Recommended winches

I'm looking at accumulating all the deck gear for my project and I'm buying the winches for my F40 tri project prior to the hull build. Just wondering what winches others are using. Lewmar and Harken seems to be most common on our club members boats but I've heard a very positive review of Andersen Winches and wonder if anyone has experience with them?

 

I have Andersens on Kankama after Robin Chamberlin recommended that I do. They have not been one ounce of trouble in 12 years. I couldn't afford the self tailers and haven't missed them much. (Non self tailers were about 60% of the cost) Then again I grew up in an era when self tailers were not to be trusted. I went sailing once on a cat owned by Bill Salisbury (Pennant). Every time I left the sheet in the self tailers he would give me a look and I would remember to get it out of the jaws and into the cleat. Then again the mainsheet winch on Langmans beast KAS has no cleat - just the self tailer.

cheers

Phil

 

Another vote for andersons on our boat 82R (sized smaller than you need) they have not needed any work ever and are great to use.
All other boats I sail on with harken, arco & ronstan rebuild winches with regularity. Also the ribs are not marketing rubbish, they work well and are kind to the rope. Alex

 

Thanks Catsketcher, How do you find their service requirements? Or are they fairly set and forget? I'd love a winch that only needs to be serviced once a season. Thanks arekisir that was my next question answered. I too would prefer not to be having to rebuild regularly most of the lewmars and harkens need rebuilding more than I'd like.

 

Darn it, wrong forum.....I thought this thread was recommended wenches......

 

Corley,

The problem with winches is that they all last close to forever, so other than an anecdotal report here or there about quality it's hard to get a good idea about which ones are the best. For me this means I buy on price, and customer service.

In my experience Harken by far has the best customer service of any marine company I have dealt with.

Lewmar is fine, but they tend to have significantly overpriced repair parts.

Anderson I just haven't dealt with.


The only winch I know of that has really 'worn out' is an Anderson, but it was original equipment on a Columbia 50 that has been raced hard over the years, so I can't really blame the winch, just it's poor service (from the owner), high loads, and lots of use.

The one thing you may want to look at is if Harken or Lewmar will give you a one time discount to outfit the entire boat with their gear. I have heard of some people getting one, and the savings can be pretty large. Particularly if you are buying equipment for a large boat, and can package a lot of stuff together into one big purchase.

 

I've heard good things about Andersons. The one thing to look out for is mixing metals. Lewmar had one series with problems years ago that I think used some aluminum resulting in corrosion. All bronze or all stainless would be my suggestion. Winches do last a long time, mine are venerable Gibbs and Barients.

 

I had Lewmar on my last boat for several years without any problems, but Stumble is right - the parts are way overpriced. Also, over the last few years, the thickness of chrome over their bronze winches has been reduced and one reseller tells me it is quite common now to see the chrome peeling.

As Cavalier says, all bronze or all stainless is the way to go.

Alan

 

I would say that most winches, especially on lightweight boats such as multihulls have aluminum drums, with bronze and stainless steel internal parts, virtually no winches are all bronze these days (except perhaps those gorgeous Meissner ones for classic monos) Andersons have a very good rep, ive never heard a bad thing about them but have no personal experience.

Steve.