[greyskies99]

My creaking body won't tolerate much more of hauling supplies from the boat dock to the cottage. I intend to lift groceries, diesel fuel, construction supplies, firewood, and other items, and also send things back down to the dock as well. (Something like a tram for freight) The vertical rise is approximately 20' and the horizontal run is about 65'. I doubt that the per basket load would be more than 500 lb. I would like to build a trolley and winch system of some type, relying on wood supports up the hill rather than steel. I am considering using some type of winch system that can be operated in both directions, from either the dock or cabin end. I have electricity to operate the system. Any advice that anyone would have would be most appreciated, including the type and capacity of a winch that would reliably work, how to design the "tower" supports, how many I would need, and the optimum way to pulley and cable it. I also need something that would reliably work in the winter at cold temperatures. Am I being too optimistic about using wood supports, or do I really need steel?

Thanking anyone who can help in advance, greyskies99

 

[Duckweather]

A picture might help. My first thought was a commercial garage door opener if you could get a long enough chain or cable. That would only need the buttons at each end and could probably be mounted low so it wouldn't need towers

 

[bbo]

also you might not need those supports. you could just put slides ( or wheels ) under your basket.

atv winch would probably work fine.

 

[greyskies99]

Thank you Duckweather and bbo for your interest and quick reply. I have posted a picture of proposed routing which is to the right and parallel to stairs. You will note that the first part is a cliff, so I don't think skid or wheels will work. I was thinking of an ATV winch as well, that might work. I don't know how much power a garage door opener would have, but I hadn't thought about that solution. Any thoughts about towers or supports?

Kind regards,
greyskies99

 

[bbo]

looks like you are trying to link to a pic on your pc.

have to upload it.

http://www.diychatroom.com/f36/how-upload-photos-short-guide-33279/

 

[greyskies99]

Thanks for info bbo. I am using a Mac and it keeps asking for a url when I try to attach a desktop file. I am leaving the country for a couple of weeks and will try doing this on a PC when I get home.

 

[PatChap]

For ideas on the design of it, look up roofing material hoists. They are braced platforms that do effectively what your looking to do, and should give you an idea how to build it.

 

[joecaption]

http://www.promarkoffroad.com/atv-w...campaign=Bing_ag_B.E.P_ATV/UTV_Winches(2-2-10)

Another idea I had was using a capstan style wench.
That way you would only need one post to mount it to if you only really needed it for pulling up hill.
That way you would not have an ugly cable to look at all the time hanging in the air.