Experience with electric winch handles

[S-2 Eveningstar]

Originally Posted by doublebubble

Just wondering how many people have experience with electric winch handles? I would like to purchase one as electric winch's for our 50ft cat is just not going to happen, the wife and I are about to finalize our equipment to head off on what they call living the dream and thought one of these may just be usefull, I was able to locate two brands, Ewincher and the Winchrite, the Ewincher looks and sounds like the preferred option but it's quite pricey or is there any other brands avaliable, not really interested in using an battery drill, so does anybody have any recommendations, Australia seems to be a little lacking in products avaliable.

Regards Rod.

doublebubble. bad shoulders force me to look for help like you, I purchased the Winchrite model 2 yrs ago, have not been disappointed, lots of power, I sail about 90% of the time by my self, at 80 years old,it has made a difference if I sail or motor.

[longjonsilver]

https://www.aconcordcarpenter.com/mi...ist-drill.html

[Jim Cate]

Originally Posted by longjonsilver

i notice in looking at the Milwaukee Hole Hawg, that there are several models. i also notice that the Dewalt is quite a bit cheaper. Since Dewalt is a reputable brand in the construction field, as is Milwaukee, does anybody have experience with the Dewalt cordless hole hawg?

jon

See if you can get their respective torque ratings... that is a good metric to start with.

Jim

[Na Mara]

I have an ewincher.

Basically it’s utterly brilliant!!! Best purchase ever!!!!

We have four very high quality cockpit winches, two very high quality mast winches and a in mast reefing winch which is a work of art. Replacing all that with winches of similar quality just to electrify them would cost a fortune and would probably qualify as vandalism on a boat like mine.

So we bought an ewincher with extra battery and electrified the lot of them for about 2500 euros.

The only downsides are really just consequences of the fact that it’s insanely powerful. I‘m a big fit guy but I even treat it with respect. You need to make sure you have a really good hold on it in highload situations and you also need to pay attention in those situations that you don’t break stuff (we bent the push pit with it once!)

Elsewise it’s the doodie. It lets my wife, aging father, and kids handle all the sail operations on board our 43 sloop with large overlapping genoa.

Get one! You won’t regret it

Ps. One of the biggest advantages of the ewincher is the ability to combine manual and electric winching which allows you to sheet home a big Genoa or raise a big mainsail on a 2:1 halyard in double quick time.

[NevilleCat]

A local Tasmanian guy is making these and selling them out of Kettering in Tassie.
He was doing a fair bit of advertising on Gumtree this year but has gone quiet of late.
Anyone know anything? They were advertised something like AU$ 1760 I think.
https://www.powerarm.com.au/https://www.powerarm.com.au/
https://www.facebook.com/pages/categ...7217670761314/

Jim, Ann, he's probably just round the corner?

[adjo]

I made a 12V winch handle using the 180W Lemac motor/gearbox from an old golf cart.
The motor powers in both directions with a momentary toggle switch.

The innovation is that the base plate engages with the self tailing stripper arm which prevents the whole assembly from rotating when winching. No need to hold it in place other than to operate the switch on the vertical "handle"

https://1drv.ms/u/s!AiLemZG1LEtle3sV...vMXh0?e=L6Psab
https://1drv.ms/u/s!AiLemZG1LEtle3sV...vMXh0?e=76WKGP


Heaps of power so now I just have to take care not to bust something.
The photos tell the story

[south4320]

Originally Posted by NevilleCat

A local Tasmanian guy is making these and selling them out of Kettering in Tassie.
He was doing a fair bit of advertising on Gumtree this year but has gone quiet of late.
Anyone know anything? They were advertised something like AU$ 1760 I think.
https://www.powerarm.com.au/https://www.powerarm.com.au/
https://www.facebook.com/pages/categ...7217670761314/

Jim, Ann, he's probably just round the corner?

I met him and his wife couple of weeks ago when they came to look at my 8L3b gardner. Seemed very nice people. They live at Kettering, Tasmania. I don't know anything about the winches but on paper and from talking to them they seem a good product reasonably priced. If I didn't have electric winches i would buy one. Has anybody tried them out.

