Winchrite electric winch handle (safety kit?)

[William_H]

A while back I was helping a budy do some work at the top of his mast ona 27ft heavy keel boat. He had borrowed a winch driver. Now I am not sure what brand but was as described a motor and battery in a largish handle. The load on his sheet winch trying to haul him up was too much for conventional winch handle use. The reaction on the winch motor drive was too great to hold. It seemed obvious to use a lanyard to hold against the reaction of the drive. Yes you guessed it the gearbox failed. So a warning they are not as powerful as we might hope and can be broken. good luck olewill

 

[penfold]

A while back I was helping a budy do some work at the top of his mast ona 27ft heavy keel boat. He had borrowed a winch driver. Now I am not sure what brand but was as described a motor and battery in a largish handle. The load on his sheet winch trying to haul him up was too much for conventional winch handle use. The reaction on the winch motor drive was too great to hold. It seemed obvious to use a lanyard to hold against the reaction of the drive. Yes you guessed it the gearbox failed. So a warning they are not as powerful as we might hope and can be broken. good luck olewill

Why did it seem obvious? The machine comes with a handle, not a lanyard eye so there's a clue there that the manufacturer does not intend you to use it that way. If you do it may fail(as this one did) and it will be the fault of the operator. If I use a 9" disc in a 4.5" grinder, as I have witnessed others doing(luckily without injuring themselves or others) I would expect the gearbox to fail prematurely, just like those I witnessed failing. To discourage such abuse the instructions will advise against doing it and the disc guard will physically prevent it. A Winchrite or other electric winch handle is no different. Perhaps Winchrite have considered fitting a slipping clutch or a shear pin to a future model to avoid the possibility of this occurring.

It sounds like your buddy's halyard winch is undersized though; I've noticed this on several boats of similar size of 1970s vintage or earlier, the fitment of a single speed ungeared winch where there ought to be a two speed or at least a geared single speed.

 

[Graham_Wright]

but I reckon it would also be useful for hoisting someone up a mast.

DON'T!

 

[dnickj]

just what is the problem with using one of these to haul someone up the mast - apart from the load being to great ?

 

[Graham_Wright]

just what is the problem with using one of these to haul someone up the mast - apart from the load being to great ?

Because people end up maimed from time to time.
Do a forum search.

 

[AntarcticPilot]

just what is the problem with using one of these to haul someone up the mast - apart from the load being to great ?

If they jam "on" you could end up being caught in a bight of the hoisting rope, or trapped between the hoist and the mast, or other similar nasty situations. In the worst case, you could have an arm or a leg badly damaged.