best old self tailing winch

[dohenyboy]

I notice that smaller winches are quite expensive, and so when a winch on an old sailboat goes bad and no spare parts are to be found, its often necessary to find a used one.
For example, a Lewmar No. 16 is $400 to $600 and the Harken is even more expensive.
Seems to me there could be an older winch design which is no longer in production but is worthy of new production. So, what is the best one to look at copying?

[Hartley18]

Having had them on all the boats I've owned (all 2 of them!) and having them them on other boats nearly all my life - I'd suggest Barlow.

Barlow got bought out by Barient many moons back, but parts (pawls and springs at least) are fairly easy to obtain new.

Given the difficulty and expense in finding an old one and having it reconditioned and re-plated to as-new, it would be a wonderful thing indeed if someone brought these back brand new..