Winches - Lewmar, Harken, Andersen, Hutton

[Beausoleil]

We're upgrading the old Lewmar and Merriman-Holman winches on Beausoleil. I got a quote for some new Harken Radial winches at a good price, but the Admiral doesn't like the look of the chrome version - she thinks the wide black base is ugly, especially on our Formosa. So I was looking at Lewmar EVO and Hutton-Arco in chromed bronze and Andersen in stainless. Believe it or not, the Hutton are far lower in price - especially since they'll ship free to the US if the order's over $3000US.

Any opinions on the quality of Huttons vs the new Lewmar EVO's or Harken Radials? Andersens, as good as they are, seem to be the priciest of the bunch.

[Jim Cate]

G'Day all,

I don't claim to be an expert, but do own/have owned LEwmar, Barient, Barlow, Gibb and Hutton (Arco) winches.

Recently had to replace a halyard winch which was an Arco (Hutton) 40ST. The old one was a mediocre performer IMO, with a lousy self-tailing mechanism. It also had only plain bearings on the small gear shafts, not needle or roller bearings as ALL the others had. I queried Mr Hutton about this, and he made the claim that in that application the plain bearings were better. I found this hard to swallow, but then he made me a really good price to exchange my old winch for a brand new "improved" 40ST. Such a good price that I went for it... and IMO the new one, while it does have a much better self-tailer, is still a mediocre performer. My subjective feeling is that there is greater internal friction than in my other deck winches (older Barients). Repeat: this is subjective and has no quantitative data to back it up. YMMV.

Cheers,

Jim and Ann s/v Insatiable iI lying Towlers Bay, NSW, Oz southbound

[Zednotzee]

Originally Posted by Beausoleil

I got a quote for some new Harken Radial winches at a good price, but the Admiral doesn't like the look of the chrome version - she thinks the wide black base is ugly, especially on our Formosa.

I have to agree with your style guru. The black base may look fine on a snazzy race boat, but it doesn't suit a classic cruiser IMO. Have you priced any of the Harken Classic series? I believe they come in all chrome or stainless.

[jaysandy]

Beausoleil any of your take out winches electric and if so what size... I'm looking for a Lewmar 54 elec 12v... JOE

[CarlF]

I'd give another look at Anderson. Now that they've been bought by Ronstan there's little risk of being an orphan. Discounts (e.g. better distribution) may get better too under Ronstan ownership.

To my eye, the stainless looks better than chrome on a classic (unless the chrome was just shined by someone with far more patience than me) and it looks great with no virtually no effort.

A few years ago Practical Sailor did a review on winches. If I remember correctly they rated Anderson as the easiest to maintain and the most efficient (e.g. pounds of input to pounds of pull) for a given gear ratio. The self tailer works better than any other brand I've had but it does have a fairly narrow range of line sizes (something tells me that this may have changed in the last five years).

Carl

[Beausoleil]

Originally Posted by jaysandy

Beausoleil any of your take out winches electric and if so what size... I'm looking for a Lewmar 54 elec 12v... JOE

Er, - if I had 54 electrics, I wouldn't be replacing them!

The existing genoa winches are old non self tailing, and being 42's, they were a bit small for our old yankee, and now with a new 115% genoa at 530 square feet, they're way too small - hence the upgrade...

Zednotsee - the Harken Classics are actually more expensive, and in short supply. Since the new Radials have synthetic bearings, I assume they're cheaper to produce...

[ozskipper]

servicing will be important. Some are really simple, others are real PITAs.
Heres a choice of vids that may help you with your decision.
Google

Frankly however, i dont think colour should be as important as the quality of the winch. When the pretty winch jams in a storm you wont care what colour it is.

Cheers
Oz

[Beausoleil]

Originally Posted by ozskipper

servicing will be important. Some are really simple, others are real PITAs.
Heres a choice of vids that may help you with your decision.
Google

Frankly however, i dont think colour should be as important as the quality of the winch. When the pretty winch jams in a storm you wont care what colour it is.

Cheers
Oz

Tell that to the Admiral - I already lost that battle.

[Bash]

I don't think the Anderson winches are cut out for cruising. You can't skip maintenance on an Anderson the way you can with other winches.

You might want to check out Antal as another option. I added two Antals to handle the spinnaker sheets, and they seem pretty bombproof. Pay close attention to the ratios, however, because many of their two-speeds are direct drive on the fast speed.

[S&S]

We've been very happy with our Arco/Hutton winches. But ours are larger. Have you looked at LVJ?

[James S]

I love my Andersons...I'm not sure about the maintenance as I haven't performed any in the last 3 years....but then I'm not a cruiser!
I can tell you that they have what looks like ceramic ball bearings.

[rtbates]

Andersens are about as easy to take apart as they come...And they have as little moving parts as is possible. Oner small word of caution, buying harware, based on looks, is a recipe for disaster..

[rtbates]

Originally Posted by Bash

I don't think the Anderson winches are cut out for cruising. You can't skip maintenance on an Anderson the way you can with other winches.

You might want to check out Antal as another option. I added two Antals to handle the spinnaker sheets, and they seem pretty bombproof. Pay close attention to the ratios, however, because many of their two-speeds are direct drive on the fast speed.

Huh..????? Their REGULARLY scheduled maintenance is twice that of others...Two years vs one...And they have less parts...Bigger bearing surfaces....

Are you a Harken rep????

[CarlF]

huh? +1 on Anderson maintenance.

My last (cruising) boat had them and they were the least troublesome and least maintenance hungry winch I've ever had. At the first two year maintenance point, I pulled off the drum and decided the only maintenance needed was a couple of drop of light oil on the pawls. The rest looked and felt perfect.

Other winches will show wear on their chrome or the aluminum drum becomes scored. Inside you often find a galvanically nasty brew of stainless, bronze, and aluminum parts. As I remember, the inside of the Anderson has only stainless and non-metallic parts.

I wish my new (to me) boat had Anderson's.

Carl

[Captjim]

Hey! The new Selden reversable 2 spd ST winches are very good and with a push of the button on the winch handle it will reverse!