Short winch handle?

xeitosaphil said:
I think he means you turn the handle, the winch revolves in one direction, but you can then turn the handle backwards and the ratchet allows you to do so, but the winch itself is locked.
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Ok. Not on mine that's for certain, the handle only goes around one way. You have to take the handle out and relocate it to do another turn.
 
SiteSurfer said:
Ok. Not on mine that's for certain, the handle only goes around one way. You have to take the handle out and relocate it to do another turn.
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That is odd, never seen a winch like that before. Even the early tufnol winches with the handle on the bases let the handles revolve backwards between winching the line in.

I have the same problem with my winch under the cockpit spray hood needing only a short handle, so the link to the adjustable one is helpful. Any idea of price?
 
Thinking laterally.........
We bought a new heavier fully battened main last year and rather than spend more time winching the halyard we changed technique and the winch is now only needed for the last 6" of tension. Sailing normally two handed the autohelm steers while I go to the mast and pull direct on the rope where it emerges from the mast while the other half takes up the slack on the coachroof winch. No wonder the racing boys always raise sails this way, I was surprised how much quicker and how much less overall effort it takes. Swigging the last foot or two gets the sail up and ready to go, the winch is only needed for adjusting tension.
Plan B. In good weather drop the sprayhood, I find the better view makes helming a lot pleasanter
 
I have Gibb winches with lower handles on the sheets but the little ones in the spray hood are I feel possibly so old that they predate ratcheting winches.

I'm amazed that no one else has none ratcheting winches.
 
SiteSurfer said:
I have Gibb winches with lower handles on the sheets but the little ones in the spray hood are I feel possibly so old that they predate ratcheting winches.

I'm amazed that no one else has none ratcheting winches.
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Forgive me, but have you serviced them? Would be odd though if two of them have failed the same way...
 
SiteSurfer said:
I have Gibb winches with lower handles on the sheets but the little ones in the spray hood are I feel possibly so old that they predate ratcheting winches.

I'm amazed that no one else has none ratcheting winches.
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I would be amazed if anyone did.

Seriously though, if we are talking about a small single-speed winch to deal with halyards and kicker etc, replacing it/them with a ratchet winch would not be expensive and would greatly improve your sailing experience. Even bottom action sheet winches could be worth changing. I had them on a 22' boat but was pleased to graduate to a ratchet on the next boat.
 
You can (or could) get ratcheting winch handles - one came with my boat. Useful for operating two-speed winches in confined space.
 
Just been trawling you tube to see if I could find a winch being used in that way (pumping) and came across a chap who claimed that all boats since 1980 had been fitted with self tailing 2 speed winches... right...

I think though that john is probably right, new baby winches might be a good idea.
 
SiteSurfer said:
Just been trawling you tube to see if I could find a winch being used in that way (pumping) and came across a chap who claimed that all boats since 1980 had been fitted with self tailing 2 speed winches... right...
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My boat was built in 1984, when we bought it the winch inventory was like this.
2 self tailing winches for genoa sheets
the rest was not self tailing at all--
4 at the coach roof
2 spinnaker winches
2 at mast (both frozen stiff and now removed)

I don't trust this chap

Now we have only 6 all self tailers.
 
john_morris_uk said:
I had that problem on a previous boat and solved it by remounting the winches on sloping pads.

PS I was always taught never to 'pump' winches. It's not good for the pawls.
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Unfortunately there isn't room for any such solution. Space is very tight.

This is, I must confess, a problem of my own making! The boat originally had Gibbons bottom action winches with non-removable handles that were pumped to and fro through an arc of approximately 120 degrees. There was no self-tailing facility.

Thinking that it would be easier when single-handing to have self-tailers, I bought a second-hand pair of Lewmars and fitted them. I hadn't done my homework and there wasn't room to rotate an 8" handle through 360 degrees because the stanchions were in the way.

No problem, I thought, I'll just pump the handles as I used to do with the old Gibbs. But the new winches are geared, which the Gibbs weren't, and operating them in this way was incredibly slow!

So my options now are:

1. Move the stanchions. I'm not keen on doing that because it will spoil the look of the boat.

2. Find, or make, a pair of 6" handles. This thread indicates it would have to be 'make'.

3. Put back the original Gibbs winches and sell the Lewmars!
 
So, as I have historic artifacts on my boat :encouragement: - who can identify them?

I'd be interested if an eagle eyed forumite could suggest a size? (I'll measure next time I'm there, but given the wealth of experience on here - someone is bound to say, "ah yes its a 1967 Gibb Mk3 with the pawl modification")

 
parsifal said:
So my options now are:

1. Move the stanchions. I'm not keen on doing that because it will spoil the look of the boat.

2. Find, or make, a pair of 6" handles. This thread indicates it would have to be 'make'.

3. Put back the original Gibbs winches and sell the Lewmars!
Click to expand...

One other possible solution is to use cranked stanchions.
 
Can't help with the winch recognition, but I have a similar sized yacht and have a pair of Lewmar 6 / 2 speed winches which work very well if you need to find out a suitable size for your use, they do come up secondhand now and again?

I do haul fully battened main up by hand until about 2 feet down from masthead, then use the winch for the last bit, being single handed and not in my teens! :)
 
Bit of a daft question, is the footprint (bolt location etc) similar on most winches?

I think those look the perfect size.

I should add that I can whip the main up from the cockpit with ease, not sure whether that's due to my obsession with silicon spray on the sliders or that I am able to lean into the job..
 
SiteSurfer said:
Bit of a daft question, is the footprint (bolt location etc) similar on most winches?

I think those look the perfect size.

I should add that I can whip the main up from the cockpit with ease, not sure whether that's due to my obsession with silicon spray on the sliders or that I am able to lean into the job..
Click to expand...

Having been to the boat yesterday I thought I would try and get a photo of the fixings so you maybe able to compare my winch fixing layout to yours.

First of all I should mention that the winches are 2 speed Lewmar 16's and not 6's as I put in the post I must have missed the 1 out of the text !! :o

The winch itself measures approx. 110mm in Dia and there are five fixings to it, which are approx. 50-55mm apart, the two furthest ones being approx 80mm apart. It is possible to work it out exactly by drawing a pentagon with each side measuring the fixed length with the centre of the holes set approx 15mm from the outside edge of the 110mm dia circle, but I think that is taking it a bit to far, as this is only a rough estimation of suitability?

I have taken a photo of the fixings, in the hope it may be of some help to you.

Philip
 
Get your self one of these and file/grind the 3/4" square drive down to 16/17mm square that will fit into a winch socket then use you 1/2" square drive ratchet wrench. You could fit a rotating handle to make winching easier.

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http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Draper-Ex...458581?hash=item35f8254455:g:aqkAAOxykVNRxXRR

Revolving handle
http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/8mm-Male-...901085?hash=item2ca0d566dd:g:tpYAAOSwT6pV4cHY

If you want a locking winch fitting

WEB0834_zps624cd281.jpg
 
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