[alberg30] Winches on the mast

[finnus505 at aol.com]

From: finnus505 at aol.com

In a message dated 2/20/00 9:20:53 AM Eastern Standard Time, rap1208 at aol.com 
writes:

<< m,
 
 The best thing you can do with that wire halyard winch is use it for a 
 paperweight.
 Those things are very dangerous, and can break your wrist, or arm.  You must 
 be new to the list, because a lot of people are discussing how to replace 
the 
 shiv at the top of the mast with one for rope.
 The wire develops 'meathooks' little broken >>
Hey Russ, Jim,
Stargazer came with the reel type winch mounted on the port side of the mast, 
with the genny halyard reeved on it. The main halyard winch on the stbd side, 
was a simple South Coast, one speed winch, which is more than adequate for 
the the job.  My friends on 248, Sea Gal, don't have a main halyard winch, 
and they do fine.  They haul up the main to as far as it will go, belay the 
halyard, then use the down haul on the boom to set luff tnesion, along with 
the cunningham.
But back to the genny halyard winch, I completely agree with Russ-those 
things are dangerous.  So i modified it into a nearly normal halyard winch.  
I got rid of the wire halyard, and replaced it with Sta-Set. Using a metal 
grinder, I cut off the piece of bronze that extends from the base of the 
winch and acts as a preventer to keep the coils of wire in place on the drum. 
I turned the brake tension handle as tightly as I could, and taped it in 
position, so the drum could not off load on its own. What I have now is a 
ratcheting winch to haul up my genny and maintain luff tension.  The only 
difference between this winch and a normal winch, is that the handle cannot 
ratchet freely backwards-it only goes in one direction. But where it is 
located on the mast, winching in full circles is not difficult.
It would be possible to use the winch in ths manner without cutting off the 
bronze piece from the base, but it would mean you would have to get the three 
wraps on the winch from the bitter end, and could not take the line off the 
winch easily if you wanted to.  That is why I opted to cut off that guide.
Making this modification was easier than removing the winch from the mast, 
and a lot cheaper than having to buy a new genny halyard winch.
Hope this helps,
Lee
Stargazer #255

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