Buyer’s Guide

She’s electric

Sam Fortescue tries to get a handle on upgrading from manual to electric winches

Gone are the days when sheeting in meant half a dozen burly men rushing to the quarter and heaving on a rope. Handybillies and deadeyes equally belong to the pages of history, or at least the rigging of historical craft. Now all you really need is a few decent winches on the coachroof and the coaming. And although this is quite mature technology these days, there have been a welter of small improvements over the years which make the job easier or safer or better connected.

If you never quite got far enough down your list of spring fettling jobs to reach winch maintenance, or you fancy a bit of electrical assistance, then you might be eyeing the new winch market with a degree of trepidation. As with all bits of large boat hardware, the simplest course of action is simply to buy a new version of whatever you had before. That way you can be sure that sheeting angles will match and the all-important holes for fixing the winch to the boat should line up perfectly.

But buying a new winch is also an opportunity to upgrade, upsize or switch to electric. Perhaps something with a bit more grunt would be welcome, or you want an electric back-up for getting halyards taught or recovering MOBs using the mainsheet or topping lift.

Going Electric

It requires a little thought and planning to switch from a manual to an electric system. Main brands Lewmar, Harken and Andersen offer a handy conversion kit which can be bolted on to an existing winch – a cheaper and easier approach than outright replacement. But first, you have to make sure there’s enough room under the winch to accommodate the gearbox and motor housing. Andersen and Selden offer space-saving alternatives if not.

Then you should consider whether you have enough battery power on board to run a winch. Harken estimates that a 12V winch could get through as much as 50 amp-hours a day and Andersen recommends having more than 100Ah of spare battery capacity for its size 40 winch. You’ll need cables from the battery

that can deal with current spikes of 100A or more. And though some units have built in protection from overheating or excess current, you should always install a circuit breaker.

Consider also how and from where you want to control the winches. Brands like Harken, Antal and Lewmar offer a limited range of switches – basically dual function finger and foot toggles. Lewmar electric winches are single speed below a mammoth size 65, which is bigger than most cruisers will need to go. Harken does a two-speed digital switch. If you’re looking for sleeker controls, fit for mounting on the pedestal, Andersen and particularly Selden are streets ahead.

Lewmar

Still probably the world’s most popular brand of winch, Lewmar supplies lots of production yards with its sturdy Ocean winch, and its newer Evo alternative. The Ocean is pretty much bombproof, with two speeds (from size 30) and a selftailer. Another plus is that it requires no tools to service, although beware of pawls and springs leaping clear as you lift the drum. The Ocean is available in two finishes – aluminium or chrome.

The Evo is said by Lewmar to include all the feedback obtained from years of selling the Ocean winch, and it looks a bit sharper too. Neat features include the aluminium feeder/stripper arm that serves the self-tailing device – it can be adjusted to any angle to deliver rope smoothly into the cockpit. You can also spec a carbon fibre inlay on the top for racier looks. It has an eye-watering seven-year warranty and is available in chrome, black or grey alloy. A manual Evo 40ST costs £1,398.66, while an Ocean 40ST is £1,478.50

All Lewmar winches of size 40 and above can be bought as part of an electric kit and existing winches can be electrified with the conversion kit, which works out cheaper than buying a whole new winch. By way of example, the upgrade kit costs some £2,141 while a fully electric Evo 40ST would set you back £3,120.

There’s also a choice between a simple thermal trip, which switches the winch off when the motor overheats, and a more complex load sensing controller, which caps the power available to protect the motor.

lewmar.com Harken

Instantly recognisable for its black anodised finish and red stripe around the base, Harken’s winches with their aluminium drum are the lightest on the market. It offers both a chrome and bronze finish which are heavier.

The basic choice is between the cruiser’s Radial winch, or the Performa, which comes in lighter race variants, including plain top (no self-tailing) and quattro (with a broader drum base for faster line handling). 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. The bearings are composite, which Harken says makes for lower friction under load. Dual speed units start from size 35.

That’s also the cut-in for electric units, and Harken winches post1999 can all be converted to electric drives. You still need to drill a hole in your deck to pass the drive shaft through – an 80mm hole in this case. But Harken makes much of the fact its motors connect directly to the central drive shaft. It says this is

ABOVE

Harken's Performa winch

BELOW LEFT

Lewmar's award winning One Touch winch handle allows you to lock in and remove the winch handle with one hand

BELOW RIGHT

Lewmar's EVO 40 ST winch

much more efficient than competitors who have to offset the motors. You’ll need to put a control box somewhere below deck as part of the Harken system, but at least it includes a built-in load controller to keep the motor from overheating.

Unlike Lewmar winches, you’ll need a screwdriver to get the winch open for servicing. A Radial 40 costs from £894 with the cheaper aluminium finish. The electric version is £2,721.

harken.co.uk

Antal

Italy’s Antal produces a wide range of one- and two-speed winches for cruising and racing, as part of its self-tailing XT line. Cruisers can choose between a black anodised or a chromed finish, while racers get the black finish, plus lighter roller bearings and a drum and gears engineered for lightness.

Grip comes from vertical knurls cut into the drum, which is said to favour vertical movement for the turns of rope. On the aluminium finish, these knurls are differentiated – deeper at the top where the tension is lower and shallower under load at the bottom.

