Small hand winch for an articulating wall - recs please!

[S2DM]

Hey all,

here is our build thread.

http://www.expeditionportal.com/forum/threads/141578-F550-Surf-Camper-Build-Adrift-in-the-Green-Room

We have an articulating wall in our cabover section. It nests in the down position, but goes up to cover the area that would normally be covered by a tent when the top is up.



I have it operating well with a stainless tube and cable system that is embedded in the ceiling. What I'd like is a small winch or reel that allows me to control the position with a handcrank, as in non inclement weather, non buggy campsites, I'd like to be able to lower that wall down and leave the front open.

We are using .125" vectran cable, and the wall only weighs 25lbs (composite), so I need something low profile, lightweight, surface mountable, with a removable handle. Also needs to be reversible and controllable with the handle in both directions, as well as capable of handling small cable diameters. It would also ideally be able to accept cable coming from opposite directions, one wrapped over, one wrapped under, but I could bypass this need with a pully to reverse direction if needed. Also only needs about 10" of travel. Most things Ive found are far too heavy duty and big. Trailer winches look right, but again, smallest is about 2000 lbs capacity. I need maybe 100lb capacity.

Been looking at things like these, but nothing really has fit the bill yet.







Thoughts on product category to hone in on?

 

[fluffyprinceton]

"It would also ideally be able to accept cable coming from opposite directions, one wrapped over, one wrapped under, but I could bypass this need with a pully to reverse direction if needed."

So power in both directions? With the friction of the seals would it need a "lock" or will it stay in position? As you raise the main upper body does the front panel rise too or will that be a separate lift system?

I think you are in the right direction with the anchor puller - there are various manual "downriggers" used for salmon trolling that might work. Might be overkill as far as leverage goes - depending on how tight you make your seals - and they are maybe 12" in diameter... I've got one of these you can have for peanuts/trade (had no idea they cost this much...) It's in Oakland if you get up here again.

http://www.kolstrand.com/inmac-kolstrand-davit-mount-standard-hand-gurdy-in-stock/

This might work - old school boat steering drums have a divided drum making the "pull-opposite pull" easy. There is so much friction in these cable systems you might not need a lock. Just a "wheel".

http://www.portagebaysystems.com/marine/products1.htm

Great work! - envious of your attempt to do the front nestle walls, I want you to succeed... really interested in your seal design. I think that's a tough one - I recently changed mine from foam to hard interlocking uhmwpe seals, the uhmwpe slides great but it has to fit tight everywhere to keep the bugs out. Maintaining a fixed plane all the way around the upper & lower is key. Beauty of the uhmwpe is it will be zero maintenance, I'll find out soon how tight they are. (very soon given our early spring...)

Until someone actually pulls it off with solar I think enough A/C to matter (when you need it...) needs a generator. Dumb, uninteresting answer but there it is... I know this isn't your first rodeo but finishing the shell is maybe 1/2 of the job given your plan for systems so don't get discouraged! Peter

 

[S2DM]

"It would also ideally be able to accept cable coming from opposite directions, one wrapped over, one wrapped under, but I could bypass this need with a pully to reverse direction if needed."

So power in both directions? With the friction of the seals would it need a "lock" or will it stay in position? As you raise the main upper body does the front panel rise too or will that be a separate lift system?

I think you are in the right direction with the anchor puller - there are various manual "downriggers" used for salmon trolling that might work. Might be overkill as far as leverage goes - depending on how tight you make your seals - and they are maybe 12" in diameter... I've got one of these you can have for peanuts/trade (had no idea they cost this much...) It's in Oakland if you get up here again.

http://www.kolstrand.com/inmac-kolstrand-davit-mount-standard-hand-gurdy-in-stock/

This might work - old school boat steering drums have a divided drum making the "pull-opposite pull" easy. There is so much friction in these cable systems you might not need a lock. Just a "wheel".

http://www.portagebaysystems.com/marine/products1.htm

Great work! - envious of your attempt to do the front nestle walls, I want you to succeed... really interested in your seal design. I think that's a tough one - I recently changed mine from foam to hard interlocking uhmwpe seals, the uhmwpe slides great but it has to fit tight everywhere to keep the bugs out. Maintaining a fixed plane all the way around the upper & lower is key. Beauty of the uhmwpe is it will be zero maintenance, I'll find out soon how tight they are. (very soon given our early spring...)

Until someone actually pulls it off with solar I think enough A/C to matter (when you need it...) needs a generator. Dumb, uninteresting answer but there it is... I know this isn't your first rodeo but finishing the shell is maybe 1/2 of the job given your plan for systems so don't get discouraged! Peter

Thanks! I'm going to send you a pm, that hand gurdy looks perfect actually. The beauty of expedition portal, I've probably spent 10 hours looking and someone else knows what to use off the top of their head .

The cables pull from the ceiling (I have recessed pulleys at the end of the buried cable run), so it is set up that all the lift force will come from the camper roof lifting, and it will stay in place because those cables are locked at the winch or reel by its locking mechanism. So it does require a lock. Beauty of that is the sealed position is always maintained passively, if I want to lower it, I need to release the winch and drop it down.

For seals we are planning a combo of uhmwpe, environmental brush seal and rubber flap. Westyss used the brush seal and said it worked great. A flap above and below, frequent uhmwpe pucks for positions, a final brush seal for all the no seeums etc, and then plus or minus a rubber bulb or neoprene strip. Ive heard great stuff about the brush seals keeping the inside and outside separate in tough to seal locations, but apparently they do nothing for noise, so will need an additional seal strategy on that front. We have stainless profiles inside the camper as well that the nested wall 'nests' into. So in the up position, it has a lot of seal surface and guides keeping it all in place. That said, I can't test it until I figure out the hand winch aspect, so there may be unforseen challenges ahead.

Regarding solar, fingers crossed :0 We calculate full sun we will be getting more than 100 amps an hour, and our unit should use around 30-35 amps an hour. If it gets us a few cool hours as we are going to sleep, and the ability to run when in full sun on the beach, I'll call it a win. That said, its an experiment, and if it ends up we can only use it with shore power and sparingly on solar, then we learned a lesson the expensive way