MacGregorSailors.com

So after the windy deluge of last night i today was sealing one of tbe winch bolts. I had requested the dealer swap out the plastic winches forthe older style aluminum ones but he did not seal the bolts well. I saw right away on these winches that only the drum is aluminum. The part that bolts to the deck is still plastic. Any one know when the manufscturer.changed from all metal?? It does little good for the part that bolts to the boat and takes the strain to still be plastic. Glad i noticed that before i did something stupid and old tyme sailor like such as winch the boat out of the shallows with it.

Ixneigh
disgusted with lewmar or whoever makes those things.

You are, of course, correct - - - but I guess one has to keep in mind the price of this boat.

Certainly the winches are in the top five items that owners of this boat would like Roger to upgrade Listen up, Roger and Mike, this item has lots of complaints.

Rick

I am currently searching for replacement winches. There is a place in austrailia that makes a four bolt baseplate all metal winch.
The andersen 6 seems good but even thier webpage does not give the mounting measurments. I dont really want to have to drill a new bolt pattern.

Ixneigh

Ixneigh wrote:So after the windy deluge of last night i today was sealing one of tbe winch bolts. I had requested the dealer swap out the plastic winches forthe older style aluminum ones but he did not seal the bolts well. I saw right away on these winches that only the drum is aluminum. The part that bolts to the deck is still plastic. Any one know when the manufscturer.changed from all metal?? It does little good for the part that bolts to the boat and takes the strain to still be plastic. Glad i noticed that before i did something stupid and old tyme sailor like such as winch the boat out of the shallows with it.

Ixneigh
disgusted with lewmar or whoever makes those things.

The stock winches are Marelon, not Lewmar. Not sure what your replacements are of course.

Stock winches made out of Marelon plastic, manufacturer is Forespar. POS IMHO based on y experience

Lewmar harken and Anderson all make good #6 size winches with metal bodies and bases....if you sail in heavier wind areas like Judy this is a good idea.

Am I correct to assume..... my Lewmar #6's came as stock on my 05 M? If so? These are very strong winches.. I tried to winch myself off a sand bar in Pelican Harbor Port Charlotte Fla. and though I FAILED ... I feel I exerted considerable force on them.. I just got back from the gym which included my Bench Press 3 sets B to B 5 reps 200lbs for this old guy..
Your telling me they have since gone plastic? hummm $$$

Personally I find the winches on the mac m totally adequate for what I use them for, mostly to haul a dinghy on board. As far as sail trim , I have never used them, falling off the wind a tad I can pull in the big Genoa with ease, so I wont be replacing my winches.

I do understand the urge to upgrade as many things as possible with our mac's, part of the fun...
Mike

aya16 wrote:As far as sail trim , I have never used them, falling off the wind a tad I can pull in the big Genoa with ease, so I wont be replacing my winches.

Same here. I use mine as ratchet blocks for the jib and genoa sheets, and to turn the genoa sheets to the cam cleats. The only time I've ever winched one, with the handle, is for mast raising (starboard winch), so that means I've only ever used one of them as a winch.

Oh, and I use the port winch to loop the excess length of the stern dock line onto just in case of slippage on the cleat, though it hasn't yet slipped enough to take out the slack. It's not like they have no utility at all, after all.

Highly loaded plastic does not sit well with me. Hold over from my keel boat years.not in a terrible hurry bit still.

Ixneigh

I am with the others here.. I dont use mine for sail trim..but they are there.. Is that what your using yours for?
I have read here, of a few using the starboard unit to raise the D.Board ..I have pondered the thought of using one of them to lift a dink..

Ixneigh wrote:Highly loaded plastic does not sit well with me. Hold over from my keel boat years.not in a terrible hurry bit still.

Ixneigh

Stock winches changed from Lewmar to Forespar in 2008

The Marelon winches start falling apart if you put any load on them - they are for show. They literally start leaning over and the tops start to come off if you put any load on them.

Can you find a lewmar to fit into the same holes or do you have to create new ones?

Jim

Ixneigh wrote:So after the windy deluge of last night i today was sealing one of tbe winch bolts. I had requested the dealer swap out the plastic winches forthe older style aluminum ones but he did not seal the bolts well. I saw right away on these winches that only the drum is aluminum. The part that bolts to the deck is still plastic. Any one know when the manufscturer.changed from all metal?? It does little good for the part that bolts to the boat and takes the strain to still be plastic. Glad i noticed that before i did something stupid and old tyme sailor like such as winch the boat out of the shallows with it.

Ixneigh
disgusted with lewmar or whoever makes those things.

Sounds to me that maybe the bases were identical or close enough that the dealer just changed the lewmar winch drums over ! perhaps & left the plastic bases on are u sure they are not Alum u would need to scratch the base to be sure !!

J

I use my plastic winches to hold the nice blue canvas covers!

If you trim your sails by the inch it is much easier to use the winches. Two wraps on the winch will relieve much of the stress the clam cleats see--un cleat the jib sheet, play out the line a few inches, watch the tell tails, slowly winch in the line thru the cleat until the tails stream back. The main and jib halyards should be eased in light wind and hardened up in heavier winds to get the best sail shape. The only way to do this is using the winch.

When you un-cleat the winch to tack always pull straight up on the line--fast and avoids fouling the line.

Bob