Agreed. True carbon fiber is amazing, though. A fellow sailor showed me his carbon fiber spinnaker pole (that sounds obscene, I know), and it was amazingly light. If my whisker pole wasn't already light enough I would be tempted to make one from from carbon fiber.
I am not sure of all the reasons, but I was taught to never leave the winch handles in the winches. Also, as you point out, it's tough to wrap a line on when there's a handle in it.
I started a thread on this very subject, and aside from the fact that it impedes wrapping the winch (and unwrapping, for that matter), there are some who say that if the winch mechanism fails (i.e. pawl failure), the winch and handle will spin rapidly with potential for damage to crew or boat. Some respondents are not convinced this is not a likely hazard, saying that they have never seen or heard of it happening. I suppose that if winch components are badly worn or damaged that this could occur. Seasonal maintenance of winches - with proper replacement of any deficient parts - should prevent this from happening.
Thanks. Yes, I was aware of, but didn't want to get into the discussion of failed winch horror stories!
A good point (broken gear). My winches are simple single-speed. I imagine the more parts (such as in a two-speed winch), the greater the possibility of failure.Thanks. Yes, I was aware of, but didn't want to get into the discussion of failed winch horror stories!
I had a winch fail, a broken gear. Fortunately it wasn't under a great load. I can imagine if it was a primary with a jib sheet on it, it could have been bad.
Interesting idea. My vinyl holder has slots in the sides near the back and is strapped to the pedestal with SS hose clamps rather than screws. It actually has no screw holes. If I can’t find the same thing when it’s time to replace it (It’s at least 25 years old.), I may use your idea, or some variation of it.
I'm my own worst enemy when it comes to "laying stuff down". I've lost at least one winch handle by laying it on a coach roof "just for a second", and Neptune quickly took that off my hands. I ended up buying two of the foldable winch handles (at a great discount from someone selling off their cruising gear), and those stay on the jib winches while away from the dock, folded out of the way until needed. They take some getting used to, but I've grown to like them.
Perhaps some of that "industrial strength" Velcro they sell on Amazon would hold them in place?
The YKK SNADs could be a good solution here as well. They are what is supplied with the vinyl nets I love so much. They do fail after time (some last a season, others last years). I keep a supply of spares on hand (available from Sailrite).
That stuff is great! That's what they supply to affix toll transponders to windshields on the East Coast here, as for EZ Pass.
Dual Lock is sort of a snap-into-place product. Very strong and stable, good for mounting things that will not move often, such as access panels, fiberglass window covers, semi-flex solar panels, EZ Pass transpojnders to glass, or even sheet and winch handle pockets. But I have used Velcro on winch handles, and this is the wrong product for this job. Regular HD Velcro is what you want. That is what the racers all use.
I was recommending Dual Lock, in lieu of drilling screw holes, to securely mount vinyl winch handle pockets. If you are talking about using Velcro directly on winch handles like some racers do, then yes, I agree that regular Velcro is the way to go.