Ratchet Winch Handle

Santana379

Santana379

Well-Known Member
Joined
25 Nov 2004
Messages
603
Location
Wortham, Suffolk, UK
Visit site
My new (to me) boat has 2-speed genoa winches. Unfortunately there is not room for a full rotation of the winch handle because of the guardwires. One cannot therefore get the full benefit of the 2nd speed without withdrawing and replacing the handle every half rotation.

I have failed to find a ratchet winch handle at my local (East Coast) chandleries. Does anyone know if such an item exists, and where I might source it? Failing that, can someone clever design one, and we'll take it to Dragon's Den!

Bill
 
Hi,

We have the same issue on Shangri-La, a Downeaster 38 cutter. We purchased a pair of racheting winch handles (special order) from a Lewmar distributor, which ran us ~US$200 each.

They work great for the application. The costs of upgrading the winches, including fabricating new pads, my time to install and the dear price of the winches made it financially obvious to us.

They don't lock into the winch however. Part of our tacking drill includes stowing the winch handle before the next part.

Hope this helps & best regards,
Michael
 
If it is just the lower guard wire in the way, why not do away with it between the two stanchions either side of the winch?
You might even be able to fit a detachable section with two small pelican hooks, or fit a rigid stainless bar with an outward bend in it.
 
Hi, I have a ratchet winch handle on my Cobra, it is made by Gibb like the winches and is probably as old as the boat (1981), works ok though.

Peter
 
No it is a marketing issue as I import the solution and thus cannot advertise it here.

PM me with your e-mail address and I am happy to send you, or others, the details
 
Standard 1/2 inch ratchet from socket set with appropriately splined socket to fit winch glued or drilled and lockscrewed on?

Don't know whether you can get that size of spline easily and cheaply or how it would survive in a marine environment, but suspect it may be a fairly cheap way of achieving what you require if only to see if the solution suites the problem.
 
Many thanks for all the advice - any more still welcome though.

I didn't make clear that it's the dodger as well as the lower guardwire obstructing the handle. In the boat in question it's important to keep the dodgers in place for protection.

A shorter handle did not seem to to be a sensible option when I was aboard, and would anyway probably mean changing handle after winding in most of the way using the low gear if there was room.

Lewmar's website does not list ratchet handles, and I can find no trace of Gibb ones on the www at present.

The optimal solution remains a ratchet handle, but I'm probably not practical enough to try davidpbo's solution.

Gin's solution (a very nice looking extending handling favourably reviewed in a non-ipc sailing comic last month) might well work - I need to take measurements aboard and be confident it can extend/get smaller once each rotation. I expect it is the most cost effective option.

Bill
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Share this page

Top