Milwaukee Right Angle Drill with Harken Chuck

[a64pilot]

I have one of those ATN things, frankly I'm not in good enough shape to use the thing, and my 18 yr old daughter was sore for a week after using it.
However it has two of what I believe is called "ascenders" basically one way devices for lines.
They are a great safety back up as you hold it and let it slip up the backup halyard and if anything should let go, the ascender will catch immediately.
Even a 5 ft fall on a line could hurt a lot as I got slammed into the mast etc. but with an ascender, there is only a foot or so as the slack is taken up.

[Matt Johnson]

Originally Posted by Sailing Drummer

Uncivilized - a little bit of a thread drift here -
I just went up the mast 4 times this last week with just my wife at the winch. We stopped about every 5 feet each way so she could tighten/loosen the safety halyard. How does the one going up control the safety halyard instead of someone below. Would you use a block/cam cleat?

We use a climbing ascender attached to the harness for our safety line. It just rides up the taught line as I'm pulled up the primary halyard. If the primary halyard should slip, the one way action of the ascender stops the fall. To go down, I hold the jaw of the ascender open while I'm lowered... again, a slip and the release of the jaw stops a fall.

Matt

[UNCIVILIZED]

Originally Posted by Jim Cate

Unciv, I'm not sure exactly what you are getting at here. My first comments were relative to use of a Milwukee type powered winch handle vs a directly powered winch in various applications.

My second point was relative to the use of self tailing winches for going aloft.

How Brion Toss and his paid crew of three go about their work is not terribly relevant to how a mom and pop cruising couple, out at anchor in the woop-woop accomplish similar tasks.

You have vast experience in maritime tasks, but it seems that your experience base is in well funded racing programs with stacks of trained professionals at hand. That is an enviable position, but one far removed from the realities of most cruising folks. We muddle on, using the tools and skills at hand. If this means going aloft using a self tailing winch, we take what precautions are available and rely upon good sense and care to make that equipment useful for the task.

I'm not trying to be cavalier about safety here, just trying to be realistic... or perhaps I've completely misunderstood your posts and am barking up the wrong tree (mast?).

Jim

Jim, I forgot to type this preface earlier, but it it's not apparent, I agree with you on 99%+ of what you post on just about everything.

As to going aloft, doing so as safely as possible is one of my safety peeves. Perhaps because it's about the most dangerous thing one can do onboard. Well, other than getting the mother in law peeved at you 3 days from the nearest port

In an ideal world, with just 2 folks on hand. You can either go aloft fully solo, using various gear configurations. Or have your partner hoist you up, while you self regulate how far you might fall via a 2nd line, should the primary halyard slip or break.

And given my druthers when going aloft double handed, it's nice to have the primary halyard led back to a winch on the cabin top, or otherwise not directly underneath of the mast. So that if the climber accidentally drops something, the hoister/tailer doesn't get Harken or Snap-On tattooed onto their skull the hard way.

Though with this method it's preferred to double check everything having to do with the block used at the mast base. And you can even temporarily use a screw gate carabiner clipped around the halyard, & attached to another deck fitting, as a back up for the primary block.

The bottom line is that I just want to pass on some of the knowledge which I was fortunate enough to learn, on to others, so that their foundational skills are solid. Including those for going aloft, & working the deck for someone who's going up the spar.

And my apoligies for the thread drift.

[Ostinato]

There is a break mechanism on this drill and it can fail. The break stops the drill from turning. I have one and it did. You would think just letting go the trigger would stop it but that is not the case when the break fails. When that happens you have a very difficult time getting it out of the winch because of the pressure on the socket. Releasing the battery is also difficult in those circumstances.

The only thing that is sure to work to hand tail the winch. You will be given no warning this happens. Milwaukee has a new model out but I don't know if it has a similar mechanism. It's been a real bummer for me this summer because it worked so well.

[redhead]

Thanks for this info, we just got it yest er ray and are still learning all about it.

[redhead]

Of course that's supposed to be yesterday...

[George DuBose]

Maybe I missed something here, but would someone specify the model of the Milwaukee Cordless drill, the 90° adaptor and the fitting that fits the top of the winch or windlass? And where to buy these 90° chuck?

[smj]

Originally Posted by George DuBose

Maybe I missed something here, but would someone specify the model of the Milwaukee Cordless drill, the 90° adaptor and the fitting that fits the top of the winch or windlass? And where to buy these 90° chuck?

http://www.homedepot.com/p/Milwaukee...1-21/100595747
http://www.thecranker.com/The%20Ultimate%20Cranker.htm

[redhead]

The drill (28V) we bought on Amazon with case and extra battery and charger for $498 incl shipping.
The bit or chuck we bought direct from Harken for $36 incl shipping.

We consider it cheaper than hiring extra crew....

[Three Sisters]

They were labelled "Hole Hawg" for decades. The Milwaukee right angle drill, that is.

[DeepFrz]

Originally Posted by smj

Like any power tool, some common sense should be used.

One has to have experience in order to have common sense. Common sense in itself is not so common anymore. Maybe it never was.

[sailcrazy]

We bought one, installed a "WinchBuddy" bit in it, and have been using it on our Lewmar winches since 2011. Going up the mast is easy, bringing up the pick (when the windlass failed) was doable, and reefing sails, especially our 135% genny after the seas and winds pick up-or- just because we think we're a little overcanvased, etc, etc, etc has been made WAY easier with just me and the admiral onboard! We have an extra battery,always fully charged and ready to go, and we would not be without it. It lives in our cockpit, right beside the winch handles. The best piece of kit we ever bought.

[sailcrazy]

PS....we also s use it to either bring the dinghy half way up, for evening "safe keeping", or all the way up and into our foredeck chocks for longer open ocean passages.

[Pitchondesign]

I have been using the Milwaukee 2704-20 drill, which has the same torque spec as the right angle drill, but costs less, is lighter and smaller. It also uses the newer m18 fuel batteries. The 2704 is new within the past few years, the right angle drill is an older design. I use it mostly for rolling in the Genoa. It has enough torque to pull your arm off. Since I don't have the right angle drill, I can't directly compare them, but it sure seems powerful enough to get someone up the mast.

[a64pilot]

The right angle part of it also has a gear reduction, you can turn it around of you wanted to speed it up, but would lose torque of course. If anything I wish the reduction were even greater