Replacement 2 speed winches

[Lou Potente]

looking to replace original headsail sheet winches on my 83 Hunter 27'. Have opportunity to purchase used Barient #212 speed winches in good condition. How would they match up?. Originals are Lewmar #7My boat is on a cradle in upstate NY and I'm on the Carolina Coast for the winter season.

 

[Bucky Sherman]

Is change necessary?

I have the same model boat as you and find the original winches are fine. The problem you might run into is finding repair parts for barient.West marine advertises pawl kits, but it probably is just a matter of time before their supply is exausted.To my knowledge barients are no longer in production. The lewmar #7 winch is a very simple thing to maintain. Grease and oil it once a year and it should be good. The pawls and springs are the only parts that wear and they can be replaced for $22 a winch. I just serviced mine with a little oil and grease. Two speed winches are overkill for a boat of this size. The only thing we lack is tailing devices, and unless you are doing some serious racing you dont really need self tailing either. Just an opinion from another 27 owner. Some others may disagree. Thats the wonderful thing about this web site. The availability of information from people who own the boats and have the experience. Not just another piece of worthless advise from a dealer or retail outfit trying to make a buck. Hope you find time to use the boat this spring!  Bucky Sherman S/V Escape

 

[Alan Nye]

New Boat?

Lou, rather than replace the winches, Phylis would probably rather sell you the new 29 footer she has on the show room floor in Willsboro. Just teasing have a great day.

 

[Ed Tamara]

2 speed winches

I replaced mine with the 2 speed and usually it is an overkill, but they come in handy for my wife and when I do a little racing, I added the wincher the rubber things that convert them into selftailing and they work great, then I moved the 2 winches and replaced the mainsail winch and put the other one on the other side I have 2 jib halyards and 2 main halyards one on each side, again overkill but I dont sweat very muchGood luckEd TamaraS/V Mastconfusion

 

[Tony]

Winches

Lou, I recently went through the same process about winches on the 27. I went for the rubber winchers. For this size boat, they work pretty good. A lot better then I thought they would. Tony