Self-tailing Winches

[CaptainStarbuck]

I have a Sabre 28 MKII with old Enkes winches. I would like to upgrade to self-tailing as I will be doing a lot of solo sailing. For anyone that has self-tailing on your Sabre, what brand and size do you have?

Thank you!

 

[Don S/V ILLusion]

Replaced old 16s on a 27 ft boat we had with ST40s and it made a huge difference.

 

[Tally Ho]

I upsized The winches on my O’Day 322 by moving the old primaries (Barlow 23’s I think) to my cabin top (replacing a mismatched set of single speed Lewmar and ?? 17’s). The Barlow 23’s are 2-speed and much beefier. Then I found a pair of really old and crusty Barlow 27’s off a derelict old boat and I made those my primaries.

The upsized winches are great.

Sorry I can’t answer your specific question.

Greg

 

[Joe]

My suggestion is to keep your eye on West Marine's yearly BOGO sale of Lewmar winches. That's half price! You will not find a better opportunity anywhere. On my 27 footer, Lewmar #15 or #16 for the cabin top halyard winches, and Lewmar #30 or #40 for the headsail winches (Primary) are the best choice. Be aware of the actual gearing ratio. That info will appear in the specs section. Also "sizing" equivalency between brands is confusing to me... so these recommendations are Lewmar sizes.

Note... you might find the transition to self tailing winches surprising in that they will seem slow and cumbersome. I did anyway. That's because you will tend to load them up with full wraps on the drum to use the ST feature. So when tacking back and forth this will seem slow in comparison to non ST winches. Also using the winch jaws as a cleat was much slower than the strategically located cam cleat.... so don't remove your cleats right away. Just saying... the ST winches are cool, for sure, I love 'em.. but don't expect your single handing world to drastically change like it does when you acquire a reliable auto pilot. (the most important single handing tool you can have). Good Luck.

 

[Stu Jackson]

the ST winches are cool, for sure, I love 'em.. but don't expect your single handing world to drastically change like it does when you acquire a reliable auto pilot. (the most important single handing tool you can have).

I think that this ^^^ absolutely nails the solo sailing issue.
I have been solo sailing on my own boats since 1983. I bought Winchers for my C25 jib sheet winches and found them excellent when used properly. Some folks hate them, but after reading endless posts for decades about them have concluded that those who disliked them didn't RTFM!
But the best bang for the buck for solo is an autopilot. Before I had the $$ for one, I rigged up John Letcher's sheet to tiller system on my C25 and got so good at it that I could tack up The Cityfront on SF Bay with it.
Joe's right about how to use self-tailers, too.

 

[Kings Gambit]

Single-handing needs vary with the size of the boat and trip distances planned. For boats approaching 38 ft LOA, one really needs the AP and ST winches for single handing if you are going to be tacking much, IMO. Could use a few more aids as well. The AP can tack the boat while you trim with the help of the ST winch, etc. Large sails take time to trim in moderate wind. If they fill with air too quickly you’ll need the ST winch to get them in. At 30 ft and below there is a mix. On my 30 ft Pearson I had neither, but I did put on those winchers that Stu mentioned which worked fine. Much of it has to do with how far from the helm seat the sheet winches are positioned. That is, can you helm the boat and trim the sail simultaneously? I suspect you can. If you have an AP you can handle tacking and winching on your size boat w/o ST winches. You’ll find more overall benefit from an AP for single handing than from ST winches on a 28 footer, IMO, if there is a choice to be made.

 

[Tally Ho]

I have never used a non-self tailing winch, but I would also not want to. I find my ST to be quick to use (I can away with 1 or 2 wraps most of the time) and I can use 2 hands to crank if necessary. And since al, 4 of my winches are now 2-speed, I can crank fast and powerful or slower and high-speed (if that makes sense).

Greg

 

[CaptainStarbuck]

Thank you all for the replies and info! I have a Raymarine S3G Smart Pilot that came with the boat, and a backup. I have sailed other boats with ST and non-ST winches and with the solo day-sailing I've done (tack-heavy) the ST winches make a huge difference, more-so than the AP, but I have yet to do any longer solo passages.

 

[sailme88]

West Marine runs a winch BOGO in the late winter early spring. Once you settle on a size you might want to start your research at WM