No more fatigue on the cruise! How to “electrify” your boat’s rigging

THE PERFECT GIFT!

Give or treat yourself to a subscription to the print + digital Journal of Sailing and for only 69 euros a year you get the magazine at home plus read it on your PC, smartphone and tablet. With a sea of advantages.


There is a lot of talk about easy sailing, but have you ever tried to caulk the sheet of a genoa on a cruising boat in 20 knots?
Or hoisting the mainsail without anyone’s help when sailing with a small or inexperienced crew? Believe us, you’ll get a fair amount of “work.” If you are young and able-bodied there is no problem, but when the years begin to take their toll, or if you are sailing with an inexperienced and familiar crew, you would gladly do without all these labors.

ADVANTAGES AND DISADVANTAGES OF ELECTRIC HANDLES
There are two solutions for you: the first is electric handles, if you do not want to sacrifice space below deck to accommodate an electric winch motor, which is the second solution.

Bruno Rabu, pictured, is the French sailing enthusiast entrepreneur who developed Ewincher, the most high-tech (and expensive) electric crank on the market. To avoid any risk of damage to the boat or injury to the crew, Ewincher can be configured with an application via Bluetooth that allows it to define the maximum torque to be exerted.

They are a good compromise for “automating” your manual winches; their advantage is that one handle can work on more than one winch with the appropriate adapters, and they don’t usually draw power directly from the on-board battery.You can easily manage the sheets and halyards of mainsail, genoa and gennaker, use them to tension topsails and mooring lines, hoist the dinghy on board, and more. On the other hand, they are rather bulky and awkward to move on board (we are about three kilograms in weight) and involve having to move from winch to winch to use them, whereas with an electric winch you only need to press a button, placed where you prefer (usually near the winch or in newer boats at the wheelhouse), to handle each maneuver. It is surely in this convenience that the growing success of motorized winches, “aided” by much more efficient on-board batteries than in the past, must be sought.

PLANET ELECTRIC WINCH
In a separate box we tell you in detail about three models of electric handles on the market. To explore the world of electric winches instead, we chose Emanuele Cecchini, sales director of Harken Italy, as our “cicerone.” And, most importantly, an experienced offshore sailor who has participated (or as he puts it, “had the privilege of participating”) in the creation and optimization of many winning boats.

But first let us remind you how to choose the size of winches: electric or manual nothing changes, always choose the size according to the highest loads. For example, if you will be using the same winch for genoa sheet and mainsail halyard, rely on the genoa sheet loads (we refer you to the table on sizing by sail area) and also consider that the load is constrained by the displacement of the boat.

There is of course also the possibility of making a manual winch, a few years old, electric by adding only the motor kit and a few mechanical components, but you will have to consult the manufacturers to find out which winch models are actually still “electrifiable.” This is predicted, for example, by Lewmar. “As far as Harken is concerned,” Cecchini began, “we are able to take action on winches produced since 2000/2001.” Market prices, on average for an electric model, speak of figures that can vary between 2.5 and 3.5 times more than the manual version.

On board this Solaris 58 are two electric winches in front of the wheelhouse: the inner one handles halyards and rigging, the outer one the jib sheet.

WHERE TO PLACE THEM
Let’s get to positioning: “Let’s take a 40-foot cruising boat of the latest or penultimate generation as an example. The best possible configuration involves the two primary electrified winches and at least one in the deckhouse.” There is certainly the possibility of relying on a single electric winch to which to defer the maneuvers, perhaps by running them through a sheath mounted near the gunwale, but Cecchini advises against it “primarily because we have to think of the electric winch as a solution to simplify the cruiser’s navigation. Crossings and referrals are extra ‘thoughts’.

Then, as far as the primaries are concerned, it should be mentioned that the winches normally work positioned relative to the genoa sheet, and it would not be efficient to cross rigging from other positions: for example, halyards and lines, which would not work at optimal angles. This changes in the deckhouse, where you will only need one electric winch because working on the same plane as the other, manual one, the sheet crossings may be more efficient. Since sail plans in recent years have seen an increase in mainsails in the face of ever-smaller jibs, I recommend installing it on the mainsail halyard side: returning the jib halyard after making a neck on the manual winch will be a breeze.” Instead, it will be convenient to mount the electric winch on the genoa halyard side if your boat is a few years old and relies on sail clearance with a high-overlap jib and a more restrained mainsail.

ASSESS THE OVERALL DIMENSIONS
The other parameter to be evaluated is the footprint of the winch’s electric motor: as far as primaries are concerned, there will be no problem; almost all manufacturers provide models with horizontal or vertical configurations, which allow installation in different positions, even at an angle. In the deckhouse, mounting may go to sacrifice some space below deck: to overcome this problem, there are winch models with the motor partially recessed in the drum, such as Harken’s Unipower (single gear, with a protrusion under the base of 10.5 cm) or such as Andersen’s Compact Motor, which even includes a version where the motor is entirely housed in the raised base of the winch and thus does not “dig in” below deck (but needs more careful maintenance because the motor is certainly more exposed).

GEARS AND DIRECTION OF ROTATION
Most of the electric winches on the market are single-speed, but there are exceptions: for example, Cecchini explains, “Harken winches, even if electrified, do not intervene in the mechanics of the winch: if it is two-speed, it will be so in both manual and electric versions.”

