power winches

[Omatako]

We had a neighbor alongside in our last marina with electric winches. We were live-aboard at the time and I came back to my boat in the evening and heard a strange whirring noise. Tracked it down to the neighbor's boat.

One of his electric winches had a switch go faulty. He had a line (can't recall what) loosely stowed around the drum and the winch started to run. We don't know how long it had been running but the drum was almost glowing.

All the grease had melted and run out onto the cabin sole, the line around the drum was trashed and I believe he had to replace the entire winch.

My 2-cents worth? I'd rather find easier systems that are manual (like batcars) to ease the hoisting of sails. I can still manage all my manual winches and long may that last. When I need to go up the rig we take a halyard forward and around the anchor winch to lift me effortlessly to the top.

I reckon I'll pass on electric winches for a while longer yet.

[St Anna]

I have only used the manual way - even on gaffers - (no winches at all - not even a windlass), but Oma's views were what I was thinking about electric winches, although I have only seen them in boat shows. Some people advocate a high torque cordless and a winch bit. This sounds to me that it may wreck the winch as well. Any thoughts?

[donradclife]

I've been using a Milwaukee V28 cordless right angle drill and a winchbit (winchbit.com) for a couple of years now. Plenty of grunt to raise the main, furl the jib, send me up the mast, and its great for sucking in the reefing lines. It gets the big genoa in all the way in less than 15 knots, and 90% of the way in stronger winds.

[St Anna]

Thanks Don. - How heavy is it and does it bite or slip in the winch or is it used at such low speed to not be an issue?

[TQA]

Originally Posted by xort

Can you elaborate on the "lot of problems" you have personally seen with In-mast furling?

Or are you speaking hypothetically?

OK several while in the Caribbean - all charter related. The most spectacular was a Moorings 51 that came in to Bequia with the main jammed but still with most of the sail out. The " Christmas Winds were blowing" and it made the anchorage a nice fluky and gusty place. They managed to get anchored but soon cleared out all nearby boats as they sailed around their anchors twisting the rodes and dragging back through the anchorage. Eventually they sent a small local boy up the mast with a bread knife. Very entertaining for those of us out of the way of the circus.

After that one of my criteria is no in mast furler.

[goboatingnow]

an old thread but a goodie

I'm quite a fan of in-mast, I;ve done a number of long distance deliveries with them ( and in some very very heavy weather ) and I have the following observations

a. Its a mechanical system, so it must be checked and maintained, well maintained in mast systems have low friction, certainly a lot less them standard sail slides.

b. Despite some previous threads, its hugely popular, outside of the racing crowd, that mainly like full battens, its a very popular choice, the skeptics amonsgt the blue water cruisers are generally people who havent used them.

c. alot of the bad press came from the early days, the modern stuff from the like of Selden etc are very good

d. The ease of furling means you do it sooner and quicker then other types of reefing systems, thereby avoiding reefing in the 30 knot wind situation. Also on a shorthanded crusing boat, its means only one person is needed to reef, thats not true of some other systems, like slab reefing

e. Thats a few knacks to reefing a in-mast, especially maintaining outhaul tension while reefing and ensuring the boom vang is off., Also they benefit from having the wind brought to the side opposite the side that the sail enters the roller.

f. My experience of in-boom , is that its expensive, requires very accurate boom height control and very easy to get wrong.

g. Battens have given me more trouble then inmasts.

h. Keech flutter and harmonic mast noise have be cured in moden designs.

j. In mast should be designed into the boat not added afterwards

h. Two-line reefing systems are also a good solution to reefing, but theres huge amounts of line in the cockpit.( and lots of clutches).

i. The most common fault of in-mast is that the sail is furled without enough outhaul tension and then cant be un furled, there rarely a problem furling


As to electric winches, They are great, reliable pieces of kit, but always ensure the winch is capable of going its job as a manual. In general I find i trim using manual and raise the main using electric. Be careful as they will rip a mainsail, you need to listen for unusal noise etc. Never let inexperiened crew use electric winches