dinwood
Well-Known Member
I'm feeling my age and wanting power assistance when furling the main and genoa on a boat that is really too big... We've got roller reefing main and genoa and two big electric primary winches, so most of the time I'm quite happy. However, reefing whilst sailing upwind (and especially at night) is now often more effort than I seem to be comfortable with. One of the sails always has to be furled manually using the secondary winches (Lewmar Ocean 48ST) so I've been looking into retrofitting a motor to one of them (I can arrange for both furling lines to be on one side). The cost however is excessive - I don't need 900W of power, just enough to operate the furling line which I would say was a fraction of that.
Does anyone know of a low cost alternative? A low power winch dedicated to furling would seem sensible, but web searches don't throw any solutions up. A power tool adapter seems possible, but do they work and are they safe to operate heeled, at night and on the leeward side?
Does anyone know of a low cost alternative? A low power winch dedicated to furling would seem sensible, but web searches don't throw any solutions up. A power tool adapter seems possible, but do they work and are they safe to operate heeled, at night and on the leeward side?
