MacGregorSailors.com

Maybe a drum winch??? Have bought one but not yet fitted....allows for winching and rode storage in one....no need to cut thru the deck etc.My only worry...what if it doesn't work and has no manual override?????

trdprotruck wrote:I personally want an anchor windlass for the remote anchoring functionality. It's not the weight of the anchor or rode that is my issue, but there are times where I need to be at the helm and pull up the anchor at the same time (Singlehanded). Compound heavy seas, 300+ feet of rode and being on deck at the bow makes a windlass sound like a worthwhile investment for safety's sake.

That's the way I see it, on the lake I can handle pulling up the anchor and then running back to the helm, but when we are on the Columbia river with current or strong wind having windlass would be great.

Well I just think one of these would look good on my Quick Heron H 412 D Windlass


http://i844.photobucket.com/albums/ab1/ ... 31e62c.jpg

J

So I think I've decided to pivot on this. I need to replace my trailer winch (or at least the strap, which is frayed, has holes, and may fail at any time.

My biggest problem is launching and retrieving without getting wet. I'm able to monkey walk from the back of the SUV out onto the tongue of trailer and pray, but that's a lot of contorsions for me. We line-handle the boat dockside onto the trailer, and the 6' strap is too short to make this easy. A 25' cable that I could walk over to the boat while docked would be a godsend, as the boat could then just be winched aboard with boat placement handled by a boathook.

My next biggest problem is raising and lowering the mast. The gin pole system works well enough but the winch is always seized up and doesn't slip well when lowering. Also, if I could tension the winch while pinning the forestay, life would be simpler.

I don't really have a big problem with anchoring: We have sandy bottoms, the Fortess 11 works well, and is very light. Considering the mods it would take for a windlass to work well (and seeing Highlander's amazing system) I can tell I just don't have the skill to do that mod justice.

So Now I'm thinking I want just a remote actuated 12V trailer winch, non-freefall, with a 25' cable. This would allow me to winch the boat aboard the trailer from the dock, and is also long enough to reach the mast raising hound from the trailer. By putting a pulley atop the ginpole and using the remote, I could lift the mast slowly while in the cockpit to manage any snags or hangups, and then go forward as the mast was lifting to pin it.

I was looking at the Powerwinch RC 23 and 30, but they get absolutely terrible reviews. Apparently they're just junk trading on the powerwinch name. Powerwinch's classic winches are not remote operated, and I have no interest in standing in the water to do this--I can already do that manually.

But there doesn't seem to be anything else on the market, with the solitary exception of this unit:

http://www.cabelas.com/catalog/product. ... Id=1194913

Does anyone have any kind of experience with these winches?

I've also found this:

http://www.harborfreight.com/off-road-v ... 68141.html

It has a higher rated capacity, a much longer cable, and an inexpensive available wireless remote. It gets better reviews and is cheaper as well.