Comments on: DIY Wakeboarding winch

By: Parker

Parker — Fri, 02 Oct 2009 01:59:13 +0000

I would really like to learn how to build one of the wakeboarding winches you built or possibly buy one. Info kayakerdork@hotmail.com

By: Bullet Lines

Bullet Lines — Sat, 05 Jan 2008 18:46:17 +0000

Winching has come a long ways in the past few years. The wakeboard winch will not take away from the boat, but will become more and more common. Probably the most significant platform for promoting winching is the rail jam. In the past wakeboarding events had to get people to the event on a lake; now rail jams bring the event to the people. Rail jams are being setup in bar parking lots, and other general locations outside of the lake areas. Last summer the Texas INT had a 6 stop Rail Jam Tour that attracted some big wakeboarding names, and was sponsored by Nissan of North America; thats right, corporate Nissan not some local dealership. Who's going to push winching? corporate america. Winching is a big marketing platform that will catch on in the corporate marketing world. Hell, wakeboarding was the fastest growing sport in America in 2006. Any pro rider that is limiting themselves to just boat comps will be missing out on the big purses that rail jams will bring. Why? because there are more eyes to watch at a rail jam than at a wakeboard event on a lake. Eventually rail jams will be the preferred pro rider event.

[img]http://www.bulletlines.com/images/newwinches1.jpg[/img]

Thanks,

Ken Land
Bullet Lines

By: static

static — Tue, 01 Jan 2008 01:25:01 +0000

First off I noticed a lack of a spooling sheave. Then I noticed they aren’t concerned about spooling the line back onto the drum. Andrew it may take a looong extension cord to run a winch off the grid power. :)

By: andrew

andrew — Sun, 30 Dec 2007 08:02:49 +0000

Now to build an electric one, run it off the mains and never worry about gas or fumes. Possible electrocution would become a problem, though, i suppose…

By: Mike

Mike — Sun, 30 Dec 2007 05:04:25 +0000

This could be fun in the snow as well. We used to ride be 3-wheelers on innertubes and snow skis this could be handy for when you can’t find a mountain to ski down. Could be useful year round.

By: aten

aten — Sat, 29 Dec 2007 22:56:12 +0000

Just In Time so people can start building be for the summer comes up!

-www.inkedpaper.com

By: tbjr6

tbjr6 — Sat, 29 Dec 2007 18:46:28 +0000

This would be kind of useless but:

they should put some kind of manual gear box on it, with a separate clutch for the reel.

This would allow them to accelerate the engine to a higher speed then start reeling the cord.

By: Nick

Nick — Sat, 29 Dec 2007 18:05:47 +0000

Yeah, so with all the terrible news going around around torture and mistreatment of prisoners and all the craziness involving the CIA and heads of state...

I thought this was a DIY WATERboarding winch. I was quite nearly horrified. Then I remembered to READ.

Lazy saturday in Ohio again, I guess.

By: Mike

Mike — Sat, 29 Dec 2007 18:03:52 +0000

Great idea and execution, except for one minor thing… the Wake! You need that for the big jumps and tricks…

By: iHME

iHME — Sat, 29 Dec 2007 14:58:57 +0000

A very interesting idea, I might find my self building something similar next summer. As a side notice, I really hope that english isn’t the main language of some of videos commenter’s, some of it is just awful.

By: Orv

Orv — Sat, 29 Dec 2007 11:19:21 +0000

Sailplane pilots use huge versions of these to snatch gliders into the air. This is especially common in Europe where fuel is expensive. The basic principle is much like running with a kite. With a few thousand feet of open space to pull the cable out over, they can get altitudes of over 1000 feet. It's quite an experience; the ground roll is maybe a hundred feet, and most of the climb is done at about a 45 degree angle! This photo will give you a bit of an idea what it looks like; the winch is out of sight over the rise in the background.
http://www.gull.us/photos/misc/winchlaunch.jpg

Glider winches are sometimes based off of truck drivetrains -- basically a big engine, transmission (generally set up to stay in 2nd gear for the whole run, to avoid any jolts from shifting), and differential, with the winch drums replacing the wheels. A similar conversion based on a moped might make a good wakeboard winch, with a lot less fabbing involved than building the whole thing from scratch.