I just bought an 08 Gator Trax 4 man Gator Hide. with a 45 mud buddy HD. Been wanting this boat for a while and found a deal I could not let pass. Since the boat is so heavy and does not have reverse, getting it stuck was going to be probably an adventure in the future.

I have been searching and looking at other builds for mounting a winch. I got the idea mostly off the gator trax website from the photos. But I did not find anything on really how to go about it.

Unfortunately I did not take any picture at the beginning. The gator hide came with a storage compartment in the front deck. I knew I wanted to mount the winch in the front bow so it would not be in the way and I would not have to pull it out and mount it in a receiver hitch.

I started with a 3/16 drill bit to remove all the rivets in the bottom of storage hatch.

Then got a grinder and started to remove the welds. I was only able to get two out the dozen or so welds. So I pulled out the air hammer and chisel. and knocked them out pretty quick.

You will need a crowbar and a lot of curse words. to get the panels out. I was able to bend one panel over enough to get a dry wall saw in there to cut pieces of the foam out to remove it. Once you get most of the foam out the bottom of the panel will slide over and you can pull the panel out. same goes for the other panels. have to remove the foam from behind the walls.

Once I removed the foam and panels I went to our local scrap yard and bought a 3/16 plate and come c channel. They sell aluminum 1.00 a lb. so 4 dollars later I have what I need.

I had the wife go to harbor freight while she was grocery shopping and pick me up a 3500lb winch with 2 year warranty.

Mapped out the bolt holes drill and started to lay out the winch mount. Gator Trax had lay out marks on the inside of the front hatch where they had weld marks. So I placed the winch inside to find out where the winch would be easy to mount and weld , but also not hit the bottom of the boat. #8 on the weld mark worked perfect for the plate. I have more pictures to come once I get back to the house.

Just trying to help out the next guy that wants to mount a winch under the front deck.

Here is some more pictures

More pictures

Last pics

Very nice man! Makes me wana do the same.
Haven't had to use a winch yet, but I've been dang close lol. Gator glide saved my life a few times.

I am new to the surface drive and bigger boat. I had a 14x50 with a backwater long tail for several years. It just was not big enough and where i hunt in Missouri. This boat for sure is heavy and even if it had reverse, I am not sure it would be able to reverse. Plus a couple buddies have got stuck in the years past and we had to use a com-along. I hope i don't have to use the winch

I appreciate it MudBuddy77