Electric Winches

[PeteMylett]

After years of hitting tennis and squash balls as hard as possible, SWMBO and I are now starting to pay the price. Her wrist is wearing out and my shoulder is going the same way.

It's occured to me the electric winches could take some of the strain and ease our knackered bodies.

Anyone have any experience or comments they would like to share? Our boat is a Feeling 36.

 

[FAITIRA]

Friends had a gadget, it was an electric winch handle, seemed to be effective, theirs was a fourty ft boat. Sorry don,t know more about it.

 

[Cliveshep]

Tell me this has nothing to do with the bedroom!!!

 

[johnalison]

It seems to be well-established technology as long the electrics are up to it. I've sailed with an old boy who used it to great effect on a 40 footer.
It's most economical if you can centralise the lines to a single winch as on some Dehlers. My mate had his on the coach-roof and brought the sheets across.

 

[jeremyshaw]

We have a Lewmar electric winch. 7 years old and no probs. Maintenance is zero - just maintain the 'traditional' bit. Very useful for going up the mast etc. The battery loads are high, but only for a short period of course. They do however develop terrific torque and it's quite easy to do damage just by keeping your finger on the button. You don't get the feedback you do from manually grinding, and the 'noises off' don't always give you the right clues either.

Siting can be an issue as the motor sticks out quite a way below - at least on ours. As another poster said, try to get one winch to do all the possible jobs; as I'm sure you have realised, they ain't cheap.

Overall, go this route and I think you'll bless the day....

 

[rpthomas]

They certainly take the grind out of sail trimming, but the risk is that you get little feedback, and can over-tighten rather easily. You can also give yourself (and others) a nasty surprise if they are button operated, and you tread on the button by mistake!

 

[rudolph_hart]

Our Dehler 35 has two: one on each coaming, and they are a real boon, but only because they are part of an original deck layout design.

They are sited alongside the wheel, and all major controls (Main halyard, Mainsheet, Reef1, Reef2, Jibsheets, Furling line) are ducted under the coaming back to them, with a battery of clutches.

It makes the boat a doddle to sail singlehanded, as hoisting, setting and reefing are all performed without leaving the wheel.

I seem to remember a recent(ish) Yachting Monthly article about fitting electrics as an upgrade.

As for battery power, we have an electric anchor windlass (which gets lots of use) and a compressor 'fridge, all powered by 2x 135 AH domestics, and have no problems.

Hope this helps.

 

[Sailfree]

I toyed with the idea of electric winches but as its a charter boat decided the risk of damage was too high.

If it suits you go for it.

However have recently noticed on Sailnet website a number of Americans use battery drills to power winches. One bought his to take on Carribean charter boats that were not fitted with them.

On investigation it appears the torque need to be very high and as such to hold onto the drill it needs to be a right angle drill with a good handle. The only one recommended was the Milwaukee 28V right angle drill that generates some 600 (lbs ins?) of torque. The next most powerful right angle drill is a DeWalt that generates only 300. The Dewalt is available in the UK the Milwaukee in not available and needs to be ordered from the states along with the bit from another website.

There was a thread on this a few weeks ago on PBO.

 

[Swagman]

Jeez,
Can't imagine what it might be like to carry around a drill device and try to use it to pull in a sheet or hoist a halyard effectively......
We have out two primary winches powered (Harken 55's), and find them really useful especially if Sue has to hoist me up the mast!
JOHN

 

[Judders]

I first came accross an electric winch on a friend's Gibsea 402. We have been on a fair few weekend cruises but rarely used it, on Lutine however, we have several and use them frequently, however they give too little feedback for many jobs. Greta for a trip up the mast and fine for sheeting in the jenny.

There is a risk, as with electric windlasses, that the switches can get jammed. I know of one such case where this led to a fire although this was on a boat with rather poor levels of general maintenance.