Portable Winch....best winch line?

treeandland

treeandland

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Location
Maine
Does anyone else have the Portable Winch? I'm wondering what the best winch line for it might be. I've owned it for just over a year and have gone through two 160' hanks of 12mm double braided line that the Portable Winch company sells for the machine. It's inexpensive, but not very abrasion resistant, so both lengths of rope got beat up by rubbing on rocks and trees.
I'm considering Samson Amsteel line. Has anyone used this line on the portable winch? The portable winch has a capstan drum that you take four wraps on. It turns slowly, and the friction on the drum is what pulls the load. It has 2,200lbs of force on a straight pull on a single line. Here is a link to the product: http://www.portablewinch.com/ I have the PCW 5000 model. Thanks for any suggestions.large_636 portable winch.webp large_1171 portable winch.webp
 
amsteel is strong but more expensive I'd assume. What makes you think the dirt, rocks,grit, etc won't tear it up just as bad? I wonder how a rope with a really tight outer core may keep it longer? I'm not familiar with marine anchor lines but there may be some thing there.

If you stay with the cheaper db or 3strand how often do you need to retire the line?

Last thought is get a block or xrr fs or something to use as a high angle redirect put it up even 20' and you wouldn't drag your lines through as much crap. Use your cheap rope and chocker things with cheap tow straps from the hardware store.
 
marlow ropes has a winch line similar to amsteel which we've been using. it stays rounder, is similar in abrasion resistance (which is... 'eh), and is cheaper. using a choker is a solution tho.
not sure about its compatibility with the winch tho
 
Amsteel is strong as nails, but the its abrasion resistance and knotablity sucks. The version with the cover would solve these issues but it would cost an arm and a leg. Perhaps try some static kern, high strength for the diameter and cheaper?
 
The few times I've used one of those winches, I found that the capstan would transfer alot of heat to the rope, which woulx be a no-no with dyneema. We did once use HTC,which is a kernmantle, that would be my vote.
 
I use old climb lines or rigging lines with mine. I use my winch a lot and have never found the need for anything more than those lines can handle. Even badly frayed lines will take all the abuse the winch can dish out at least that's my experience. I have an old super braid 1/2" line from sherrill tree and that has been the best by far along with any 16 or 12 strand climb line. I have maybe a dozen old lines that are dedicated to the winch all different lengths. I rotate them by the job and have only worn out one and that was after winching a lot of brush up a rocky bank from a long distance. That line had a years worth of climbing abuse and another year worth of light rigging and use as a pull line for winching over trees before I used it as a winch line.

After a year of winching and use on that one really bad job I had to keep cutting it until it was to the point it was too short for use. I cut it up and made chokers and those are still in service. It's a good way to get all you can out of a line. Now I will say I have never used my winch in such a way that if a rope broke there would be a serious issue. Aside from the recoil of the rope breaking nothing else would be harmed. If I were to use it in a situation like that I would get a length of that super braid as that has been the longest wearing. For just pulling brush and logs from a place I do not want to drag from the old beater lines are hard to beat.
 
I have skidded alot of logs with one of those. Usually just use ratty old climb lines or work lines because that winch and the terrain I was working in will tear up ropes fast. Im thinking about ordering some of that dyneema this spring and trying it out. The big thing for me is make sure you use a skidding cone. Not hanging up on boulders and stumps and other trees will make life easier and the winch wont glaze your rope when it hangs up.skidding cone.webp
 
CThompson22, thanks for sharing your experience of using old climb lines with the winch. I had thought of trying that, but wasn't sure if a 1/2 inch climbing line would stretch too much. I know it's tough though....my friend was using one to skid green logs up a hillside with an F-350, and it only broke when the load stopped dead on a boulder. I think it should be fine considering that the winch only has 2,200lbs of force on a straight pull, and each leg of rope has no more than that on it when you use a snatch block.
 
Skidding cone will slide off when winching downhill. Gotta babysit it. PITA
Also, a stiff rope (tight cover braid) doesn't work very well on that winch in the winter; not enough friction on the drum even if you max out the number of wraps.
 
Bump, portable winch rocks. Looking at 300ft line to replace 3/8 stable braid which was good but not great. Don't use 300ft climb lines so have nothing over 150ft to downgrade... Suggestions and/or portable winch beta?
 
Serf Life said:
Bump, portable winch rocks. Looking at 300ft line to replace 3/8 stable braid which was good but not great. Don't use 300ft climb lines so have nothing over 150ft to downgrade... Suggestions and/or portable winch beta?
Click to expand...
If your buying new cheap hard lay three stand, it’s disposable, match the will of the winch to the will of the rope.
 
Havent winched for a while, but we also used to use an old arbor master or even natural fibre trash rope which we use to use as a winch line extension to pull over any surface that was muddy or rocky to save the dyneema. Worked pretty well except for tying bowline on a night each time you had to reset the winch pull...
 
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