Cruising Sailors Forum Archive

My reasons for an electric winch are...

One, my wife (70) already moves around very slowly on the boat. Before she will touch a line she has to find and put on her sailing gloves, then move to the appropriate spot, set up whatever cushions she feels she needs, get into position and only then set to work on the line. My current main sheet winch is on the starboard side of the cabin top. I can get there quite quickly IF she isn't sitting on that side of the cockpit. If she is on that side of the cockpit, I have to ask her to change sides, wait until she does it and then make the adjustment myself. Leaving the helm isn't a problem since with the worm gear steering the wheel won't move until I get back. I figure that she can push a button on an electric winch without all the preparations (if I put the control buttons in the right places). Second, she really can't crank a winch and tail the line at the same time, so I need to upgrade to a self-tailing winch. In that case I might as well go electric. I upgraded the genoa primaries to electric last year, so already have the increased battery capacity. Incidentally, the electric winches make furling the jib in a blow a snap

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