Electric wenches

[OldFrog75]

Yesterday a guy tried to use an electric wench on a jammed furler. Snapped the headsail foil in half and instantly turned our day sail into a demasting prevention drill. I was on the bow at the time and things got busy in a hurry.

Stay away from those...

[colemj]

Yes, I like the good ol' fashion wenches myself. However, I love our electric winch.

You aren't really blaming the improper application or usage of something on that thing, are you?

Or did your warning refer to staying away from people who use them like that?

Mark

[Stumble]

The exact same thing can happen with a manual winch. The problem is the application of large amounts of stupid to a problem.

[Normanby]

I prefer my wenches alcohol powered.
But on lonely nights I guess I could manage with an electric one..

[OldFrog75]

Originally Posted by colemj

You aren't really blaming the improper application or usage of something on that thing, are you?

Or did your warning refer to staying away from people who use them like that?

Mark

No to the first. Yes to the second...sort of. More a warning not to use them in that situation.

[colemj]

So, uhm, ya got any pictures of that wench?

Mark

[OldFrog75]

Originally Posted by Normanby

I prefer my wenches alcohol powered.
But on lonely nights I guess I could manage with an electric one..

LOL. I can't count the number of times I misspelled that word in these forums. I've obviously got wenches on my mind.

[yvrdennis]

Originally Posted by Normanby

I prefer my wenches alcohol powered.

God knows mine is

[Adventurebound]

Originally Posted by Normanby

I prefer my wenches alcohol powered.
But on lonely nights I guess I could manage with an electric one..

Doesn't have to be as complicated as that-a blow up one will do and you can use her as an emergency life raft as well. After a few days lying on your 'life raft' you may not even want to be rescued.

[Nicholson58]

I've found the older the wench gets, the harder it becomes to get it to take a charge.

[Ex-Calif]

The original Electric Wench.

With the typical sailor who would put any furling line on a winch...

Some lessons are more expensive than others.

Not to be critical OldFrog and I know you were on the bow but why didn't you stop him?

[Jim Cate]

Originally Posted by Ex-Calif

The original Electric Wench.

With the typical sailor who would put any furling line on a winch...

Some lessons are more expensive than others.

Not to be critical OldFrog and I know you were on the bow but why didn't you stop him?

Dan, the admonition to never use a winch on a furling line is commonly heard... and not correct. On larger boats, the sails are big, heavy and stiff. They defy rolling up without some additional grunt, supplied by winching on the furling line. The new Facnor furler that I just installed on our Solent jib even says it is ok in the manual.

When you add in some wind pressure, it is even more necessary.

I have no experience with electric wenches, but it sorta sounds like fun. Might need to use one of those thin dielectric barriers to avoid shock risk, though.

Cheers,

Jim

PS We don't have any electric winches on Insatiable, but do use a Milwaukee drill to drive regular winches... especially the one for the genoa furler! It's a lifesaver for arthritic old farts on boats where one has to furl the genoa to tack it.

[Ex-Calif]

Originally Posted by Jim Cate

Dan, the admonition to never use a winch on a furling line is commonly heard... and not correct. On larger boats, the sails are big, heavy and stiff. They defy rolling up without some additional grunt, supplied by winching on the furling line. The new Facnor furler that I just installed on our Solent jib even says it is ok in the manual.

When you add in some wind pressure, it is even more necessary.

<snip>

PS We don't have any electric winches on Insatiable, but do use a Milwaukee drill to drive regular winches... especially the one for the genoa furler! It's a lifesaver for arthritic old farts on boats where one has to furl the genoa to tack it.

I'll agree with you up to around 40ft. I have furled lots of 40 footers and always manually - OK I take a turn around the winch for pulling ease but never motorized.

One of the reason's furlers jam is precisely because the genny is drawing and deflecting the foil/forestay.

Sheet out the genny so it is just holding it's shape, the pressure all but gone and if furling is still an issue the forestay is slack, the halyard is loose or some other rig problem.

It takes a lot of goofoo to break a foil - especially on the bigger boats!

I also get that as the community ages and muscle mass disappears we want to do "push button" sailing but caveat boater, in that case.

Had a guy "electric winch" his in mast main. They had to drop the mast to unjam it.

Use electric winches enough and you will break stuff.

Same can be said for electric wenches too I guess - LOL

BTW - I am not criticizing you. I have kept my mouth shut many times - depending on my "crew" station - and watched checkbook guys break lots of stuff. His boat, his money.

[OldFrog75]

Originally Posted by Ex-Calif

Not to be critical OldFrog and I know you were on the bow but why didn't you stop him?

My back was to the cockpit. I was on my knees trying to turn the furling drum manually while pulling on the foot of the headsail when the idea struck the helmsman who had chartered the boat.

I erroneously assumed he had already gotten the memo not to do that.



For what it's worth it was a 42 foot boat and apparently he thought it made sense at the time.

[Ex-Calif]

Originally Posted by OldFrog75

My back was to the cockpit. I was on my knees trying to turn the furling drum manually while pulling on the foot of the headsail when the idea struck the helmsman who had chartered the boat.

I erroneously assumed he had already gotten the memo not to do that.



For what it's worth it was a 42 foot boat and apparently he thought it made sense at the time.

Ohhhhh! Charter boat?

Winch away! Sail it like you stole it - LOL...

Actually - I my experience is charter boats are notorious for being out of rig. We chartered a 36 with in mast furling. If that was where I was to get my impression of in mast furling I would say, "Run! IMF is POS."