Drill assisted Mainsail hoisting

[wackerb]

I have a right angle Milwaukee for sale. PM me if interested.

[Mawingo]

Hi just what do you have, price and your location. Thanks

[John Murphy 5]

Scrimshaw4 has an excellent solution. I have a 63 ft. mast and did this and now My 5' 2' wife can effortlessly raise My large mainsail. As I aged, I also put a motor on My main winch. A much better choice than screwing around with the Winchrite which I once used. You won't have to worry about your toes either. An heavy metal "sawz-all" flopping around the cockpit, or below is not safe. BTW, Joel, does that 25 ft. extension cord limit You to sailing in a circle of 25 ft. ?? Jus' aksin'.

[John Murphy 5]

I concur with Scrimshaw4, I did this for My 63 ft, mast and now My 5'2" wife can effortlessly raise the mainsail. I tried the Winchrite but it, as the Sawz-Alls, is dangerous flopping around the cockpit, and has a tendency to kickback rather forcefully. As I aged, I added a motor to underneath my main winch which has been GREAT. The pulley & motor were a LOT less expensive and safer than Winchrite & SawzAll.

[joelhemington]

Originally Posted by John Murphy 5

Scrimshaw4 has an excellent solution. I have a 63 ft. mast and did this and now My 5' 2' wife can effortlessly raise My large mainsail. As I aged, I also put a motor on My main winch. A much better choice than screwing around with the Winchrite which I once used. You won't have to worry about your toes either. An heavy metal "sawz-all" flopping around the cockpit, or below is not safe. BTW, Joel, does that 25 ft. extension cord limit You to sailing in a circle of 25 ft. ?? Jus' aksin'.

Oh, ha ha.

I think you're supposed to plug it into an outlet on your boat - I was going to mention that but figured it was obvious. However, if you feel the need to plug it into the dock, then yes, you'll be limited a bit.

[hpeer]

An additional advantage to the right angle drill is if your winch is obstructed by a dodger or bimini frame. We have this problem on a could of winches, one of which we use to furl the genoa. I can not get a full turn. Normally we don't use the winch at all, just furl by hand. However on the occasion when we do need to furl it in tough conditions then the right angle drill is very helpful.

Our main is nearly 600sq ft of 11 oz cloth. Under ideal conditions Incan raise it by had all but the last couple of feet. In less than ideal conditions the right angle drill is useful. But then I still need to tension the last few inches by hand. I had a couple of cheapo batteries and crapped one out, it died under heavy load.

[Emmalina]

If you can't or too lazy to winch your main up sell the boat ... Just my opinion

[joelhemington]

Originally Posted by hpeer

An additional advantage to the right angle drill is if your winch is obstructed by a dodger or bimini frame. We have this problem on a could of winches, one of which we use to furl the genoa. I can not get a full turn. Normally we don't use the winch at all, just furl by hand. However on the occasion when we do need to furl it in tough conditions then the right angle drill is very helpful.

Our main is nearly 600sq ft of 11 oz cloth. Under ideal conditions Incan raise it by had all but the last couple of feet. In less than ideal conditions the right angle drill is useful. But then I still need to tension the last few inches by hand. I had a couple of cheapo batteries and crapped one out, it died under heavy load.

You make an excellent point about the Dodger being in the way. When I enquired about the hard dodger for a HR, Ramus of Hallberg Rassey warned me that I'd probably need an electric wench to replace the manual one that was obstructed - of course you can always pump, the wench but this gets really old fast. I had the original V28 Milwaukee kit and those batteries wouldn't hold a charge worth squat (I've heard the newer M28 version works better)

[CaptainRivet]

Originally Posted by IslandHopper

When i do use it, which is not often, i have a Winch Bit that came with the boat and an AEG 18V Drill that that does the job just as good anything else, I've also just bought an AEG 18V Brushless Multi Tool that has a Right Angle Drill Attachment available that I will pick up the next time I'm in town, it will make it a little bit easier than the drill but not by much.

The beauty of this for me is these are all tools that I use for other jobs, I just cannot see the point in buying an expensive specific tool when I have others on hand that will do the job just as good, and be just as reliable, for half the price and be useful for a multitude of other tasks.

I have and use the whole AEG multitool with all the different attachments set for over a year.
Fabulous tool BUT NOT for using as electric winch, the e motor on the multitool is to weak for that and will break soon.
The 18v brushless drill on low speed the job on my 40ft ketch easly, at the mast its great, for coxkpit a right angle is much better. I use it in bad weather were the folding down sidewalls of our pilothouse limits she winch to a half turn.

[Gpryce]

I have been using the Milwaukee 2709 M18 Super Hawg to raise the main on my catamaran. I found the tool a bit awkward and heavy to to take to the mast mounted winch. Sometimes it would cut out before getting the main all the way up, presumably an overheat protection cutting in. Both battery packs will now only charge to 75%, I believe the cells in the pack are out of balance and I'm guessing the charging circuitry doesn't balance the cells.

I have since installed a Tides Marine track which helps tremendously.

[hpeer]

Re Tides track.
Yes a big help, I have it also.
Yiu do have to replace is occasionally. About every 8 years. The track itself is sold at discount and is much cheaper because all the other work is already bought and done.

[CaptainRivet]

Originally Posted by Gpryce

I have been using the Milwaukee 2709 M18 Super Hawg to raise the main on my catamaran. I found the tool a bit awkward and heavy to to take to the mast mounted winch. Sometimes it would cut out before getting the main all the way up, presumably an overheat protection cutting in. Both battery packs will now only charge to 75%, I believe the cells in the pack are out of balance and I'm guessing the charging circuitry doesn't balance the cells.

I have since installed a Tides Marine track which helps tremendously.

On a 32tf Maledive with a small main, thats bad performance of the Milwaukee. That main even my completely unsporty 55kg wife gets up without problems...
If u need an electric whinch for a 32ft Maledive main then either something is completely wrong eg seized halyard block on top of mast or you should seriously consider powerboating...no offense.

[rgrichar]

com5984 I am specifically looking for a Dewalt solution to hoist an adult up a 50' mast. Have you used the DCD470N-XJ for that purpose.

If yes, what size winch do you have, any other comments??

Thanks