Thanks for your good wishes and the invite. I will take you up on it
soon. As for elec. winches, I have Barient 28's and they do just fine.
I can't manhaul the sails anymore, but the winches are adequate to the
task. Having said that, a low cost and effective alternate is a
Milwaukee 3109-24 RT. Angle 18 Volt Drill with 600 inch/lbs of torque
or its 28 volt cousin with 1000 inch/lbs. Stick a winch bit in one of
those and your good to go.


On 30 May 2006 04:25:35 -0700, "Capt. Rob" wrote:

Marc,

Sorry to hear about the back troubles, but I'm happy to hear that
you're able to sail again. The Freedom is certainly the right boat for
someone with back issues. I hope the recovery continues until you're
100%....or at least 95%.
It seems everyone has a back injury story. Mine came about when I
removed someone 300 lbs + from a club I was working years back. He was
dead drunk and I slipped his charge, but mistimed it and got caught.
The funny thing is I didn't really know I was badly hurt until days
later. I walked around for a couple of days then WHAM!!! Agony! I was
in bed for a week....but that led to a very sweet 24 year old waitress
taking care of me and other good things. Sometimes the worst pain leads
to a great insight.
Perhaps an electric winch is in your future? A fellow at my club
installed two because his shoulder is bad. Expensive, but he's sailing.
Wanna come for a sail soon? Suzanne and Thomas will do the sailing!


RB
35s5
NY