Winch Sizes

[thisisus]

Wanting to upgrade to some self tailer winches. Currently have regular Lewmar 40's and think I would like to go up one size. Is an Anderson 40 the same as the Lewmar and are Harkens based the same. Start staring at all the gear ratios and get confused Thanks
Thisisus
Islander 32
Mobile AL

[CSears]

Yes an Andersen 40 is similar to a Harken 40. The next size up from the Andersen 40ST is the 46ST. This should be bombproof if you're coming from a 40 Standard or ST.

Couple of things:

Andersens are a little better than their rating since they grip better. An Andersen 40 Standard is different from an Andersen 40ST (and the price shows it) in the first gear.

You can look at Harken Compuspec to get a good idea of what Harken likes for your boat and then compare that with the Andersen winches. Andersen also has a selection guide.

[sailingdog]

Most modern winches use the final gear ratio to size the winch, so a Harken 40 is about the same as a Lewmar 40... the older Barients and Barlows did not.

Just curious, why do you want to go up a size???

[thisisus]

When cranking in on the high speed side you don't make it too far cranking in the genny before it loads up and have to drop to the the low speed side. Was not sure if going up one size would help on that issue or really have no effect. My wife cranks a lot of the time when racing (which we usually do shorthanded) so looking to make it easier there. When looking at the Andersen and Lewmar 40's, the power ratio side shows the Anderson in the power 1 side having a ratio of 8.5:1 where the Lewmar shows 13.2:1 so trying to see which is easiest to crank the longest on this power.
Thisisus
Islander 32
Mobile AL

[sailingdog]

IF this is when you're tacking the boat, the speed at which you tack and the timing of it can help a lot... Properly done, you can get the genny sheeted in to position without using the winch at all.