Winch Question - electrify?

[Chotu]

Every time I walk past this thing I have this urge to put a starter motor on it. The gears are exactly the same.


Are there any experts here who know what kind of motor would work best to spin this winch? It has to be a pretty low rpm I would think. And high torque.

What I’m thinking of doing on my sail control table is this big winch in the middle to do the halyards, mainsheet, dagger boards, control lines. Then two more manual winches on either side of if to do sheets.

Of course, you could route any of the sheets to the big electric winch in the middle too if so desired. However, when sailing, I don’t find I need electric winches for the sheets typically because I’m more so just fine tuning them than anything else.

But my question is really about the winch itself and what kind of motor I could hook up to that gearing?

It’s a Lewmar

[SailingHarmonie]

You do not need to reinvent the wheel, unless you think that is fun. Lewmar electric winches are driven by a motor and wormgearbox from Bonfiglioli. You can buy electric conversion kits from Lewmar that are designed to match speeds and torques to the winch in question.

A starter motor and a bendix drive is very much NOT what you want.

The engineering gets a bit complex because you need some type of safety so the winch handle doesn't spin if it is in the winch when the motor is activated. Some brands do with with a spring activated clutch activated by the winch handle, others with a ratchet that drives the drum separate from the handle.

I know, you would NEVER leave the handle in the winch... but a broken arm offshore is a bit of a serious problem.

[Chotu]

Actually, with this one particular winch I was just thinking of running it electric. No winch handle involved.

I don’t really necessarily need it but it might be cool to have it as an extra electric winch that I can use from time to time.

[rslifkin]

If the winch works as is, you could always get one of the electric winch handles that inserts into the top (or make an adapter to use a drill for this purpose). Not quite as slick as a true powered winch, but then you can use the power assist on any of your winches as desired.

[Chotu]

Originally Posted by rslifkin

If the winch works as is, you could always get one of the electric winch handles that inserts into the top (or make an adapter to use a drill for this purpose). Not quite as slick as a true powered winch, but then you can use the power assist on any of your winches as desired.

Yeah, I was thinking of getting one of those. I don’t know if I have all the parts for this winch. It has been apart for a long time and who knows. I would have to check.

[SailingHarmonie]

Its not clear to me if you do not need the winch, or do not need the winch to be electric.

If you not need the winch, then I guess it can be set up as electric only, but installing a needed winch with no manual backup I would consider a bad idea. I know how much work it is to raise the sail the size of the one on your cat... I'd really want a pushbutton winch.

Of course IF the winch itself is optional, and you don't need it, they why spend the money for it in the first place? They ain't cheap!

[The Yacht Rigger]

If you can't figure it out in terms of electrifying that one, I am very impressed with the new electric winch package from Ewincher - Sail Force. It's a complete kit, at very competitive pricing, that includes the winch, motor, battery pack (to not run all winch loads directly through house bank) and a control pad that shows winch loads and has load settings.
https://www.ewincher.com/en/electric...sailforce.html

[Matt Johnson]

Originally Posted by The Yacht Rigger

If you can't figure it out in terms of electrifying that one, I am very impressed with the new electric winch package from Ewincher - Sail Force. It's a complete kit, at very competitive pricing, that includes the winch, motor, battery pack (to not run all winch loads directly through house bank) and a control pad that shows winch loads and has load settings.
https://www.ewincher.com/en/electric...sailforce.html

At METS last year they showed this as a unit that electrifies all brands of winches with an adapter. I hope that plan is still coming and they're not limited to just those winches.

[The Yacht Rigger]

Originally Posted by Matt Johnson

At METS last year they showed this as a unit that electrifies all brands of winches with an adapter. I hope that plan is still coming and they're not limited to just those winches.

Not yet...
But hopefully soon. It's such a cool concept and execution, knowing winch loads and being able to program them in for specific tasks is such a game changer.