My powerwinch has been acting funny. It starts out fine, but if I pause in loading the boat and try to start it again, the winch doesn't run. The interesting part; I noticed that if I start to hand crank - even a bit- the winch will start again when I toggle it on. I was wondering if anyone knows if this is a simple problem, like an adjustment, or the "beginning of the end" for the winch.... I believe the model is T4000.

I had a few problems with mine.

I'll bet its the toggle switch, I replaced mine and it worked great after that. It might junked up and not getting good contact.

I also eliminated that stupid connector and just hard wired the cable inside the winch. Works like a charm now.

Might be worth a try, its alot cheaper then getting a new one.

Thanks Van, I haven't taken the cover off yet (it's raining here) and wanted to have an idea what to look for first anyway. I was hoping maybe a bad ground or something easy- as I'm not especially mechanically gifted. Is the toggle switch replacement fairly straightforward?

Just a little harder than changing a lightbulb.
You'll have no problem.