I plan to address some neglected this this summer, including my pretty rusty winch. Harbor freight has some cheap ones, but I’m uncertain how well they would stand up to the weather and salt in the air. Any suggestions?

Dana

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Dana, Holly, Emma & Hannah

LJ/Stu's Dart 18 (Sold! :( )
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I bought the cheapest one I could find 3 years ago, it's painted not galvanized and it has very little rust so far.

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Bill Townsend
G-Cat 5.0
Sarasota
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Bill, I grabbed a Harbor Freight one last night. My trailer is aluminum and the winch is said to be steel. Do I need to put something between the two when mounting to avoid the corrosion that occurs with dissimilar metals?

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Dana, Holly, Emma & Hannah

LJ/Stu's Dart 18 (Sold! :( )
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I built a winch system that works very well. In the vid, I have a line tied to the hiking cabvles to stabilize the mast until sidestays are effective.
I think you right click on thee link then "Open in new tab". it should play.



Edited by raisehull on Jun 20, 2021 - 12:54 PM.

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1978 H18
1983 H18 (some of it)
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Dana, it will take years for that to become a problem. If you're still concerned, bedding it with silicon should do the trick. I trailer my boat backwards, the mast yoke is my "second person" that way I can step the mast by myself. Depending on your launch area it may be physically challenging to lift the sterns up high enough to get them started on the rollers when taking your boat out especially if you don't like to submerge your wheel bearings. To address this problem, I tied a block to the top of the trailer yoke so it pulls up a little and that really helps. What I do is crank it up to where the transoms are against the rollers and lift the line. You could just mount the winch higher but in some instances it might be difficult to reach up that high to crank it. The other advantage to backwards trailering is with a bridle on the rear beam, you have a really strong place to tie your winch line. Too many sailors tie to the dolphin striker when trailering frontwards which is very foolish in my opinion.

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Bill Townsend
G-Cat 5.0
Sarasota
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dartsailors

Bill, I grabbed a Harbor Freight one last night. My trailer is aluminum and the winch is said to be steel. Do I need to put something between the two when mounting to avoid the corrosion that occurs with dissimilar metals?

Sure, if you want to be really anal-retentive over it, but I don't think it's really worth the trouble, because doing it properly also means isolating the mounting hardware, right? You can put a (plastic, wood, etc.) insulator between them, but are you then going to run a steel bolt through, bringing that fastener into contact with the aluminum? If you use galvanized hardware, has the surface plating sufficiently passivated it to not react with either the steel or the aluminum? Someone smarter than me can answer that question. There are also coatings like Lanacote that help combat that reaction, so if you have a tub handy give it a schmeer before assembly.

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Southern Alberta and all over the damn place.
*
1981 SuperCat 20 "Roberts' Rockets"
1983 SuperCat 19
TriFoiler #23 "Unfair Advantage"
Mystere 17
Unicorn A-Class (probably made by Trowbridge) that I couldn't resist rescuing at auction.
H18 & Zygal (classic) Tornado - stolen and destroyed - very unpleasant story.
Invitation and Mistral and Sunflower and windsurfers w/ Harken hydrofoils and god knows what else...
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shortyfox

Dana, it will take years for that to become a problem. If you're still concerned, bedding it with silicon should do the trick.

Excellent idea, except for the "bedding it with silicon" part. The theory is good, but the problem is that while there are lots of great silicone RTVs out there, none of them are the domestic/household bathtub stuff. It's worse than worthless around boats - it sticks enough to make cleaning it off a giant PITA, but not well enough to actually seal anything. For many years I've used nothing but Sikaflex on boats, but have recently been introduced (by Tom Haberman) to 3M 5200, and it looks like pretty amazing stuff (if you're not in a hurry, because it has a loooooooooooong cure time). I do a lot of work on cars, and find the specialty RTVs like Permatex Ultra Grey and Ultra Black to be excellent in their specific applications, but would have to experiment with them in marine application before formulating an opinion.



Edited by jonathan162 on Jun 21, 2021 - 01:06 AM.

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Southern Alberta and all over the damn place.
*
1981 SuperCat 20 "Roberts' Rockets"
1983 SuperCat 19
TriFoiler #23 "Unfair Advantage"
Mystere 17
Unicorn A-Class (probably made by Trowbridge) that I couldn't resist rescuing at auction.
H18 & Zygal (classic) Tornado - stolen and destroyed - very unpleasant story.
Invitation and Mistral and Sunflower and windsurfers w/ Harken hydrofoils and god knows what else...
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winches and jack will rust until they crumble
it takes a few years but it is expected (in this part of the world)
they will all rust - esp the bolt

use lanicote or tefgel on the bolts and you can even add it to the mast yoke where there will be contact
it will help alot

if you really want to be proactive go to ACE and buy some SS bolts and nuts - that will prevent a large amount of the problem

MN3

winches and jack will rust until they crumble
it takes a few years but it is expected (in this part of the world)
they will all rust - esp the bolt

use lanicote or tefgel on the bolts and you can even add it to the mast yoke where there will be contact
it will help a lot
if you really want to be proactive go to ACE and buy some SS bolts and nuts - that will prevent a large amount of the problem

+1
Those winches, on sale are what, $15? That’s what I paid for the one we use in the N5.0
Throw it in the recycle scrap metal bin after 2 years & buy another.
SS bolts are great, I’ve got a 5 gal bucket full of various sizes, but if you have to buy 3/8” x 3”, they get expensive. Buy galvanized, grease them, then throw them away every couple years, when you replace the winch.



