Antal winch opinions

[xyachtdave]

I need to tackle some upgrades to my old Harken winches. The boat has its original (1995) 44 and 32ST winches and all are well worn and unfortunately these sizes are now not available. The next size up won't fit so looking at alternatives.

Has anyone got experience of Antal XT winches?

The sizes are near identical to my existing gear so could save some hassle fitting etc, any experiences shared appreciated.

 

[pvb]

I can't imagine that there are massive differences in efficiency or operation, so if they fit then go for them.

 

[bitbaltic]

We had Antal winches (admittedly much smaller single-speed 16s) as primaries on our boat when we bought her. For reasons not really related to their performance we replaced them with twin speed harken 35.2 winches.
rightly or wrongly I regarded them as a budget brand and do not regret changing up.

 

[GrahamD]

Antal seem to be very well engineered. Harken and Lewmar have such a big market share because they give such massive discounts to the large yacht manufacturers. If I were in the market for replacement winches I would carefully consider Antal.

 

[graham]

We had 2 speed chromed Antal winches for 12 years before selling the boat.They never gave any problems

 

[vyv_cox]

I had some Antal winches a long time ago. At the time there was some discrepancy between the way they calculated their sizing number and the way everyone else did. An Antal 16 was less powerful than a Lewmar 16. No idea whether this is still the case but worth checking carefully.

 

[bluerm166]

Happy with the Antal sheet winches I inherited and with the Antal 16 two speed winch I purchased to lift my keel ,encouraged by a chance good price.A new Antal handle that fits well compared with my old handles enhances the ease of use.Check the line size handled against your desired/existing sheet dia. as well as the ratios mentioned above.

 

[[3889]]

I had unsolvable issues with Antal 16STs with the retaining helix/circlip thingymebobs constantly distorting and popping off. I'd never buy Antal again.

 

[vyv_cox]

Following up post #6, I checked the Antal info xt st cruise-antal and compared with Lewmar https://www.lewmar.com/sites/default/files/EVO Standard and Race Winches.pdf

The Antal XT16 has a power ratio of 14 whereas the Lewmar Evo 15ST has a power ratio of 15.8.

 

[xyachtdave]

I’ve just had a quote for those Lewmars, the 45ST is the same size as old Harken 44. Tried to support my local chandler but will be having a look online.

Interesting the different spec for what to untrained eye is the same spec.

 

[Rafiki]

I’ve just had a quote for those Lewmars, the 45ST is the same size as old Harken 44. Tried to support my local chandler but will be having a look online.

Interesting the different spec for what to untrained eye is the same spec.

When I bought a new Lewmar 46 a year ago, I showed my local chandler the online price and he matched it. These winches aren't held in stock by chandlers, so it was a case of "make £50" on the sale or make nothing. In fact I was glad I did buy it from the chandler because when I came to fit it 3 months later I found that one of the jaws was cracked - they replaced and fitted them with no probs. I suspect if I had bought it online I may have had more of a problem..... " you must have dropped it sir"

 

[xyachtdave]

When I bought a new Lewmar 46 a year ago, I showed my local chandler the online price and he matched it. These winches aren't held in stock by chandlers, so it was a case of "make £50" on the sale or make nothing. In fact I was glad I did buy it from the chandler because when I came to fit it 3 months later I found that one of the jaws was cracked - they replaced and fitted them with no probs. I suspect if I had bought it online I may have had more of a problem..... " you must have dropped it sir"

I had a chat with Harken today as it's suggested on the web the Harken 44's are still available to order, unfortunately they aren't as that would have been my first choice.

The chap on the phone couldn't have been more helpful and rather than simply flogging me a couple of 46's to the thick end go £4k, had a look at the boat data to see if 40's would be powerful enough.

The worn roller bearing assembly and plastic guide for the rope in the self taler is my issue, he's going to see if there is the possibility of spares for these, although unlikely as discontinued for 15 years or so.

I'd say 10/10 for customer service.