Winches, Lewmar or Harken?

[charles_reed]

I've never heard that and sailed with chrome Lewmars for over 25 years.

Think he's referring to chromed alloy - not the original chromed bronze.

 

[Twister_Ken]

Think he's referring to chromed alloy - not the original chromed bronze.

OK. But Lewmar doesn't seem to offer chromed alloy.

 

[charles_reed]

Sensibly too in my opinion - it was only a passing phase, about 18 years ago.

My experience (on bronze) is that you wear the plating off before anything else happens.
Flaking is usually due to not putting a base-coat of Ni plating on before the chrome.

 

[Bodach na mara]

Many thanks for all the replies. Most helpful and even PMs telling me of winches or sale which saved me posting on the Gear Wanted forum! I'll be staying with Lewmar anyway.

 

[Talulah]

An instructor friend of mine who sails on lots of new school boats (including the Sunsail 40s) says the new Harkens slip unless you have lots of turns on.

As an instructor on various boats this is my experience as well. I would not buy Harken. You only have to look at the design and you can see how a large surface area is lost due to the design.
Sometimes change is done for changes sake and it doesn't always mean better.
Lewmar or Anderson if the money can stretch to it.
(One advantage of only having one brand on board is interchangeability of parts.)

 

[haydude]

I have all Lewmar CST winches on my cruising yacht. I race also on another boat that has Harken and makes me wish I had Harkens. The reason is that with Harkens you can preload the winch and self-tail then pull the slack sheet in by hand easily before starting to winch in with the handle when it gets harder. With Lewmar CST instead this isn't quite possible because once the genoa sheet is jammed into the ST jaws it cannot be pulled as easily so with Lewmar CST one can only pre-load the winch (not the self tailer), sheet in by hand, load the self tailer, fit the winch handle and now winch in the sheet.

I do not know about Harken's maintenance, Lewmar is easy and does not require special tools.

One more note: Lewmar chrome winches tend to loose the chrome from the self tailer's "finger" after only one season use, sailing an average of two days a month and beating upwind which requires tacking with good use of genoa sheets. A replacement costs a fortune. The chrome Harkens on the racing yacht that gets used a lot more than my cruiser still look as new after six years of beating almost every week-end.

 

[Talulah]

I have all Lewmar CST winches on my cruisng yacht. I race also on another boat that has Harken and makes me wish I had Harkens. The reason is that with Harkens you can preload the winch and self-tail then pull the slack sheet in by hand easily before starting to winch in with the handle when it gets harder. With Lewmar CST instead this isn't quite possible because once the genoa sheet is jammed into the ST jaws it cannot be pulled as easily so with Lewmar CST one can only pre-load the winch (not the self tailer), sheet in by hand, load the self tailer, fit the winch handle and now winch in the sheet.

My experience is the same as yours above.
However, two of the boats I've taught on had no grip left on the winch body and the ST was doing all the work. Once you took the sheet out of the ST the sheet would slip all to easily. (I did notify the school they were dangerous.)
Hence preloading the ST can give a false sense of security.

 

[Plevier]

I have to disagree with Haydude BUT in fairness my experience is with black alloy Harkens whereas he seems to be talking about chrome on bronze(?) which may be better. (I don't like the idea ofchrome on alloy.) My Harkens are previous generation (but not worn) 32ST not the current type, I don't know which his are (but in any case reports are that the new ones behave the same).
To take load without slipping my Harkens need so many turns on the drum that trying to pull them in quickly for a smart tack fully loaded is a surefire recipe for riding turns. You have to pull them in quickly first, then take an extra turn or two before winding and putting in the self tailer.
With the Lewmars (30ST chrome on bronze) you could quick pull with all the necessary turns on with much less risk of snarl up. You can do it with it in the ST as well but personally I wouldn't.
I've never used Andersons, would be interested to know what causes such enthusiasm for them.

 

[pvb]

To take load without slipping my Harkens need so many turns on the drum that trying to pull them in quickly for a smart tack fully loaded is a surefire recipe for riding turns.

The newer Harken Radials have diagonal ribs for better functionality.

 

[Keen_Ed]

Harken's Radial winches (introduced a couple of years ago) seem not to have been the great improvement they were supposed to be. Harken have (quietly) introduced the Performa range, without the big cutouts on the drum.

http://www.harken.com/press/Harken-Performa_Winch.php

 

[pvb]

Harken's Radial winches (introduced a couple of years ago) seem not to have been the great improvement they were supposed to be. Harken have (quietly) introduced the Performa range, without the big cutouts on the drum.

http://www.harken.com/press/Harken-Performa_Winch.php

You might be jumping to conclusions there! I thought the Performa was optimised for the high-tech, small diameter sheets found on performance boats.

 

[Plevier]

In other words they are redesigned to give more friction!
Anyway, even more than their slippiness, I hate having to remove them from the boat to service them properly. That is criminal! I know it doesn't apply to the new range but why did it take them so long?