Chris, thanks for your comment about the knob.  Upon further inspection I
can pull out a knob on my ATV winch and it will freewheel as you mentioned
- much better than cutting the webbing!

Regarding replacement of the webbing, it appears to be a winch strap of the
same kind used on the manual winch used at the front of the trailer to pull
/ keep the boat forward and these are widely available as a replacement
part.  I actually had to replace my winch strap at the front of my trailer
after the last road trip due to some chafing issues resulting from the bow
being slightly off center as a result of a downhill park and slide effort
to move the boat forward.

Good luck with your Red Rhodes!

S/V Zephyr

On Sun, Sep 6, 2020 at 9:08 PM Chris Geankoplis <chrisgeankoplis at gmail.com>
wrote:

> On my motor there is a little knop you can pull out and it allows the winch
> to "freewheel" so getting the motor down doesn't involve cutting the
> webbing.  Speaking of webbing, where can I get a replacement, it has some
> holes in it where it snagged a bolt which probably caused the pull
> through.  Oh and I will file your project write up in my Red Rhodes file.
> Thanks!
> Chris Geankoplis
> Enosis
>
> On Sun, Sep 6, 2020 at 1:22 PM Jesse Shumaker <
> jesse.laten.shumaker at gmail.com> wrote:
>
> > Since the remote on my motorized winch was starting to act up late last
> > summer, I had pondered whether to switch to a manual setup or replace the
> > winch.  Now that I hear of the loads mentioned in this thread, I'm glad I
> > chose the path of replacing with a new electric winch.  My back gives me
> > problems occasionally and lifting a heavy motor (my 9.8 Tohatsu is no
> > feather) could be problematic.  Also, it's best if my wife is comfortable
> > running all operations of the boat as well and lifting a motor that
> weighs
> > so much, even with the mechanical advantage, may not even be feasible for
> > her.  Since I did have concerns about redundancy, I replaced it with a
> new
> > ATV winch that had both a wired switch and two remotes.  That project is
> > summarized at
> >
> >
> http://rhodes-22.1065344.n5.nabble.com/Replacement-of-winch-for-motor-lift-td56157.html#a56176
> >
> >
> > I figured that if the motor was ever stuck in the up position and the
> > electric winch failed when I really needed to lower the motor, I could
> run
> > a line over the stern rail that attaches to the motor and to the port
> winch
> > like Mike mentioned.  After getting that tensioned I could cut the belt
> > that runs from the winch and would be free to lower the motor gradually
> > with the spare line.  Raising would be the same technique, only it would
> > not require cutting of the belt.
> >
> > Since my motor will occasionally get slightly stuck on the way down, I
> give
> > the tracks an occasional spray of silicone lubricant and that helps.
> All I
> > need to do is give the motor a little nudge on the way down if it gets
> > stuck.  It never seems to be an issue on the way up.
> >
> > Jesse Shumaker
> > S/V Zephyr
> >
> > On Sun, Sep 6, 2020 at 4:54 AM Gmorganflier <gmorgan.flier at gmail.com>
> > wrote:
> >
> > > Peter,
> > >
> > > It seems we have done a similar setup on converting to our manual lift
> > > system. Please post some photos.
> > >
> > > I thought of something which may be causing my extra resistance and
> maybe
> > > on
> > > yours also. When my motor is not against either the bottom or top
> stops,
> > > just somewhere in between, I can take my motor and swing it side to
> side
> > > and
> > > there’s a lot of movement. There was even more when I bought the boat
> > > before
> > > i had someone add some shims to get rid of some of the slop.
> > >
> > > With our system I wonder where the center of force is on the bottom
> tube.
> > > Maybe it’s not centered and it’s not pulling the motor up straight in
> the
> > > channels. Maybe in my case as I start up, it’s cocking the engine at an
> > > angle in the metal channels creating extra resistance? I’ll have to
> > > experiment with this.
> > >
> > > George Morgan
> > >
> > >
> > >
> > > --
> > > Sent from: http://rhodes-22.1065344.n5.nabble.com/
> > >
> >
>