Buyer’s Guide

You raise me up!

Winches and blocks are among the most important and durable components of most yachts. Sam Fortescue looks at the latest on offer

If you’re leafing pensively through the pages of a winch manufacturer’s catalogue, you’re likely to fall into one of two camps. Either you are looking to switch from manual to electric, for the sake of convenience, comfort and safety. Or your old winch is beginning to perform erratically, making it time for a change.

In either case, the simplest and cheapest solution is to replace like with like. By sticking to the same winch size and brand, the deck footprint remains the same and, unless your existing unit is very elderly, the all-important fixings are identical. Just be aware that some prices have increased by 20 per cent year-on-year.

On smaller cruising boats where you want to stick with a manual winch, you can often find a good deal by turning to the second-hand market. People sell their perfectly functional manual winches when they upgrade to electric. Ebay, Gumtree and online forums for your brand of boat are the best hunting grounds. Boat jumbles and specialist ‘breakers’ like boatjunkyard. co.uk are also worth exploring.

Going electric

First of all, check whether your existing winch model has a corresponding conversion kit available from the manufacturer. This can slash the costs of upgrading by 30-50 per cent in comparison to a completely new system. Lewmar offers conversion kits for all winches over size 40, while Harken has a kit for any post-1999 winch; Andersen also offers conversion packs.

Next, you or the boatyard should check that there is space available beneath the winch to house the electric motor and its gearbox. Most brands align the motor at right angles to the axis of the winch itself, meaning you need to find width rather than height. The exceptions are Andersen and Antal, which also offer vertically aligned motors. Selden’s innovative new E40i houses all the mechanics inside the winch drum, requiring no space at all below.

You will need some extra grunt in the battery department. Andersen recommends having more than 100Ah of spare battery capacity for its size 40 winch, and Harken takes a similar view. You’ll need cables from the battery able to supply 100A or more. And though most units have built in protection from overheating or excess current, always install a circuit breaker.

Winch controls are the other point to consider. Brands like Harken, Antal and Lewmar o er a limited range of switches – basically dual-function nger and foot toggles. Lewmar electric winches are single speed below a mammoth size 65, while Harken does a twospeed digital switch. Andersen and particularly Selden have developed much sleeker controls that sit well on the helm console.

Lewmar

e long-standing Ocean winch from Lewmar is a staple still on cruising boats, and is pretty much bombproof, with two speeds (from manual size 30) and a self-tailer. It is available in two nishes – aluminium or chrome.

Alternatively, the lighter Evo include the feedback obtained from years of selling the Ocean winch, and it looks a bit sharper too. Its aluminium feeder/stripper arm serving the self-tailing device can be adjusted to any angle to deliver rope smoothly into the cockpit. It is available in chrome, black or grey alloy, and you can also spec a carbon- bre inlay on the top for racier looks. A manual Evo 40ST costs around £1,292, while an Ocean 40ST is £1,368

New this season are a series of 48V winches using Lewmar’s established Evo and Ocean design. e higher voltage means a smaller motor unit below the deck, while the wiring and footprint remains unchanged. Higher voltage means lower current, requiring lighter cables and a smaller circuit breaker. Whether 12V, 24V or 48V, electric winch kits give you the choice of a simple thermal trip, which switches the winch o when the motor overheats, and a more complex load-sensing controller, which caps the power available to protect the motor. An electric kit for a size 40 starts at a little under £3,000.

lewmar.com Harken

Development work with the US America’s Cup team has rubbed o on Harken’s entire line of recognisable black-and-red winches. Even the cruiser’s Radial model is light, thanks to its aluminium drum, and the race-oriented Performa line is even more so. Heavier chrome and bronze nishes are also available.

Particular features of the Radial include slanting ribs along the drum for gripping the line under load and driving it down the drum when easing the lines. e bearings are composite, which Harken says makes for lower friction under load.

Dual speed winches start from size 35, which is also the cut-in for electric units. Harken’s motors connect directly to the central drive sha , which it claims to be much more e cient than competitors’ o set systems. A Radial 40 costs from £1002.84 with the cheaper black nish. e electric version is £3,036.46.

harken.co.uk

ABOVE (L-R)

Lewmar's Evo range

BELOW LEFT

Harken's dual speed winches

BELOW RIGHT

A look inside an Antal winch

Antal

A sharp range of one- and two-speed self-tailers for cruising and racing. ere’s quite a di erence between the two variants. Cruisers can choose between a black anodised or a chromed nish, while racers get the black nish, plus lighter roller bearings and a drum and gears further engineered for lightness. Both feature vertical knurls cut into the drum to o er grip and help the rope slide up and down. Keenly priced on the manual side, starting at £839 for a size 40ST.

On the electric side, most of the winches are two-speed with the choice between a vertically or horizontally aligned motor. Besides the standard switch box, Antal also o ers a smart load controller, called the WBC. is starts the winch in its fast gear, then steps

down to the more powerful slower speed as it nears its maximum current. For a size 40, pricing is around the £3,300 mark. is year, Antal also introduced a large new 76XT winch in cruiser and racer variants.

Brand: antal.it Distributor: marineware.com Andersen

Familiar in their mirror nish stainless steel, Andersen winches are high quality and slightly lighter than a Lewmar Ocean, thanks to aluminium bronze components. ere are large-diameter roller bearings to absorb drum loads and stainless-steel bearings on the bigger winches from size 52 upwards. e drum features Andersen’s so-called Power Ribs, which grip well without abrasion.

