Using a Non-Self-Tailing Winch

[Cacique]

but my felllow boaters are always yelling at me, "...hey, skipper, you've got a line trailing...!"
I'm sure that will not bother me we don't often sail within hailing distance of other yachts anyway.
Went to the boat tonight after work and I have worked out how I can feed the sheets under the dodgers into the water
Thanks again Mr Goodlander.

[Connemara]

Just to add to the discussion. I have had a set of winchers on my sheet winches since I bought my boat and I suspect they had been there for a while.

They worked after a fashion.

Key was making sure the line was snugged up under the rubber ring. Then, as you grind, the pressure keeps the line feeding out. But the old ones needed three wraps underneath and even then they sometimes slipped.

Week ago I bought two new ones. Difference is night and day. They grab the line much more firmly and when I cleat off (jamming the line into the groove in the ring) they really hold tight.

At $55, they're a bargain compared with self-tailers and to me at least seem to work nearly as well.

Connemara

[GordMay]

I had a pair of Barton "Winchers" on my Mirage 26.
They weren’t worth the $15-$20 I paid for them.
They might work better on the prettier 27.
Check out Defender for prices ($34 + depending upon size)

[ggray]

I had one on a halyard winch mounted on the mast, and it worked very well for this function.