Use an electric winch to retrieve without submerging your rims-especially on ramps that drop off.

If you spend much time at Florida boat ramps you've seen it and suffered the endless wait as a hapless fisherman finds his trailer wheels off the ramp with a tow vehicle hopelessly stuck. Many of our ramps--especially the ones near some of the most desirable fishing waters, such as the Keys--are cut into the side of steep slopes and fall off into the abyss. Others are so shallow even floating a skiff is questionable, let alone submerging a drive-on trailer.

The difficulty of hand-cranking a boat onto a trailer encourages many to crowd the edge and float boats onto trailers, if possible. But find that unmarked dropoff on the way down and you may get stuck. Try to muscle your way out and you'll likely do serious damage to your tow vehicle, trailer, and possibly your boat. An electric winch is a smart alternative, costing around $175 to $359, depending on the size of your boat. Anyone can install one in two hours or less.

The electric winch is not solely reserved for heavier offshore boats. Even drive-on trailers designed for small boats can benefit, especially when the ramp is unsuitable for backing down all the way. With a properly adjusted trailer and electric winch, many of us can retrieve our boats without getting anything except the trailer tires wet. I seldom get my rims in the water.

Installation is pretty straightforward. The winch kit typically contains everything you need for most installations except tools and perhaps a couple items you'll find at a hardware store. There's only a few installation steps and probably the easiest job is mounting the winch on your trailer's winch stand. Thankfully, bolt patterns are pretty standard and you only have to wrench a few bolts.

Most electric winches, since they're designed as replacements as well as original equipment, use slots instead of holes for mounting. Most winch mounts stand at an angle so you can adjust the height of the winch to properly clear the cable under your bow stop by sliding it up and down on the mount. In some cases you may need to also adjust the height of the winch mount to get proper clearance, and most trailers let you do so.

Wiring the winch to your tow vehicle is slightly more involved because you have options. The best demand you crawl under your vehicle. The easiest, because you do no cutting and rewiring, is using the manufacturer's harness as provided. The first step is connecting it to the battery. You only connect your hot wire here and can use the clamp bolt if you have post style terminals or the hot post on your solenoid if you don't.

Next you run the cable down through the engine compartment and here you'll need some hardware store stuff. A dozen or so tie wraps will simplify the rest of your task. Make sure you route your harness away from things that move or get hot, and tie wrap it firmly in place. Under your vehicle you should find all kinds of handy things to tie wrap the harness to. Brake lines are commonly run through holes in the frame as is some wiring.

Somewhere here you'll need to find a bolt or a screw to serve as your ground, too. This is usually not a problem but you may need a drill and a self tapping screw or bolt to complete your connection.

You're going to end up with a length of wire at the rear of the vehicle that should easily reach the winch. You can coil this up and hide it inside--best if you have a sport utility vehicle or covered pickup. Better yet, trim it short and wire it to a plug, then use a shorter cord to connect to your winch. Most manufacturers provide a short cord with two plugs that'll accomplish this. Keep it in the trunk and pull it out when you need it.