Strong enough cordless drill to winch up sails

[Kd9truck]

Originally Posted by gonesail

it's very awkward holding a big drill on a wench .. especially for the ones who needed help in the first place

Hmmm. That’s funny, I single hand the big boxy one while I tend the halyard (with the other hand )that’s getting thrown out the self tailing end of a Harken 50 like silly string in the hands of 7 year old at a unsupervised pool party.

[Jawani]

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[chrisr]

we have just purchased a milwaukee M28 right angle drill (and a winch bit) to power various winch needs

appears this model is no longer made, and we were fairly lucky to get a brand new one from a distributor in usa via ebay. sourcing was made extra difficult as seems this model was never released in europe

cost inc charger + 5ah battery was €611. not cheap, but a lot less than the various power winch handles

we did a pretty extensive search and the M28 still seems to be the best combination of weight and power (eg the replacement milwaukee is a fair bit heavier)

on the otherhand the M28 may be getting hard to source now and next best may be a dewalt or makita ?

any thoughts ?

cheers,

[mvweebles]

The old Milwaukee M28 right angle drill apparently produced 1080 ft lbs of torque (.https://www.bhid.com/product/milele-spc-0721-20). New crop of 20v cordless produce same at top end (Milwaukee) down to around 850 for upper end of Dewalt. They are not right-angle drills though.

https://toolminer.com/cordless-drill-torque-chart/

Attached screenshot is from above article to quickly summarize findings. Author actually measured torque for all drills using same methodology to baseline between Dewalt UWO means and more common ft-lbs/NM

[Wayne hoath]

I recently purchased the Dewalt DCD996P2. Only used it a couple of times but more than good enough to hoist the main. I suspect a right angled drill would be better but the Dewalt is more than adequate. This is the recommended drill by iWinch https://www.iwinch.se/en/

[Jim_B]

In researching RA drills I stumbled on this recent YouTube test. Seems pretty germane to sailboats given that it's using a Harken 44ST.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LOp-iATox24

[capblasters]

We've been using the Makita for a few years now and it works well. The additional torque is not really needed and does mean the person using it needs to be aware of the kickback. If they could make the trigger a little more sensitive it would b e easier to control the speed of the lift. That said, we've gotten used to it.

[Jammer]

Since this thread started the new Milwaukee 18v super hawg has become available. It appears to be intended to be a replacement for the older 28v drill.

https://www.milwaukeetool.com/Produc...Drills/2809-20

I can't find a torque specification but based on the reviews it's likely to twist your arm off. Batteries interchange with a variety of other tools. Chargers for 12/24 vdc are available:

https://www.supplyhouse.com/Milwauke...ehicle-Charger

220v chargers are also available although they are hard to find in the USA:

https://www.amazon.com/Milwaukee-C18.../dp/B00355CEG0


My boat came with electric primary and halyard winches so my interest in these is only academic at this point. Unless I end up buying another old house where I have to run drain lines through floor joists.

[chrisr]

we recently purchased a milwaukee 28v RAD, and had to hunt for it pretty hard. we weren't interested in the 'super hawg' as this does not seem anywhere near as good performance wise.

cheers,

[Chotu]

How about a corded drill?

Any suggestions for that? I’m thinking of doing the drill for a bit before finalizing my rigging as well.

[chrisr]

Originally Posted by Chotu

How about a corded drill?

Any suggestions for that? I’m thinking of doing the drill for a bit before finalizing my rigging as well.

presume for corded drill you mean 220v AC (or maybe 110v AC in your part of the world ?). personally i would not wish to have that sort of stuff running around the decks in rain, breaking seas, etc

this is not considering the encumbrance of the cable

cheers,

[Chotu]

Originally Posted by chrisr

presume for corded drill you mean 220v AC (or maybe 110v AC in your part of the world ?). personally i would not wish to have that sort of stuff running around the decks in rain, breaking seas, etc

this is not considering the encumbrance of the cable

cheers,

I strongly prefer it as compared to raging fires from lithium ion batteries. On land lately, people have been dying left and right from these batteries. Several just died in New York City from some.

Plus, my winches are not outside.

so a 110V AC drill is perfect for my situation.

I prefer to run the cord so I don’t run out of batteries or have to worry about charging anything. I have a useable 400AH ready to spin those winches. Plus 1500 watts solar all day long above the 400AH to spin the winches without touching the batteries.

I'm a lot more comfortable with that. Plus it'll work for a lifetime without replacing batteries. Just brushes every 5 or 10 years.

[Jim Cate]

^^^

Yes, for your specific situation a mains powered drill seems useful. Would be a very poor idea for use on deck... potentially lethal, always a tripping or snagging issue.

Would be a good idea to provide an outlet in a carefully chosen location near your winch table... such that the cord isn't too much in the way of life.

Jim

[Chotu]

Originally Posted by Jim Cate

^^^

Yes, for your specific situation a mains powered drill seems useful. Would be a very poor idea for use on deck... potentially lethal, always a tripping or snagging issue.

Would be a good idea to provide an outlet in a carefully chosen location near your winch table... such that the cord isn't too much in the way of life.

Jim

that would be a very good idea to have a nice high powered outlet right there where the winches are. Nice thought. I think I will incorporate this.

[off-piste]

Originally Posted by Chotu

On land lately, people have been dying left and right from these batteries. Several just died in New York City from some.

Hahah what? Can you cite your sources for this?

"There have been 66 injuries and five deaths in fires involving lithium-ion batteries this year, the FDNY said. Additionally, there have been 121 investigations involving lithium-ion batteries so far this year, 17 more than the same time period last year (Jan. 1, 2021-Aug. 3, 2021)."

Five in 2022. For the whole state. That is not "several"

Source: https://www.ny1.com/nyc/all-boroughs...causing-fires-