Al Stein

I believe it's for humor.

A garage door opener sounds like a good idea... single channel control with panic function. There might be a problem with it interpreting too heavy a load as something blocking a door and auto-reverse, but there's got to be some way around that.

dr_wogz

My Feedback: (3)

yeah, I think the garage door thingy would do.
It is, after all, a motor...

Disable the safety stuff, but I would keep the panic stop, just in case a 'moose' got in the way! haha!! snikker...

The motor/controller is usually geared [chain] to the drive mechanism. I'm sure with a bit of engineering, one could connect teh motor end to the winch part... Some other engineeing [gearing] might be involed to ensure the motor dosen't get too loaded..

--remove winch handle, install sproket, install sproket on motor end, add chain.. You might need to desing a new winding drum though..

The doors usually have two set points, to know when it's reached 'open' or 'closed'. I'm sure you could rig them, or not use them at all..

I better end here, before I get too carried away!

Lightfoot

My Feedback: (1)

I think the garage door opener is an excellent idea. The better garage door openers are rated at 1.5 HP. I have no idea what the motor for the boat hoist would be but I would guess that it is less. All you need is the controller and the control head. This may be one case where the components would be cheaper than buying the complete assembly.

As I see it, all you would have to do is wire in the hoist motor to the points on the control head where the opener motor would normally be wired. If the hoist motor is rated at higher than 1.5 HP, there would be a possibility of burning out the control board. As dr_wogz implied, a little engineering would go a long way.