Sinking winches

[Miker]

Just thought I'd share a funny story.

Last Sunday, Gabi and I went out on Dulcamara just for a potter up river from Gladesville. We'd never been that way before, so thought we might take a look.

We've got the set up and leaving the mooring down pat, it usually only takes us about 10 minutes to stow gear, uncover the boom and bird net, drop the motor and get under way. On this day, she was still down below and I was ready to haul up the main. We do that on the mooring usually, and usually attempt to sail off if the current is OK. So there I am, instead of hauling from the cockpit, I'm beside the cabin on the port safety line. The halyard around the cabin top Arco 6 winch and up goes the sail, well almost all the way up. One of the slugs snagged a bit, then freed up, but not before the added upwards force of me hauling the halyard had caused the top of the winch to rise up of the mount and bounce once before going over the side between my feet and sinking straight to the bottom.

I was so, so, angry at myself, because the previous week I was going to service the winches and didn't because it was such a nice day for a sail (eh Dan!). Had I done so, I would have realised that the internal clip was loose and the whole winch was as risk of coming off the base.

The moral of the story is, don't change your set up routine, and service your winches.

The upside is that Australia Yacht Winches sent me a new Hutton-Arco in Chrome, via a friend in the industry, for $180 delivered. Not bad really. Plus, now that I've done the research, the Arco 6 and 8 are identical inside, just the capstain is different.

We still sailed, just used the starboard cabin winch to finish hauling the main. The upper harbour is really quite pretty, until you get to Homebush which in my opinion is butt ugly. The only trouble is that in a westerly you need to tack a lot, actually, more than a lot. It was a bit of a slog but we got a lot of practice sailing close to the wind and Gabi got some good helming and tacking practice without having to fight the ferries in the "washing machine" under the bridge....

Michael.

[auriga]

Bummer about the winch but at least you got a new one relatively cheap and easily

That end of the harbour is quite nice, we often head up that way to avoid the chaos down the other end, plus its nice and close to the mooring so doesnt take all day to get there/back. It can be quite challenging sailing up there with a westerly, especially when the current is going out as well!

I will probably be out tomorrow, not sure where i'll head, will depend on the weather and how i feel at the time, might see you out there

[Tales]

The same firm will provide a new base, drive socket, top plate, circlip, ratchet pawls, springs and bearing (ie everything other than the drum) if you want to recondition/upgrade your Arco 6/8.
Tales had a cheaper version Arco fitted when I bought her with synthetic bases which eventually failed.
Price in Aug 08 was $112 per winch plus GST and delivery for Arco 6 upgrade with bronze base and better drive socket retention.
Winches are now like new again (ok, the drum is a bit dull but it works like new!)
Australian Yacht Winch Sales 02 96232448
Cheers,
Tom

[Miker]

Cheers Tom,

That's where I got the winch from. I could have bought all the spares, although wasn't sure what was actually missing so figured a new one was a better option. It's chrome and brass, so very solid in the way it feels. Will also be servicing the other three winches next time out.

Dan, didn't make it out this weekend, had a nice stinky under floor leak in the kitchen sink waste drain. Most of the weekend was spent trying to be a plumber....

This weekend however is another matter, and in two weeks I'm off for a week, so will get in a couple of mid week sails.

Michael