KyleK

I just got a new 24ft V-nose trailer. It will be used pretty often to bring my car to the track and also 4-5 times a month running customer cars. The trips will normally be short, about 15 miles. I have a wireless winch I will be using with designated trailer battery. The last small trailer I was borrowing had a winch mounted straight to the floor. It didn't have a backup plate and was not welded to any frame crossmember. It was basically through bolted with fender washers. I'm not to keen on that idea. I wanted to see what people are doing. I was looking to do a trailer hitch syle mount in the floor so I can move the winch when it's not being used. I'm also wondering what to do with the floor. Rubber coin looks the best but I have had numerous people tell me not to do it. It will get a lot of use so I need something that will still look good after a few months. I really don't want to leave it raw wood. I've talked to people at hardware stores, Home Depot, and paint stores. None of them had any good options. I've searched the Internet a ton and have seen a lot of really nice looking stuff but I haven't been able to find anyone that has a heavily used trailer to see how stuff is holding up. Thanks in advance for all the help and opinions.

RobT 394

I purchased an aluminum plate on line from this site: http://www.onlinemetals.com/merchant...916&top_cat=60 an mounted it under the winch. The winch is permanently mounted on the far side of the trailer with the rope threaded through one of the D rings. Imagine the rope being an L shape. This gets it out of the way and in an area where I did not put things (just inside the side door). If you do this you will need a synthetic rope as the wire line has too much friction and it will eat the D ring.

linzman

^^^^this. And I had the plate welded to the frame of the trailer too.

pmason

I have a plate welded also under the floor that the wench is mounted to. I used that 2x2 coil garage tile for my floor and I wouldn't use it again, it expands and contracts too much with the temp.

Mussl Kar

My floor is something like WATER AND ICE SHIELD that is used on roofs. Not as coarse as roll roofing and made for floors. One piece the whole length and you will not slip on it. Trailer came with a wireless winch mounted under the floor and the cable went up and over a pulley mast that fit into a socket in the winch pit. Not good as the pulley was too small in diameter and was fraying the cable. I made a 54" x 5" x 1.25" billet aluminum bar that was bolted to the front uprights of my trailer (gooseneck though) The winch carrier can slide side to side along this bar so the cable is in line with a cars tow eye. When set in the right place the cable spools side to side perfectly without bunching up on one side.
NTW, using a D ring as a pulley will be hard on any type of rope. ****** block pulleys are not a lot of money and work well.