Italy’s Antal also provides this solution with its XT series models. Being able to choose the speed at which to operate the winch is a nice advantage: in light air you can quickly caulk the genoa by pressing button 1 and then make fine adjustments by pressing button 2. Different is the solution proposed by Andersen, with variable speed (increases or decreases depending on the force with which the button is pressed).

ELECTRIC AND REVERSIBLE
Most electric winches are one-way, that is, they work only by capping the lines, but even then there is an exception. Popular with cruisers who like to sail with a smaller crew, because it allows constant sail adjustment without touching the winch, is Harken’s Rewind, which works both ways: in normal mode you can use it in two speeds; moving the toggle to the Rewind function will cock and let go of the sails.

“Installation in the deckhouse is not recommended,” Cecchini recommends, “because the winch is yes driven by a single motor, but it is also equipped with a safety device that needs an additional 53 mm horizontally.” It operates on 12 or 24 V and has special self-tailing with molded jaws that holds the sheet from behind to allow it to slide freely in front when the winch changes direction.

BE CAREFUL WHEN MOORING
We have already mentioned how with a good electric windlass you will be able to handle any maneuver, from hoisting the mainsail to adjusting the sails: some people use it to hoist the tender on board while cruising, as an aid to hoisting the anchor, climbing up the masthead (remember in this case to always prepare a second safety halyard carried on a second windlass) and tensioning the mooring lines. “After using it to secure the boat to the mooring, never leave the lines in tension on the winch but transfer them to the bollards.

The direction of sheet entry, in a primary winch, is from bow to stern, with the first turn tangent to the pinion: if you use it to tension the stern mooring lines, the direction of entry will be opposite and the winch parameters will not be met. Not to mention the fact that by leaving the line on the winch, the drum and self-tailing will be subject to significant tearing, a type of strain that could exceed the range of use for which the winch was designed.”

STANDS UPRIGHT IN HIS HAND, WHEN HE HOISTS
According to Cecchini, the issue of power consumption of motorized winches, precisely because of the exponential increase in the efficiency of on-board batteries, is no longer “hot” and today “we will hardly have to turn on the engine while sailing to recharge the batteries if we use electric winches. Personally, I have participated in triangle races using electric winches and there have never been any situations of power dips.” In short, a great convenience: and if you want to switch between electric or manual mode you only need to either press a button or insert the traditional crank into the drum. There is one final recommendation: “The only risk you face when using an electric winch is that you have no real sense of the force you are applying to the line you are tensioning. Especially when taking reefing hands and hoisting the sails you have to be especially careful to avoid rips and breaks: don’t make too many turns on the winch and always hold the halyard or line in your hand, so that you can ‘feel the load’ on your fingers, as our masters have always taught us.”

Eugene Ruocco

ELECTRIC WINCHES, WHO TO TURN TO

HARKEN
Harken has so many solutions when it comes to electric winches. They are available in 1-, 2- or 3-speed versions, with standard or oversized drum, vertical and horizontal motors, and in 12 or 24 V versions. In addition to the Radial and Performa range, there is the Rewind version (pictured), which works in both directions allowing you to let go; the single-speed Unipower model has the motor partially recessed in the drum to save space below deck. www.harken.it

ANDERSEN
Andersen also has “on the farm” several models of electric winches, starting with the E1s, which are available in 12 and 24 V (there is also a manual/electric conversion kit for those who already have an Andersen winch), single-speed with variable speed (depends on the pressure applied to the button). Then there is the Compact Motor range, with the motor recessed in the drum: in the “above deck” version (pictured) the motor is entirely housed in the raised base of the winch. www.specialrig.com

ANTAL
Italy’s Antal offers a complete line of motorized winches, with two or three speeds, available with chrome, black aluminum or natural bronze bell. The XT range (pictured here is the 40 model) includes the motorization that runs horizontally (with worm gear reducer) or vertically (with high-efficiency hypocycloidal type reducer, for larger models). Simply engaging the crank disengages the gearbox-motor assembly and the winch becomes manual. www.antal.it

LEWMAR
Both Lewmar’s Ocean, EVO or Astor (ultralight aluminum) range of winches are available in electric versions or can be motorized. In this case, in addition to the horizontal motor (which runs on 12 or 24 V), you will need the connection kit (the “base” to be placed under the winch that allows the connection between the electric motor and the primary gear of the winch itself), the management electronics and, of course, the pushbuttons. www.osculati.com

HERE WE TOLD YOU ABOUT ELECTRIC HANDLES

Share:

Facebook
Twitter
WhatsApp

Leave a Comment

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Sign up for our Newsletter

We give you a gift

Sailing, its stories, all boats, accessories. Sign up now for our free newsletter and receive the best news selected by the Sailing Newspaper editorial staff each week. Plus we give you one month of GdV digitally on PC, Tablet, Smartphone. Enter your email below, agree to the Privacy Policy and click the “sign me up” button. You will receive a code to activate your month of GdV for free!

Once you click on the button below check your mailbox

Privacy*


Highlights

You may also be interested in.

Scroll to Top

Register

Chiudi

Registrati




Accedi

Sign in