12 volt winch for rear fold camper trailer ?

Gazz
Have you looked at winches for ATV's they are small and would not draw that much current. You should be able to get them with rope instead of cable which should not be a problem for the canvas. Just a thought.

Murray

Can you not transfer the webbing you have now over to the new winch ?

Thinking of the same thing for our cub camper. I propose to get one that has a wide enough drum und then take the cable off and wrap the original webbing strap around it in place of the cable. The only thing is make sure the drum is wide enough.
Lindsay.

Most of the hand winches with the rocker reverse ratchet will free spool if you place the rocker control in the middle of the two settings and free spool.
I know mine did .

Gazz

Have a look at Sherpa boat winches. No cheap !

They are a 2 way winch, a version of the Jarrett winches used for confined space rescue. You would be able to remove the clutch from the reverse side if you pulled it apart, but using an unbraked hand winch in reverse under load is a super fast way to break a hand/wrist/arm when you slip.
I have a 4000lb electric ATV winch in my rear fold. It was $110 on eBay. It is wireless so i can wander around putting the canvas in while winching and stopping. Mine has the dyneema rope which has been fine with the tent bows, but my camper also has a cantilever base section which uncoils and helps lower any force transmitted through the bows.
The electric winches are louder than the manual ones. I don’t use mine in reverse, the camper opens itself pretty much.

https://www.ebay.com.au/itm/144015358360?hash=item2187fbf998:g:zwQAAOSwO8xgrz8W

I,ve several of these winches I use and have had no issues. Simply replaced the cable with webbing I purchased from ebay....this is for the camper..front winch only. Rear winch I left as the manual hand winch. No noiser than the hand winch for sure. . I fitted the switch to the winch post onto an anderson plug and also have an anderson plug from the camper battery to the outside of the camper. When I want to set up the camper I connect the two plugs with a length of cable with anderson plugs. Did not want to hardwire just in case "little fin gers
decide to play with it or some idiot thinks it would be funny to also play with the winch....it happens. They are cheap and easy to mount in place of the hand winch. Make sure you get as much webbing on the spool as you can.. I also had a canvas bag made up to cover the winch on the post to keep water and dust out.winch

LOL Gazz, It must be noisy !!.

Cheers Axle.

Gazz, a word of caution if you end up putting an electric winch on. If the canvas or something happens to catch on something you may not notice until its torn or damaged. At least a hand winch you immediately feel the change in tension and will stop and investigate before any damage occurs. Earmuffs might be a cheap and easy option?

Thanks everyone for your help and advice - much appreciated !

Ordered an ATV winch which should do the job nicely and very affordable !


Cheers
Gazz