Where ? cheap ST Deck Winches

[ribbony]

Surely, with almost everything else being made in China, I am surprised that someone is not making cheap no name winches. If anyone has any links to places where one can get budget self tailing winches, then please share them with all of us.

There was someone importing Brazillian winches into Oz, and though cheaper than the usual suppliers, they are still expensive.

[Fard12]

Do yourself a favor and save up to purchase a decent winch.
If you buy cheap then you will be tossing them overboard before long.
If you can’t afford a good winch then look for a good ones 2nd hand.

[44'cruisingcat]

Good value, good quality Aussie made winches : HUTTON-ARCO Yacht Winches

You could also try here: Home
I know nothing about these winches though.

[Weyalan]

I have seen plenty of good quality name-brand winches (Harken, Lewmar, etc.) sold very cheaply on eBay; both sencond hand and brand new. Of course, for bulky items such as this, shipping costs can be a real bugger, but still some cheap deals may be had.

[By Invitation]

I purchased all 8 of my Lewmar ST winches from ebay for .50 on the dollar. You just have to keep an eye out for them. I got everything from 52's down to 16's. Most of my winches were brand new, the 52's were used but in very good shape. There really is not much you can do to a good Lewmar or Harken winch that cannot be easily fixed. As long as it looks good, you are pretty much good to go.

P.S. I would not buy anything from China - that's another post.

[Fard12]

Aren't Lewmar winches produced in China now?

[Celestialsailor]

I had 45 ST Arco winches on my last boat...Great product and at the time were cheap. But the buck here is in the toilot and I probably could not afford ST winches made of paper mache right now.
As far as anything made in China for a boat?...I'd pass. The junk I see at Walmart Marine made in China, I would not put on my boat and trust it.

[Pblais]

The expense of the winches comes from the fact the gears are cut and not cast. It makes for a strong winch but it takes a good machinist / machine to cut them. Bronze gears last the longest and perform well. All the good winches use bronze gears.

It's amazing how many people don't clean them - ever. You can usually revive a poorly operating winch with a good cleaning and replacement pawl springs and sometimes new pawls. Pawls are about $1 and the pawls are more like $10 (4 for a two speed). If your winches don't make a nice sharp clicking sound it's time for a service. It also means you may get some great eBay deals on the good old Barrient, Harken, or Lewmars. It would have to be totally trashed to not be worth repairing.

[ribbony]

Most of the reasonable winches sold on ebay in Oz tend to sell at a high price as not many people sell good winches. They do semm to sell cheaper in the US, but as others have said the freight is the killer.

We had a huge wish list 2 years ago and it took about a year to find some of the big items we had on it from secondhand sources. The winches and liferaft are the last remaining big items. The liferaft we prefer to buy new, but just before the serious cruising begins as the Oz dollar is stronger and we would get maximum life from the raft before the next service.

[Stevens 47]

Give Minneys a call MINNEY'S YACHT SURPLUS - WE MAKE BOATING AFFORDABLE They have a ton of stuff to much to put on the web. Some new.

Jack