On the electric side, Andersen’s answer to the under-deck space problem is its Compact Motor option, which protrudes just 180mm below the base of the winch, staying within the footprint of the drum. It also comes in an above deck format, where the motor is housed in a skirt that raises the winch 85mm o the deck. Otherwise, it’s the E1 singlespeed electric winch that runs from size 28 up to a huge 72. e controller e ectively manages very fast line recovery at low load, and high power at a slower speed.

Other nishes are possible, including matt, bronze and black. An Andersen 40ST costs £1,334, while the same size E1 costs some £3,297.

Brand: andersenwinches.com Distributor: improducts.co.uk

Karver

Clever engineering in Karver’s manual Pontos range gives you four gears to optimise line handling. You shi up a gear every time you change the direction of turn of the winch handle. e winches break down into three types – a compact two-speed roughly equivalent to a size 45, a range geared for speed (KSW) and another one geared for power (KPW). e KSW and KPW winches come in three sizes roughly tting into the footprint of a size 40, 46 or 52 winch, but packing four speeds that triple the usual performance of a winch. In the case of the size 40, it has the power of a superyacht-size 110.

Pricing is high for a manual, starting at £2,419, but compares favourably against the electric winch to which it provides a real alternative.

karver-systems.com Selden

Aiming high, Selden is proving disruptive with its recent foray into electric winch-making. Its E40i is a technical marvel, housing the motor and gears inside the drum of the winch itself. e winch has a very slick pro le, and just the wires protrude underneath.

If there is a drawback, it is that some of the necessary components have to be sited elsewhere in the boat. You’ll need a CAN bus, control unit and power supply unit to transform 12/24V boat current up to the required 42V. is higher voltage is the secret to tting the motor and gears inside the drum.

If you have Selden furlers on board, you probably already have the network in place. And a recent upgrade means that now the winch can be synchronised with a Selden furling mast so that a single button controls the outhaul and the furler. It is available in black anodised aluminium priced at £4,298.40 (including the power pack), or in tougher but more costly stainless-steel.

Seldenmast.com

ABOVE LEFT

An Andersen winch in action

ABOVE RIGHT

How an electric unit is tted to an Andersen winch

BELOW LEFT

Karver's Pontos range of winches

BELOW RIGHT

Push button winching is de nitely becoming the norm on many boats

Blocks

Blocks are mature technology now, but there is a range of di erent designs specially adapted to di erent tasks on board. And of course, manufacturers are constantly redesigning with novel materials to reduce weight, cost or friction.

Choose a plain bearing block for static applications with high loads, like a halyard, vang, preventer or guy. e block’s pin is in direct contact with the inner surface of the sheave, which works ne as long as there is not frequent, rapid movement. For mid-weight loads that need constant adjustment, ball bearing blocks are a good compromise and, for high dynamic loads, roller bearing blocks are better at spreading the load and reducing friction.

Here are the latest innovations.

Harken Fly block

Manufacturing one of the broadest range of blocks and deck hardware on the market, Harken recently launched its new lightweight Fly blocks. ey are aimed at dinghies and sportsboats, and are designed speci cally for handling hi-tech lines, such as Dyneema. Available in 18mm (from £25.01) or 29mm variants (a 40mm is coming soon), they can handle 125kg and 350kg maximum working load respectively. “ e use of hi-tech line with the current braid and cover technology allows Harken to design blocks with smaller sheaves,” said project leader Matt Schmidt. “Harken Fly blocks o er the same strength and e ciency as larger blocks, but come in a much smaller, low-aero package.” tonne) up to a 14mm ring that weighs 265g and can handle nearly 4 tonnes. A Dyneema snap loop is the standard xing, but it can also be customised to suit. Costs start around £35.

Selden So block

Nothing wildly revolutionary about this – so blocks are now well proven on the performance side. Selden says it has found a clever way of xing on the Dyneema strop, and o ers two variants. e basic option is an acetal sheave with stainlesssteel ball bearings, or upgrade to an aluminium sheave on Torlon bearings for higher loads. Sheaves with 20mm, 30mm and 40mm diameters are available. From £14.40.

Selden Ratchet block R60

Selden has also been busy redesigning its existing range of ratchet blocks for dinghies and keelboats. is second generation features better grip and switch, to turn the ratchet on and o . Available with a composite or an aluminium sheave – the latter giving better grip, especially for ner hi-tech lines. From £71.98.

Barton SkyLock

Proudly wearing its badge as a manufacturer of reliable products at keen prices, Barton is always busy launching new products. It recently unveiled its SkyDock system, using marine hardware to li and hold canoes, boats and other roo op paraphernalia attached to the car. e key innovation here was the Skylock block, which gives a nearly frictionfree run of the line, but includes aluminium cams that grip the line if you let it go. Barton’s Christian Brewer demonstrated the system amply at the METS show with a case of breaky Champagne. Price is £70 and the safe working load is 80kg.

Antal Sectoring

With its grey and yellow livery, Antal’s high quality deck gear is easily recognisable. e Italian company pioneered the low friction ring nearly 15 years ago, and has now re ned the design with a rotating version suited to high loads and small movements. Ranges from an 8mm unit weighing 50g (SWL 1

ABOVE (L-R)

Barton, Harken and Antal blocks

BELOW

Two examples of Selden's range of blocks