WinchRite failure

[planoron]

The Mil. 18 volt cost about $60 more, but weighs 7 lbs versus almost 20 lbs... If your wife can handle a 20lb one, then she does not need an electric winch...LOL

I have the M28 and actually the bare tool is only a 1 lb difference and has more reach. However, buying today and with the new RED batteries, I would go with the M18

 

[viper]

Well I never bought a drill(the best option), never got another winchrite after the one I bought on EBAY failed. They had a 2 for 1 Lewmar electric winch sale at WM last fall. Got 2 46st elecs.... The motors are huge , moved my 40s back for a spinnaker I don't yet have, now have six winches. The motors penetrate the cabin and I had interior padded covers made for them.. $120, installing as run close to 3K. including moving the 40s. with a purchase price of $3500. So close to 7K in total.
,
An electric drill is the much cheaper option by far and would have gone that route if I did not need 2 more winches, and if not on sale. However I do love them... Furling and unfurling is down to 2 minutes. And they make short work of raising my RIB. Heck I (or my wife) could raise the anchor(s) with them! This is making life so much better.

The Winchrite is just not a good option at a price higher than $450..... But the worst option on the big boats, is not having an electric winch capability of any type.

Regards

 

[Lee Hadjiosif]

Viper, I would be interested to see how you made and mounted the padded covers for the winch motor.
Thanks.

 

[Mark Maulden]

John, I have to ask..Why cant the last 3ft. be cranked up with a winch handle? I have the same issue but just crank it up. Takes a little more time..

 

[Ken Cross]

Use a drill

Save your money. Buy one of this:

M18 Fuel 18-Volt Brushless Lithium-Ion Hammer Drill/Impact Driver XC Combo Kit

http://www.homedepot.com/p/Milwauke...Kit-2797-22/203639295?N=5yc1vZc298ZzvZ1z140i3

I don't think I'd put a hammer drill on my winches. Make sure hammering is selected off. The The hammering has no value except damaging the pawls.

 

[viper]

I had them made by a canvas person... Just a white vinyl that snaps over the motors, with some foam she fitted to the motors

 

[marty99]

Interesting reading here. I had a failure on my winchrite 5.1 which intermittent, banging it seemed to help for a while. After reading this forum I took it apart to see if there were any obvious loose wires )there weren’t). I then called a local electrician to take a look and we noticed that the upper motor brush had overheated and partially melted the black plastic screw on cap. By pushing down on the cap the winch would work. So he removed the brushes and cleaned off the carbon and melted plastic and we inserted some plastic discs into the screw cap which now had a hole in it (tiddlywinks would do fine, we used chess discs from a portable magnetic set. We the screws the cap back on put it all back together and it works fine. Question is, why did only one of the brushes overheat, the lower one is fine.....

 

[Davidasailor26]

Question is, why did only one of the brushes overheat, the lower one is fine....

Is the lower one just as close to a plastic part? If not it's possible that both brushes got to the same temperature but only the top one could affect the plastic.

 

[marty99]

They look symmetrical but the one that overheated was the lower one which is surprising given heat rises.

 

[Jake N Eggs]

Brushes tend to overheat when they are stuck in the brush holder. If the spring can not keep the tension between the brush and commutator heat will build up due to arcing. Usually 1 brush will stick first causing only 1 to overheat. If the brush is no longer making contact the motor will not start. Banging it probably caused the brush to make contact again and the motor would run.

 

[aabean1972]

If all else fails. Take the winch bit off the winch rite, and get an adapter from Harbor Freight and out into your cordless drill

 

[Windhead]

My winchrite stopped working after very little use. at first i thought it was the battery. it would click like a cordless screwgun does when the battery is low. i could not find anywhere to send it so i opened it up hoping to replace the batteries. i ckecked the batteries and they were good.
while running it while opened i noticed that the gears were worn to a flat spot on the shaft that turns the winch tool.
So my problem is that the winch shaft will turn as it should without a load.
while on a winch, as soon as any slack is taken up on a sheet the thing stops turning and the clicking i hear, is the gears grinding at the flat spot.
This unit was bought new and hardly used.
Do not waste your money on this product as in my opinion the materials used in manufacturing the critical mechanical components are questionable.
and not reliable.

 

[sailme88]

I have a Milwaukee 28v right angle drill. The battery is replaceable. I used it 60 times last season to hoist my main, and a few other times on other boats demonstrating how it works. Charged it before the season and again 3/4 of the way through. Shop the price, and pay attention if the battery and charger are included. I got the drill, battery, charger and case for just under $400.

 

[FastOlson]

It appears that the bulk of production sailboats are spec'd out with too-small housetop winches. Several years ago, after getting tired of using our 30ST winches for hoisting someone up to check on or service stuff at the top, I took advantage of the WM annual 2-for-1 sale on winches and changed them both out for the 40ST size. While winching me or a friend up there will never be super easy, it is a LOT less hassle with the stronger-geared winch!

 

[NotCook]

We had a similar problem a few years ago, sent it to WinchRite and they repaired it. We thought it was the battery, but I think they said it was a the motor (don’t recall now). They were very good about it. We love the WinchRite, though we don’t use it all that much. I’d much rather use this than a drill, even with the specialized chuck.