Originally Posted by
ranmar850
Well, back on the subject of winches----bit of thread drift, there..... the type you refer to is known as a windlass type, vs the drum type. I have owned and exyensively operated both. Simply being smaller and less obvious on the deck doesn't make them an obvious choice.
-Windlass type - Windlas type need a lot of vertical drop under the deck entry or they will simply not work. A wide, shallow space is useless. With ALL the rope on board you need a minimum of 300mm between the top of the rope pile and thebottom of the deck the rope comes through. This is non-negotiable. If you don't have this amount of space, the rope will jam in the gypsy. They are not limited to length as drums are, just a matter of how big the well beneath is.
----and this bring me to the other aspect. The rope. You will need to use expensive rope of the right size. The very best, and in my opinion as a user, the only type to use is 8-strand plait nylon. Probably 12mm. Get online and see how much that will cost you per metre. The rope needs to be soft and "fall" into a pile in the well. 3-strand nylon can do the job, less expensive, but you will need to wash it with fabric softener or something similar to keep it soft and pliable. Forget about doing it on the cheap with silver rope, it will just jam up. And you will be blaming the winch. Note--just had a look online, prices are wildly varying, but mostly $5-10 per metre.
--You will have to splice 8-strand plait, as you need a smooth transition between the rope and chain. No shackles. Plenty of youtube videos on how to do it. And don't forget to hose and soak the rope before you go out, even 8-strand plait can jam up feeding out for the first time after drying out.
Drum type-- if you have the space, an under-deck drum winch can't be beaten. Obviously, your fore-deck arrangement will dictate how easy this will be. If under-deck, they will normally be mounted vertically on the forward collision bulkhead. This will probably need an extra layer of ply laminated on for strength, these things develop a lot of pull.
---rope. You can use anything you like, just depends on how much you want to fit, obviously the smaller the CSA, the more you can fit. Dyneema is the best for this, can be expensive, cheaper than 8-strand , but you only need 5mm, shop around. Sheathed nylon is cheaper, you only need 6-8mm. Some come as a kit with maybe 100m of nylon sheathed included, mine did, I added 50m of 5mm dyneema then top-shotted with 30m of 12mm silver rope. Which is actually the weakest of the three different types . 8mm Double braid sheathed can be under a dollar a metre. Polyester is cheaper than nylon of the same construction.
--this can be joined any way you like, as you don't need to run through a gypsy, so no need to splice together different types.
--any type of winch probably needs a different bowsprit. You need something the rope can't jump out of. And which will keep the anchor clear of the hull. If fitting a drum, factor in adding a convex roller betwen the bowsprit and the winch, so it will layer on instead of piling up in the middle. I am using a Tuffwinch, which has been perfect, but added a Lonestar deck roller, and the rope never bunches up.
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