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Catalina/Capri 25/250 Sailor's Forums

General Sailing Forum

Throw the Wench Overboard!!!!

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cat1951
Admiral

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USA
636 Posts

Initially Posted - 04/29/2007 : 18:34:55

Well not exactly, but close. Have you ever had one of those days?..of course you have. As little as two weeks ago, I was looking over the Spring sales for new hardware. I saw that floating locking winch handle and said: "I must get one of those soon as I only have one on the boat and I need a spare." Well you guessed it... 15 minutes into our first sail of this year and whoooops...over the side it went. No spare, and in trying to turn around several times and get close enough to pick it up, it either sank, or we just lost sight of it.

Luckily for us, the wind speed was only 6kts today, so setting the main and genoa was doable without the handle. We went ahead and finished out our daysail. So it's back online for another Spring sale and this time I buy the spare. Oh yeah, and replace the orginal with another as well so I guess that makes 2....

Mike
Grand Lake, OK
N.O. Catalina 25 #4849
In my opinion 75% of the earth is water for a reason. That's why I sail.

Edited by - on

Turk
Admiral

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USA
736 Posts

Response Posted - 04/29/2007 : 19:15:28

OOooooooooohhhhh!

Good chance to get a couple of these!

http://en.lewmar.com/products/index.aspx?lang=1& page_id=299

Edited by - on

Andy_334
Navigator

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USA
206 Posts

Response Posted - 04/29/2007 : 19:49:57

During my first couple of years on Jalapeno, I think I lost so many of these, I qualified to be sponsored by Titan!

Since I put a spare in my bag, I have not needed to use it! (knocking wood as I type)

Edited by - Andy_334 on 04/29/2007 19:51:34

Frank Hopper
Past Commodore

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Pitcairn Island
6776 Posts

Response Posted - 04/29/2007 : 20:48:13

Floating handles don't.

Edited by - on

boatgt
Navigator

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117 Posts

Response Posted - 04/29/2007 : 20:51:19

We lost one like the red one pictured above Friday and it floated quite well till we were able to swing around and pick it up. Do you remember what brand winch you had the sank?

Edited by - on

Andy_334
Navigator

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USA
206 Posts

Response Posted - 04/29/2007 : 21:09:12

Most of the time we're racing, so stopping to pick up an errant winch handle is a luxury we don't have. We just include the boat name and phone number with a Sharpie and hope we get lucky!

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Renzo
Admiral

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USA
621 Posts

Response Posted - 04/30/2007 : 06:25:24

Years ago, when I first started racing, I used to keep a winch handle in one of those winch holders at the front of the mast for convience when making adjustments to halyard tension or reefing. One evening, during the last tack at the finish line of a race, the jib sheet got caught on the handle and when the crew yanked on the line, while trying to make a perfect sail popping fast tack, the handle flew in a high arch and splashed into the water so close the committee boat that they threatened to disqualify us for firing an illigal broadside.

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Gloss
Master Marine Consultant

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USA
1916 Posts

Response Posted - 04/30/2007 : 07:01:11

A couple of years ago I bought a Harken handle with the extra grip on the end of the handle. It looks like the yellow grip in the above lewmar picture. It's really nice, especially when you are sitting next to the winch when crewing and have to turn the handle a little. You just put your palm on top of it. If I ever buy another handle it will certainly have this feature. Well worth the extra few bucks

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Champipple
Master Marine Consultant

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USA
6855 Posts

Response Posted - 04/30/2007 : 07:09:14

Guy who loses it bought it - and I can gurantee he is only going to lose one. We had one floater on Tsunami a while back and used it for a while until we realized it was flexing under load. Harken's are what we went with since then, but without Frank's ball on top.

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cat1951
Admiral

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USA
636 Posts

Response Posted - 04/30/2007 : 07:45:52

boatgt, no not sure what the brand was, but it looked just like the blue one pictured. It came with the boat when we bought her last year. It did float for a little while and maybe it just sank after a few minutes. We treated it like a MOB drill and circled to pick it up several times. It must have a sank eventually like Frank said. I guess we didn't do too well on the drill so I guess I need an automatic PFD for the winch handles.

BTW: Whatever brand we get it will be cheap. Until I stop dropping stuff like that overboard anyway.

Edited by - cat1951 on 04/30/2007 07:49:46

SEAN
Admiral

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USA
772 Posts

Response Posted - 04/30/2007 : 07:49:56

puting your name and number on it is a good idea ,
reminds me to do that on the dingy ,
were on a morring

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Steve Milby
Past Commodore

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USA
5902 Posts

Response Posted - 04/30/2007 : 10:47:05

I bought the cheapest plastic winch handles I could find (about $12-13 at that time), and didn't worry about losing them, although I only lost one. I kept two on board. I didn't like locking winch handles, because, when you're racing, you don't want anything to prevent you from getting them in and out of the winches quickly, and the locks often snagged when you pulled them out. Since they were cheap, I didn't mind the possibility of losing one, and, if one went overboard, I had no qualms about leaving it behind, to float or to sink, as it wished.

Edited by - on

Derek Crawford
Master Marine Consultant

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USA
3321 Posts

Response Posted - 04/30/2007 : 12:23:05

When we were racing the Nationals on Lake Cheney, we dropped one of the red-handled ones overboard. I radioed the RC who contacted a chase boat (a jetski!) manned by the CGAux. and they brought it back to us between races!

I'm with Steve - I hate locking handles - in fact I knocked the locking mechanism off mine.

Edited by - on

Champipple
Master Marine Consultant

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USA
6855 Posts

Response Posted - 04/30/2007 : 15:20:41

I prefer the locks and don't find them all that difficult - however I don't think non locking winches would be a problem on a catalina 25. There are other boats that I'd consider them a necessity to a boat where you may be grinding for the trimmer from the rail if you are in the 5 spot. Or the hole on a tight reach with a kite where you could be adding a small amount of upward force while grinding. Or the big fat cruiser with the winch on the mast for the halyard - one that really has a load on it.

dw

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Turk
Admiral

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USA
736 Posts

Response Posted - 04/30/2007 : 18:34:24

<blockquote id="quote">quote:<hr height="1" noshade id="quote">Originally posted by Duane Wolff
 I prefer the locks and don't find them all that difficult - however I don't think non locking winches would be a problem on a catalina 25.

dw
<hr height="1" noshade id="quote"></blockquote id="quote">

The lewmar winches above have a new unique locking system. It has won a few boatshow awards. You just squeeze the handle with one hand to release!

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