On the electric side, most of the winches are two-speed with the choice between a vertically or horizontally aligned motor, according to the space you have available. Antal estimates that its winches deliver 490W or 700W at the winch drum, compared to a human arm at about 400W. Note that the deck cut-out required to accommodate the drive up to the winch is a rather scary 120mm.

Besides a control box housing the solenoids activated by the low-power switches, you’ll want to consider an additional load control box, called the WBC. This starts the winch in its fast gear, then steps down to the more powerful slower speed when the winch reaches its maximum safe working current. It cuts out altogether when it hits this limit in slow gear.

Brand: antal.it Distributor: marineware.com

Andersen

Known for its elegant stainless-steel winches with their mirror finish, Andersen winches use aluminium bronze components on the inside. This is said to combine longevity with light weight, such that the unit is the same weight as Lewmar’s full aluminium drum winch.

Build quality is high. From size 28 upwards, winches are geared to have two speeds. There are large-diameter roller bearings to absorb drum loads and stainless-steel bearings on the bigger winches from size 52 upwards. The drum features Andersen’s so-called Power Ribs, which don’t abrade lines like a rough surface, but are very effective at gripping and allowing the turns to move up and down the drum as required.

Andersen supplies conversion kits for existing winches and a neat Compact Motor product which tries to address the challenge of finding space for the gearbox assembly that bolts on under the winch. This comes in two formats – one with a small 195mm-diameter motor, gearbox and controller bolted on below the deck. There’s also an above-deck version, where the power unit sits beneath a pedestal under the winch skirt. It’s a bit clunky, but it could make the difference between being able to convert to electric and not.

Otherwise, it’s the E1 single-speed electric winch that runs from size 28 up to a huge 72 (if you want a two- or even three-speed Andersen, you’ll need to go large – very large). Andersen says the E1 works at single speed, because the gearbox permits very fast line recovery at low load, and high power when the load comes on. The controller, with its five fail-safe parameters, is built into the motor/gearbox housing. In the case of the E1, you get two-speed operation back under manual operation.

The motor directly drives the drum, according to Andersen’s Thomas Galster. “Effectively this allows the winch to operate electrically with a winch handle inserted – the inserted handle will not move/spin when the winch is operated electrically,” he says. “It also means you can put a handle in while the winch is powered with no issues.”

Other finishes are possible – a matt

ABOVE L-R AND BELOW

Andersen's unmistakeable stainless steel winches are an elegant option

stainless ZT nish and a coloured Physical Vapour Deposition coating, usually bronze or black. An Andersen 40ST costs £1,246, while the same size E1 costs some £3,110.

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

Karver

e innovative French deck gear manufacturer took a punt some years ago in buying the Pontos winch company – a Breton start-up. e idea behind Pontos was simple: to ease line handling for cruisers and racers by introducing extra gears even on a range of small-boat winches. Clever engineering meant that you shi ed up a gear every time you changed the direction of turn of the winch handle.

Karver promised to keep the smarts while redesigning the pro le of the winch to make it lighter and easier on the eye – something it has broadly achieved with

is a newcomer to the winch market. And it has made quite a debut with its electric E40i, whose particular technical feat is to house the motor and gears inside the drum of the winch itself. It is a three-speed winch, operated using two nger buttons – one for making the winch turn, the other for changing the speed. It is best suited to sailing boats from 35 to 45 LOA, where it can make singlehanding a comfortable possibility. e winch is designed to work as part of a network of Selden electrical gear including mast and headsail even on a range of small-boat furlers. Each part of the network has winches. Clever engineering its own control unit (included in the meant that you shi ed package) and is connected to every up a gear every time other part of the network using a you changed the CAN bus system which resembles direction of turn of the the NMEA protocol. A single power winch handle. supply unit transforms the voltage up

Karver promised to to 42V, which is the secret behind keep the smarts creating a motor small enough to t while redesigning inside the winch. It also keeps cable the pro le of the sizes down. winch to make it e winch is available in black lighter and easier anodised aluminium priced at £2,848, or in tougher but more costly something it has stainless steel. broadly achieved with seldenmast.com

its typical black-and-yellow styling. 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. e rst two mirror those of a normal winch – then the magic happens. Flicking on up through the gears gives you either three times the normal speed or three times the power. It is the latter that will interest cruising sailors the most. “It is so powerful, it becomes a real “It is so powerful, it becomes a real alternative to an electric alternative to an electric winch,” according to Karver. winch,” according to Karver. In the case of the size 40, it In the case of the size 40, it packs the power of a packs the power of a superyacht size 110. superyacht size 110. Pricing is reasonable for Pricing is reasonable for the winch’s capabilities, the winch’s capabilities, at €2,388 (c£2,010) for at €2,388 (c£2,010) for the size 40 equivalent the size 40 equivalent (KPW110). (KPW110).

karver-systems.com karver-systems.com

Selden Selden

Well-known for its Well-known for its masts and booms, Selden masts and booms, Selden

ABOVE LEFT

Push button winching from the binnacle has become commonplace in modern yachts

ABOVE RIGHT

Selden's E40i houses the electric motor inside the winch drum itself

BELOW

Karver o er a good selection of electric winches

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