"Frogwatch" wrote in message
...
On Jan 16, 12:02 pm, Wayne.B wrote:
On Thu, 15 Jan 2009 20:17:41 -0800, "Capt. JG"
wrote:



They're better than nothing. If you have experience with self-tailers,
you
won't call them great. Another data point... they degrade in the sun
after a
few seasons.

Yes on both points. We installed them on our old 28 footer many
years ago and never found them to be very satisfactory. The main
problem is that they do not strip line off the top of the winch drum
the way a proper self tailer does. I'd never trust them to be a
substitute for a cleat for more than a few seconds.

somebody needs to put the line stripper IN THE WINCH HANDLE so that in
combination with the "Wincher" it is more like self tailing. However,
I speak from ignorance because I have never used a self tailing winch.

Self-tailing winches are the cat's pajamas. You can use both hands on the
winch if you need to, or you can winch with one hand and sip your favorite
bevvy with the other. On my 30 ketch, my winches are fairly small as my sail
areas are also fairly small, and while it would be nice to have self-tailing
jib winches, I'll not upgrade just to get that advantage. When my current
jib winches wear out, however, their replacements will be self-tailing.