boat onto the trailer. I have attached it to
my trailer with just one bolt - in fact it's mounted on the rear of the tow
hitch
using the rear one of the two hitch mounting bolts.
I just position the plane up to the trailer with the main wheel at the bottom of
the ramp ready to run up onto the trailer. From the winch I run the rope (6mm
polyprop) rearwards and use a small carrebena type clip to clip it around the
mainwheel axle (on the port side - the other side would foul the brake). Then
just go back to the hitch and wind it on - runs up a treat, easy peasy! The
tail wheel just runs nicely along the channel with the rope passing alongside
it. As I'm winding I can move the hitch of the trailer slightly left/ right
as required to keep it perfectly aligned until the main wheel is on the ramp.
I also lower the plane down the ramp to stop things getting out of hand as I'm
always rigging/ derigging single handed. I keep it at home on the trailer and
rig every time.
Another use of the winch is that after the plane is on the trailer and
restrained
you can detach the rope from the aircraft and attach it to the ramp to winch
that up far enough up to easily get the strut pip pins in if it's a bit tight
although I can normally manage this by hand.
Cheers, Jon
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G-TERN
Classic Mono
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