I don’t have enough height in my shop so I need to make a horizontal skinning machine setup. Appreciate any help as to how long to make it. Also what type of wood should I use, 2X6, 2X8 etc. also how much of a rise I need to mount the winch. Appreciate any help you can offer.

The Beav is your man to talk to.

Do you have a work bench that you can use for skinning? Are you skinning coyotes?

I too would like some info on horizontal. I don't have a work bench but could put something together. Mine would be mostly coons but an occasional yote. I have a winch with a battery, but not a good thought process to get it setup and functional. I would have 7- to 8 foot to work with as to length.

Bryce

nice adc

if doing coyote, i would say 10 feet between, ends,

I’ve pulled horizontally for about 3 decades, starting with an old boat winch but I’ve since upgraded to a 110V Strongman winch. Nevertheless, with a relatively small fur shed I did not want to build another permanent structure like a 2nd work bench so I opted for mobile. As you can see in the1st photo I used an old amp table but that went away and I built one of my most useful tools in the fur shed, a small table on castors!

What I’ve been using for the last 20 years. You can see my winch near the door mounted on a pivot pin (my old boat winch is still seen mounted next to it). In the 2nd photo my permanent work bench can be seen with my cable anchor strap laying across it. When I’m done pulling I just roll the table out of the way and out of my work space.
BTW, I still pull beaver & otter with my setup and it fits my style!

That will work.
But my set up keeps the carcass stationary and pulls the hide off the carcass. I wish I could do pictures, but I use 2 slip nooses to hold the Leggs in place. And another noose to pull the hide. I use a piece of angle iron bolted to the planks with 2 slots. The nooses have washers on them, and they slip into the slots. With the noose that pulls then hide you can save a lot of plank length since you can get the noose around the hips.
If you have a work bench or an old table, you can attach the planks to the edge of the table or bench. That will stabilize one end. Then all you need is one leg on the other end. I used one of those floor flanges well I don't know if's that what you call them, but it's treaded and you can use a pipe for the leg. You can get away with just one 2X10X10 since the carcass is stationary. But to make things easier just place a section of OSB or plywood screwed to the plank. Make it about 3 feet long and about 2 foot wide that will make a place to lay the carcass.
I would raise both the angle iron and the winch up about 4" off the planks or plank. This will give you some play so you can spin the carcass when you're doing the skinning.
If I would have had pictures I could have saved lots of time typing. LOL

As Beav mentioned toward the end of his reply, the ability to easily spin the carcass & pelt while skinning is very important!

Vinyl covered plank.
Winch one end, eye bolt the other.
Two saw horses, a gambrel and tennis ball.

Have a better winch on tractor.
Not figured a mount for other end yet.
Deer hook-up would be nice.

Would like an old metal table too.

I took down an old garage door opener some years back and thought I could use the opener (chain drive) the shaft and the two pullies that gathered the cable on both ends of the shaft
I planned on mounting it above the ceiling with the shaft cut down with the chain drive gear in the middle and a cable gathering wheel on each side of the gear. A cable would go in each direction to a pulley wheel and down the wall to another one level with my table that is on hinges so I can fold it down out of my way when not in use.
Swivels on both cables so the critter can be spun around as needed.
I like to sit while skinning and thought it would be a good idea.
I just never put it together because I just never got around to it.
And I don't catch enough coyotes in a season to make me finish it
And coon, I've taken to waiting until the next evening and clean skin them like a beaver
Song birds love that coon fat in the winter

J.C. Connors used to have a horizontal set up in his truck. The pictures were on his website somewhere

I will measure again. I may have 10 foot along one wall. I sure like the idea of the flat table or board. I too would like to have the carcass stay put and pull the hide. Thank you all for your ideas and sharing.

Bryce

I have a ten foot ceiling also. The machine needs two pulls to skin a coyote. First one uses the clamps on back legs that are manually pulled off a bit. Second pull the dog chain setup is hooked on the hide. That gives enough distance to skin a coyote. The clamp is adjustable up and down the pipe. It has several positions where it pins solid.
The only ones I use the clamps on are coyote and coon as every thing else has to thin a skin to need to use power to get it off.
Works for me. Being a bit older my ability to manually pull is a bit less then when younger.

The whole deal can be removed from the wall. Have worn the top pully out twice so replacing it is easy it