How many winches are on your boat??

[wheels 543]

Here's a question for everyone this morning. So how many winches do you have on your boat???

Think carefully!!

Later on after we get some answers, I will post a wee article regarding Winch History.

[Mothership 6]

Winches: 8

Wenches: a couple

[Guest]

Cav 32 5

Ericson 35 7

Peterson 44 12

Squid 0

Next boat 3 I hope

[Clipper 343]

6 Winches, although 2 are so small as to be snubbers more than actual winches.

[John B 106]

I kept 'finding' another one to add.

13, plus the old capstan , and the new capstan so 15 total.

 

I think.

[Deep Purple 512]

8 sheet winches plus a small electric capstan.

[Guest]

Knot one winch on my R boat.

[Tubthumper 0]

Did some work on a super ketch a while ago

15 captive winches, all hidden under deck, hope they don't get a tangle!

[Guest]

6 for me, plus the extremely shiny new anchor winch still sitting in it's box in my 2nd Lounge/storeroom.

Thanks knotme!

[Crocket 12]

I remember as a youngling in the 70s when it was a real my boats got more winches than your boat battle. A P38 called Vanquish was launched with 18. Everyone was just so jealous!

[Murky 1]

Ah, the fights there must have been over accidentally-borrowed winch handles, not to mention the nasty elbow clashes. At 18 winches, they must have had some crew members operating more than one?

[markm 30]

18 winches, and I bet every one of them was undersized

[shanson 0]

5

 

But one of them is broken!

 

SHANE

[Steve Pope 243]

2 to few!

[Grinna 2]

On our 47' cruising boat we've got 7 winches ..... but would love to add 2 more.

 

Oh ... plus the anchor winch ...... does that count?

[col j 0]

starlight express 12 off memory +1 anchor winch

future perfect 8 + 1 anchor

pahi 8 but some people get wound up none the less.

quarter pint 4

force 11 6 used to have 1 for the mainsheet a loooong time ago

 

own none. sail all.

[wheels 543]

Well actually, i have none. Just like KM. In fact, none of you should have any. With the one sole possible difference being Tubthumper. I need some help on that one KM. Is a captive sheet winderupperer/downerer a Winch??

 

In a true nautical sense, a winch is a drum with a cable captivated and permanently wrapped around the drum and is mounted horizontally. Now, I have seen such a device on a mast for a Halyard winch once. It was a wire halyard and I seem to remember them being fairly commoin way back iun the dark ages. So if anyone has one in their count, then OK I will let them away with that. Our modern day devices we so easily call a sheet/halyard winch is in fact a Capstan. Now OK, this is technically speaking of course. I just thought it would be interesting if anyone picked up on that.

 

The sheet winch or capstan is what actually changed yachting and the design of yachts from the old multi sailed vessels of yesteryear to what we have today. It was the sheet winch that allowed the use of the single large sails used on the Burmudan Sloops.

As far as I know so far, it is not really known when the sheet winch actually came about. But Athaniel G Herreshoff in 1903 biult what was considered the first really good sheet winch for the Reliance. These winches were so good, they were handed down to Resolute in 1920 and then to Enterprise in 1930. Some of them may even have found their way on board Ranger six years later.' So Herreshoff was certainly a pioneer.

Clinton Crane and Sherman Hoyt wrote that even in 1930 the winches gave Herreshoff-built yachts an important advantage over competitors. Some were even worked by crew below deck. Twenty-four of the twenty-seven winches on the Bath-built Ranger had been made by Herreshoff, and Mike Vanderbilt was pleased to note the set of main sheet gripes also used on his Enterprise and Rainbow had been made 34 years before for the great Reliance.

However, these winches were indeed very much like Capstans. It was not till much later in 1959 the what we would call the "modern day" type winch was designed. That being a winch with a handle that fitted into the top and gear driven, thus allowing for reduction and 2 speeds.

In 1946, Len Lewery started a company making Tufnol dinghy fittings. In 1950, Leslie Marsh joined him. They called the company Lewmar. Then in 1959, a fellow by the name of Henry Shepherd, whose company made helicopter gearboxes for Westland, bought into Lewmar. His knowledge of lightweight aeronautical materials was used to develop the multispeed, top-action winch we recognise today.

[col j 0]

and if i say we carry that many fishing rods with boat reels on them? do i get away with it?

[Guest]

There are some applications where the old bottom action Murrays were way better thasn the current top action models.

[shanson 0]

In a true nautical sense, a winch is a drum with a cable captivated and permanently wrapped around the drum and is mounted horizontally. Now, I have seen such a device on a mast for a Halyard winch once. It was a wire halyard and I seem to remember them being fairly commoin way back iun the dark ages. So if anyone has one in their count, then OK I will let them away with that. Our modern day devices we so easily call a sheet/halyard winch is in fact a Capstan. Now OK, this is technically speaking of course. I just thought it would be interesting if anyone picked up on that.

 

In that case I've got 1, not counting any fishing gear!

 

Anyone got a pair of decent sized sheet capstans for sale?

 

SHANE