Hi all,
Interesting idea about using a power drill. Have you done it?

I suppose one could also try to find one of the old Barient racheting
handles. Or maybe take a very large rachet wrench and adapt it to the
winch socket. If that were possible, then one could make it as long
as needed to get the horsepower.

Sure I could crank while my wife steers, but then the autopilot almost
always steers anyway and the whole idea about making my wife
self-sufficient is so that I can get some solid sleep.

If money were no object, then self-powered winches (at the cost of a
small car) would be the solution. That may prove necessary, but I'd
like to see all the alternatives first. Thanks for the suggestions so
far. I'd like to hear more about the drill.

Richard Black

I use it to hoist a 500 sf main.

On 26 Sep 2004 13:45:40 -0700, (Richard Black)
wrote:

Hi all,
Interesting idea about using a power drill. Have you done it?

I suppose one could also try to find one of the old Barient racheting
handles. Or maybe take a very large rachet wrench and adapt it to the
winch socket. If that were possible, then one could make it as long
as needed to get the horsepower.

Sure I could crank while my wife steers, but then the autopilot almost
always steers anyway and the whole idea about making my wife
self-sufficient is so that I can get some solid sleep.

If money were no object, then self-powered winches (at the cost of a
small car) would be the solution. That may prove necessary, but I'd
like to see all the alternatives first. Thanks for the suggestions so
far. I'd like to hear more about the drill.

Richard Black

"Marc" wrote in message
...
I use it to hoist a 500 sf main.

On 26 Sep 2004 13:45:40 -0700, (Richard Black)
wrote:

Hi all,
Interesting idea about using a power drill. Have you done it?


Marc - do you have a lanyard or similar to take the torque reaction or do
you just hold the drill?

I have a 500+ square foot genoa on my catamaran - it's a pain to grind in
because the inner staysail means it takes forever to blow through and then
there is a lot of sheet to handle.

Having a good double handle winch handle helps a lot, but short tacking up a
channel is a real workout, with Andersen 46 self tailers.


--
Evan Gatehouse

you'll have to rewrite my email address to get to me
ceilydh AT 3web dot net
(fools the spammers)