Brano Hand Winches

by David Bowyer

I've been using Brano hand winches now for fifteen years, which was about the time we opened our Off-Road Centre. Before then I was using a similar type, the Tirfor. However, the Brano is comparatively cheap and comes with a carrying handle which makes life much easier when lifting the winch around.

If you are seriously into off-roading, I recommend that you carry the appropriate size Brano with you, whether or not you have a winch fitted on the front. Should your vehicle not have a front mounted winch then it is essential to carry a good hand winch for obvious reasons.

You might well ask, 'Why should I need to take a hand winch on an off-road trek when I've got a front mounted winch?' There are lots of reasons. Out in the wilds, your front mounted winch could let you down through lack of maintenance, a damaged wire rope, abuse, or a flattened battery. Could even be dead engine if in deep water, making mechanical or hydraulic winches useless.

Maybe you are the first vehicle in your small green laning convoy and there is a need to retreat. The vehicle behind you hasn't a front mounted winch to help you to back out of your predicament.

Perhaps there is a need to lower all the vehicles in your convoy down through a badly washed out section of track. Oh yes, the Brano can be used for lowering, as well as pulling.

Over the years, we have employed the Brano to lift part fallen trees clear of the track to allow us to pass underneath. Many is the time we have also had a need to attach the wire rope from a Brano to the side of a vehicle that is trapped on a tree or stone wall whilst on a side slope. The Brano hand winch is in fact known as a 'Rope Hoist'. So you can be rest assured that if you have a requirement to change an engine for instance, having one of these units would be ideal. This is providing of course you have a good strong solid beam above you!

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(c)Goodwinch Limited 2006