I can't say this is a truly authoritative comparison but speaking to several
designers and production builders I have narrowed it down some.

Lewmar has a better worldwide support network and offers deeper discounts to
production builders which makes them much more attractive to the mass
market. (If anything about sailing can be called "mass market".)

Harken winches are slightly more efficient at the price of slightly more
complexity. Harkens also have a small weight advantage.

--
Glenn Ashmore

I'm building a 45' cutter in strip/composite. Watch my progress (or lack
there of) at: http://www.rutuonline.com
Shameless Commercial Division: http://www.spade-anchor-us.com

"pete" wrote in message
...
Well its time to buy the winches for my boat, so I think its either
Harken or Lewmar. I know Lewmar winches and they are pretty
bulletproof I think, but Harken have always seemed the favoured for
racing, and I am a fan of their blocks. Has anybody got opnions on
Harken winch durability?? As they are a pretty big investment, I would
like anybodies opinions.

Ta in advance,

Pete