brake winch ?

[sealover]

Dutton-Lainson Winch with Automatic Brake — 800-Lb. Capacity | Hand Winches | Northern Tool + Equipment

Thoughts on this as a keel winch on a Venture 17? Harbor freight knockoff of what was on there previously failed after a few uses. Luckily I didn't try to stop it from freewheeling by sticking my arm in there...

[danr620]

Sealover,

This sounds like the right winch to me. I have a Clipper Marine and most of us have the keels with the brake winches. The brake was stuck on mine when I got it and that was no fun, fortunatly it was easy to fix. It might be worth checking on the holding capacity of the brake.

good luck

Dan

[sealover]

Thanks Dan. I just ordered it after reading your post. Should probably drop my keel and sand/repaint it. It's an 800 lb. capacity winch. My keel is about half that, and much of that weight is also supported by the keel bolt (which I really need to inspect....)
Thanks again. see you on the water.

[merc2dogs]

Brake winches are nice to have. My only complaint is that they (some/most?) take a lot of extra effort to use because of the brake.

That same winch, along with others I tried on the boat, required me to use my foot on the handle to overcome the brake to let the board down. (think it was weight of the 750lb keel keeping tension on the brake, not a problem with the winch)

Switching to a lever type brake made the whole process a LOT easier, both raising and lowering went a lot faster/easier.
(I'm not a weak man, At 5'6 and 145lbs soaking wet I don't have a lot of weight to throw at it, but my 6'2 230lb son in law also worked up a sweat)

Ken.

[GaryHLucas]

I've purchased 30 or 40 of those winches (used them on a machine), they work quite well. The brake disk is able to rotate only one way because it has a rachet pawl engaging teeth on the perimeter. The crank handle is actually attached to a nut, on a threaded drive shaft. Pulling up a load tightens the nut squeezing the rachet plate against a brake pad. The ractchet pawl clicks as you are raising the load. When you crank the handle backwards it loosens the nut, releasing the brake pad. As the load tries to overrun the crank it tightens the nut slowing it down.

Before you put your new winch in service uncrank the handle and nut. Put some good waterproof grease on the threads, but don't get any on the brake pad. The brake will then work properly for a very long time.

Gary H. Lucas