winch size

  • Thread starter Thread starter robmann
  • Start date Start date
R

robmann

Guest
What size winch is required for a colvicsailer 30' Genoa size area ft2=295 luff 34'6" leach 33'6" foot 18'00. The winches on her is of the old fork type.
Many Thanks
Rob
 
I have a 26ft boat with a 242 sq ft headsail and a 9metre mast.

I use two speed 16's ,self tailers, which are fine but when it is blowing they are certainly not too big! My two teenagers struggle

Depending on your strength and stamina I would suggest that something around a 24 would be your minimum comfort zone
 
Thank you lads i though maybe 24s it is nice for the reassurance.
again thanks
rob
 
Agree on the 40s. My No. 1 Genoa is 310 sq. ft. and the No. 2 is 288 sq. ft. I have Lewmar 40s (2 speed) and they are hard work with either sail at the top of its wind range. I think you will really struggle with 24s.
Edit:-
Is the headsail overlapping? Ours have big overlaps which makes it difficult to get the sail across and winched home in the course of the tack leaving a lot of sheet to be winched in under load. Fractional rigs with less overlap have less trouble with this.
 
Hi
Yes there is a big overlap. I have taken onboard what has been said and will look for larger winches, I have just missed a pair of 40s 2 speed on ebay.
Rob.
 
Fully agree - get the biggest you can possibly afford/fit. Our Sadler 34 with 130% genoa came with non self-tailing 38s. Some time later we decided we could afford self tailing 42s but found when we went to a south coast chandler that they had a pair of just about the last Gibb 50s that were ever sold, at a knock-down price. We bought them and they have been excellent, although even with these over-sized items Jill cannot sheet the sail home in a reasonable wind.
 
-- a "Double - Handed" winch handle makes all the difference --

Not to my wife. She's small enough to use a normal single handle with both hands, but such technology cannot overcome the combined effects of age, size, arthritis and general lack of muscle. Going from 8 inch to 10 inch handles has helped. Any 12 inch handles out there?
 
I find grinding in a close hauled genoa hard work, so was interested to read an article by Tom Cunliffe where he suggested that the helm should pause the tack at the point where the genoa can be pulled round the mast and will flog roughly where you want it when beating. We tried it on a Starlight 35 with a bigger genoa than I want to winch in and found that we could get the sail sheeted in by hand 95% of the way and only needed a few turns on the winch to trim it. As St Tom suggested, we found our tacking slicker and were up to speed on the new tack while other boats were still struggling to tame flogging genoas even though they'd spun through the tack onto their new heading quicker.

Doesn't help you much with winch choice, but might help with winch use!
 
We sometimes use the same technique, although the textbooks always say the helm should bear away slightly after the tack to get speed up. I find that there is a risk of losing too much speed when using the 'pause and sheet' method, especially in chop.
 
[ QUOTE ]
What size winch is required for a colvicsailer 30' Genoa size area ft2=295 luff 34'6" leach 33'6" foot 18'00. The winches on her is of the old fork type.
Many Thanks
Rob

[/ QUOTE ]
For that size of genoa I would be thinking about 40's. You might get away with 36's but nothing less.

Iain
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Share this page

Top