Rubber "winchers"

[lbdavis]

What are peoples opinions of these rubber doughnuts? I'd like to have S/T jib sheet winches, but I don't want to spend the $$ to upgrade at this time.

How well do these work for this application? Does it take a bunch of wraps around the drum to make it work?

Thanks!!

[lastconch]

they are very good for the job. but they don't self strip and you need the right size line. Self tailer they are not.

[Sailormon6]

I've never owned them, but have used them on other peoples' boats. My present boat has self-tailers, and I think Winchers work about as well as self-tailers. Personally, I don't like either self-tailers or Winchers for racing, although many people swear by them, but they're great for cruising and sailing short-handed.

The number of wraps you should use depends on your particular boat, and the wind strength. Use more wraps in stronger wind. I had a boat that would get an override every time if I put more than two wraps on it before I tailed it. If the wind was strong and I needed more than two wraps to hold it securely, I had to put the extra wraps on after it was sheeted in, just before I cleated it.

[lbdavis]

Hmmm. One for, one against. I don't do any racing, just coastal cruising and I'd like to have my winches be S/T for when I'm shorthanded (which sometimes happens with a boat full of people for me!)

I'd be asking them to self-tail a 150 Genoa on a Pearson 303.

[deniseO30]

Don't think you would be needing a 150 for coastal. I've a O30 and the jib sheets are quite a chore to handle with my 153 in anything but light air. Not just me.. even big guys that have been on my boat. I will get STs someday. Nothing is quite as nice as true STs (imho)

[Sabreman]

I have one and don't like it. I use it on the main halyard. To get it to self tail, you have to put too many wraps on the winch so that the line is snug under the wincher. In this configuration, the wincher doesn't "let go" of the line so the "tail" wraps back around the winch causing a mess. You have to keep pulling the "tail" from under the wincher which is almost as bad as tailing by hand. I've tried to put the line in the wincher "V" groove, but it has never worked for me.

Except for the jib halyard and jiffy reef winches, the main halyard is the only winch on the boat that isn't self tailing and it's frustrating as all $%^&@#. I think that I'll just look for a good eBay auction and try to slip the cost past the Admiral.

[Sabreman]

I just reread the post about handling 150s. IMHO you may be looking at a potential safety issue. That's a lot of sail that you're asking a piece of rubber to hold by friction. Better to look for a good eBay auction of STs. They come up all the time.

[sailingdog]

First, they work as advertised.

Second, they shouldn't be trusted to hold the line, and clearly state so in their instructions...

That said, they're a cheap way to get a little help tailing a line from a non-self-tailing winch. I have them on my two small mast winches for just that reason. I can't justify replacing the winches with self-tailers... but this was a reasonable accomodation.

[Idiens]

SD is right. I have four sheet winches with them. They are not as good as self-tailers but a lot better than the bare winch.

[CLucas]

I used them for the first time on my Pearson 30 this summer and was pleased overall (on a 150 genoa). As others have said, they are not S/T, but they're better than cleating off the sheet each time. I successfully jam the sheet into the groove around the top (rather than the underside) with a sharp tug. Never broke free - not once. When you install them, heat them up in hot or boiling water and lube `em up with dish soap. If your boat is in the water, I recommend doing what I read on a message board somewhere and rig up a little "safety line", so that the slippery rubber donut doesn't fly over the side when you're squeezing it over the top of the winch. Once it's on the winch, you can pull out the line.