On Sep 20, 8:57*pm, " wrote:
On Sep 20, 11:11*am, wrote:
...

Anybody here owned/used Andersen self-tailing winches? They are
supposed to be far superior,...

They are very nice winches. *When I was in Opua, NZ in '01 there was a
guy manufacturing plastic spacer rings in his garage to replace the
ones on the top of some smallerAndersen winches. *I don't know if
they still make any winches with the plastic ring but if you get some
you should probably make sure you keep them covered when not in use.
I have Lewmar winches and they have two paws ratchets even in fairly
large sizes. *Andersen and Harkens of the same size have four paws
which make them less likely to all stick and a touch smoother. *Clean
and well lubed they are all going to work about the same. *If you buy
any of the the majors now they should last decades. *The Andersens
will probably outlast your grand-kids but the drums on your Harken or
Lewmars will might wear smooth before those kids retire. *Despite
being a Harken fan I went with the Lewmars based on price. *They work,
but need more care.

-- Tom.


if you go to this webpage http://www.winches.dk and look under one of
the winches then there is two links to articels about winch choosing
at the bottom.


..