The Money

Students: $$$ <= 0 Bulding a winch doesnt come cheap. Engines, frame, bearings, rope, etc etc. So we needed a sponsor. Turns out the NTNU (the uni we go to) has an organization called Idefondet which sponsors groups with the means to develop/test/create their ideas. So if they like your idea they can sponsor you with, say money, to help you in that process. They liked our idea and we asked for money to cover our exspenses in building and marketing a prototype wakeboard winch to tackle the scandinavian market. So two weeks after sending in our application we were called into a meeting. We through up a .ppx on the projector and two weeks after that se had XX.000 NOK transfered to our account!! W00t W00t!

The Inspiration

Being a student isn't always an advantage when it comes to sports. Me and Terje are active wakeboarders in the south of Norway during the warm summer holiday months - when we are in the vicinity of our boats. But when studying up in the north of norway we lacked something even close to a motorboat. After two years of non-wakboarding-while-studying, being the youtube/stumbler-holics we are, we came across a youtube video:

"Welcome to the winching world"! We were hooked on the subject straight away. Terje, being the initiator of the project, enlightened the idea of actually bulding a winch. "Were mechanical engineering students. Why can't we try and build one?!!" Deals were done and handshakes made - and so the "The Winch Project" started!

Winch?

Hi and welcome to "The Winch Project" blog! The main goal behind this blogging effort is to document and share the story of our little building project. We are two NTNU students currently in our 3rd year of our mechanical engineering masters - Terje Jacobsen and Mats Wærness-Vold. "The Project" is a so-called wakeboard-winch used for "winching". This is basically a mobile high-velcocity fuel powered winch that can be used to pull wakeboarders along the water or snowboarders towards a jump etc. The main advantages of a wakeboard-winch compared to a boat (in the case of wakeboarders) is the high mobility and its small operating area. The winch brings an urban aspect - allowing wakeboarders to use them in fountains, canals etc. For snowboarders the winch will help them get higher speeds when "towing-in" towards rails, urban jumps and obstacles.
We are going to be building one of these! Follow us as we go from idea to finished project!

Next:
How it all started.