[Letterkenny]

Curious if there has been any more recent feedback on the Ewincher (v2 is now out) and Winchrite? My wife likes the Ewincher but it’s over double the cost and doesn’t seem to have as big of a US presence. Any recent users of this or Winchrite that can chime in?

[doublebubble]

We've now had our Winchrite for a little over 12mths and being full time cruisers and ha0ve used it for basically everything it works and has not given us any trouble and does as advertised, at this point can't fault it, stays charged very well, there is a new one out called the Powerarm made in Australia and is around $2000, for a $1000 the Winchrite does the same job.

Cheers Rod

[Miss Saigon]

After trying a M18 Milwaukee that didn't cut the mustard (wouldn't raise the main nor sheet the foresails - could reef the foresails though) we bit the bullet and bought a DeWalt (54V). Beast of a machine but 4 times the torque of the Milwauke. The M28 Milwaukee is slightly smaller and lighter, but has to be imported from the US. Less than a grand, but think powered winches will occur before I turn 70.

[malbert73]

Anyone out there ever use a 120V angle drill (if there’s even such a thing)? I don’t really need or want electric winch handle for routine stuff but it could be nice to have for me getting sent up the mast eg at a cheaper price than having the battery powered one. So plugging in down below and leveraging our whole battery bank...

[FranklinGray]

I've started looking into this because my two electric winches are too old for parts and replacing them is not something I look forward to.

I looked at right angle drills today and they seem to either be too weak like the M18 Milwaukee or not longer made like the M28 or too heavy (20-30 lbs) like the 60volt DeWalt and others in that range.

I'm looking for one that can raise me (230 lbs on a good day) up the mast, can raise the dinghy (240 lbs) with a 2:1 purchase, and trim a 150 Genoa that has about 850 sqf of sail in 18 knots. My current winches are the harken 66.2 for sail and dinghy and older style similar to the Lewmar 40 at the mast. The 66.2 when the motor was on it's last legs could raise me up the mast if ran through a block to the cockpit.

Am I looking for something that doesn't exist?

[Letterkenny]

Originally Posted by FranklinGray

I've started looking into this because my two electric winches are too old for parts and replacing them is not something I look forward to.

I looked at right angle drills today and they seem to either be too weak like the M18 Milwaukee or not longer made like the M28 or too heavy (20-30 lbs) like the 60volt DeWalt and others in that range.

I'm looking for one that can raise me (230 lbs on a good day) up the mast, can raise the dinghy (240 lbs) with a 2:1 purchase, and trim a 150 Genoa that has about 850 sqf of sail in 18 knots. My current winches are the harken 66.2 for sail and dinghy and older style similar to the Lewmar 40 at the mast. The 66.2 when the motor was on it's last legs could raise me up the mast if ran through a block to the cockpit.

Am I looking for something that doesn't exist?

I ended up getting the winchrite and love it. I don’t have a harness to try to life me to test if it will fit your needs but I think it’s worth it for normal sailing use. I don’t think anyone here has used multiple of the models of electric winch handles out there but after watching ewincher’s promo videos and them trying to address why their’s is better than a Winchrite, I can just say that their reasoning is completely wrong and what they say are issues, aren’t actually issues. The only true benefit that I see is the interchangeable batteries, which, is solved by buying a second Winchrite that would still be several hundred dollars less than an ewincher.

[Char99]

Originally Posted by Jim Cate

Stu, he specifically said that he's not interested in a converted drill. He didn't say why he isn't interested in the best option! (My opinion as a user of such).

Jim

Based on previous reading on here I bought a Millwakee 18 volt Hole Hawg 1/2"

I looked for a 28 volt but did not find one. Is yours 18 volts? I found on my first try it would not bring in the 90% jib the last 10 inches in about 18-20 knot wind. Are you using the 18volt version?

Charles
Cal2-46 Pacifica

[Capt Tim]

Use the 28 volt Milwaukee right angle drill and purchase the correct size and robust bits
Used this for 8 years , 45,000+ NM and lett with boat when sold. Carry extra batteries