Edited by Edchris177 on Jun 21, 2021 - 09:46 AM.

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Hobie 18 Magnum
Dart 15
Mystere 6.0XL Sold Was a handful solo
Nacra 5.7
Nacra 5.0
Bombardier Invitation (Now officially DEAD)
Various other Dock cluttering WaterCrap
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raisehull

I built a winch system that works very well. In the vid, I have a line tied to the hiking cabvles to stabilize the mast until sidestays are effective.
I think you right click on thee link then "Open in new tab". it should play.Edited by raisehull on Jun 20, 2021 - 12:54 PM.

Looks pretty sweet! I'm working on doing something similar. Do you think a relatively cheap ATV winch with remote control would do the trick or is it something that I should sink a little money into?

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~1985 Prindle 18~
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raisehull

I built a winch system that works very well. In the vid, I have a line tied to the hiking cabvles to stabilize the mast until sidestays are effective.
I think you right click on thee link then "Open in new tab". it should play.Edited by raisehull on Jun 20, 2021 - 12:54 PM.

That's great, need something like that to help get the mast of the 5.8 up.

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1335 XTSea Nacra 5.8 NA
605 Nacra 4.5
Cleveland Yacht Club
Brisbane, AU
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Wow - I've got to say that that video shows a pretty stable mast-raise. I've got to tie down my trap wires to keep the dang mast from swinging around, and I didn't THINK my A-frame arrangement was that different. Or, perhaps I just fight wind more often (???).

One thing I am a fan of are automatic brakes, but they make playing out the line a little more fussy. I did just run across this one, that's "Marine Grade", with auto-braking, but $126: https://www.northerntool.…duct_200788839_200788839

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Chuck C
NACRA 500 Mk2
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I did all of the metal fab myself (design, metal purchase, cutting, welding, Etc.) from the ground up. I think, with the winch and the materials i have around $300.00US into it. I got an "Receiver extender" to mount the winch to. It allows me to pull any trailer with the winch installed. Rather than mounting it to the boat trailer as the winch is then dedicated to that specific duty. Stepping the mast or dropping it is Very stable. The line I am hanging onto is looped thru the rings for my righting line, then tied to the hiking cables. I can control the mast from swinging with one hand, run the winch with the other.

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1978 H18
1983 H18 (some of it)
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Now I'm embarrassed at how much I over-thought my set-up...nice.

A version of this set-up would allow someone to have a forward tramp, trailer mounted gin-pole, etc. Thanks for sharing the invention -

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Chuck C
NACRA 500 Mk2
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Quote

The line I am hanging onto is looped thru the rings for my righting line, then tied to the hiking cables. I can control the mast from swinging with one hand, run the winch with the other.

if you secure your trap wires near your front beam you could have 2 hands on your control box and you can drop that if needed.


You look like if your mast was hit with a gust and went sideways you would have to drop the controls to manage the line (unless you prefer 1 armed). then you could be stuck with the mast 1/3 up and no way to grab your control box again

my E-Z step had a strap that went under each outer beam. there was a little slack until the mast was up a few feet but they worked well.



Edited by MN3 on Jul 02, 2021 - 01:13 PM.

To me it looks like he has one line that he is holding onto, and all he needs is to keep tension on it. Is that right raisehull?

For the 16 I don't think we need a gin pole or a winch but for the SC17 it may be worth doing - we will see.

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Bryan in Poplar Grove, IL
Supercat 17, unknown year. Future project
Hobie 16, 1977 - died a spectacular death https://youtu.be/Y7O22bp2MVA
Hobie 16, 1978 - current boat
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Quote

To me it looks like he has one line that he is holding onto, and all he needs is to keep tension on it. Is that right raisehull?

i agree - but that is when everthing goes as planned.

stays can snag, side tangs can fail, stays can fail, crazy unexpected wind at the end of a day sailing .... all sorts of amazing ways to have extra excitement.

I have dialed in a few jin poles, including on a 45' mast .. things can go wrong - within just a few clicks of a winch (or seconds on an electric, or minutes on a harbor freight winch :)

the guy i purchased my 5.5. put his mast through his front window while dialing in his jin pole on his SC17. replaced it before the wife found out. :)

For me, the gin pole makes setting my mast as fast as the 16's I see done by hand, but I think mine's more stable/predictable/easier. But that's my 2c, and after inflation is worthless...

Mine is stabilized like the EZ-step from start to finish. What I HAVE noticed is that I have replaced two 5/16, forged bow shackles that have warped, which is dang scary when you consider what they're rated for. Only thing I could think is that the gin pole may not be tall enough at first, so I'm going to start using an 8 foot ladder to improve that first angle. The initial loads on the forestay are pretty high until you improve the angle when the mast raises past about 10-12 feet in the air. At least on mine. I'm assuming that's how the shackle warped and not from tensioning shrouds...

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Chuck C
NACRA 500 Mk2
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Here's a picture of the last one - comparison with a new shackle:
- Bent two of them that way; Harkens, both.





Edited by charlescarlis on Jul 02, 2021 - 04:41 PM.

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Chuck C
NACRA 500 Mk2
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The single line I am holding is purpose cut for that job, and i can hold it well. the shrouds require "The 7 P Rule",,, "Proper Prior Planning Prevents Piss-Poor Performance."

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1978 H18
1983 H18 (some of it)
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