Mounting winches

heart of gold · Apr 25, 2014

When I mounted my Harken 46's the instructions were very specific in the mounting orientation. They wanted them mounted so that the drive gear is in line with the sheet entry point. Here is a link the manual for the 46's.
http://www.velasailingsupply.com/v/vspfiles/files/PDF/Winch_46.2ST_2007.pdf

woodster · Apr 25, 2014

Ted said:
I was having a conversation with one of my marina mates the other day regarding mounting winches. I know that some manufacturers want their winches orientated in a specific direction in relation to the load from the incoming line. Something about how that load relates to one of the internal gears or shafts. I just couldn't remember. We're not talking about the orientation of the stripper arm on a self tailing winch. Specifically the winches in question were Barient #24 self tailing winches but this information may be generic to most manufacturer's mounting instructions. Does anyone remember coming across these directions when mounting their winches?

that is a very good question Ted...i looked up Lewmar and they had it the same as Harken so to keep it simple looks to me like mounting the drive gear perpendicular with the center line of the boat going starboard will do it for most...

regards

woody

Ward H · Apr 25, 2014

I just mounted Andersen #12 STs. For their #12s and #28s, their manual has a diagram of a boat and shows circles for each the standard mounting locations with a shaded area for where they recommend the ST arm to be pointed. This may be because the ST arms are in fixed positions?
http://www.defender.com/pdf/ander12stmanual.pdf

Ron20324 · Apr 25, 2014

My Lewmars have the moveable ST arms so you can direct the outfeed in a favorable direction. Maybe yours can be changed? Like, you would not want the line directed off the boat.

Stu Jackson · Apr 25, 2014

The inherent issue is to get a good fairlead.

Benny17441 · Apr 25, 2014

You can get wood blocks with different pitch of inclination for mounting winches at any reputable marine chandlery. To avoid overwraps and better distribute the loads it is advisable the winch sits at 90 degrees from the plane of the incoming line. Always use three wraps to distribute the load along the drum; saves the bearings.

Winkfish · Apr 25, 2014

I prefer missionary myself. Oops - "I" not "e"!!

;-)

Sorry, after a few rums, couldn't resist.

rardiH36 · Apr 26, 2014

This link includes diagrams and instructions for most Barient winches:

http://www.cncphotoalbum.com/indexes/winches.htm

A gear orienting mistake that I made when installing my new winches seven years ago, and also the same one that a few others on this site through the years have admitted to also doing:

- I paid careful note to the orientation for my port winch with the drive gear side oriented where the sheet enters the drum which facing inboard. Then in a moment of mis-applied intuitive logic, I simply mirrored for the starboard winch and mounted that with the drive gear again to inboard. Wrong -- since winches are loaded clockwise (when looking down), the starboard winch drive gear should have been oriented outboard. I realized my mistake after drilling the mounting holes for the starboard winch. The mounting holes in the baseplate are not evenly spaced around the radius, so it was not a simple matter of just rotating the orientation. New holes needed drilling. I called Harken to find out how critical the issue. He said all would work fine ... for a while. But over time the winch would experience premature wear. I opted to do it right.