Winch COnversion Kits

[kersse]

I have a 1980 23ft O'day with non tailing winches. I would like to convert them to self tailing. Does anyone know of a kit to convert them?

Thanks in advance.

 

[Joe11688]

I have a 1980 23ft O'day with non tailing winches. I would like to convert them to self tailing. Does anyone know of a kit to convert them?

Thanks in advance.

They sell these rubber thingies that fit over your winch that will make the winch self tailing and frankly, I wouldn't waste my money on them because God only knows how long they would last.
The best thing I've found for snubbing off the Gennie sheets are open clam cleats also known as jam cleats. I mounted mine about 14" in back of the winch on each of the combings and I swear by them. Two of my friends at the club also bought a couple of these cleats and they love them as much as I do. I got the idea out of a very popular boating magazine back in the mid 1980s called "Small Boat Journal".

I'm even happier today that I mounted these cleats now that I finally have a whisker pole. You see, I sail alone with my dog most of the time and I use an Autohelm autopilot to steer the boat.
A good friend of mine at the club gave me a Forespar Whisker pole that was on his Hunter 27 and this pole has only one snap on the end that fits on the mast pad eye. The other end has a prong that fits into the clew of the Gennie. I wish the pole had two snaps but beggars can't be choosers. The pole is adjustable but sometimes I don't allow enough slack in the sheet to connect the pole to the sail, and instead of having to walk back to the cockpit, I've actually used the pole to release the sheet from the cleat while standing on the bow. Now that I think of it though, what I'll do next year is just mark the sheet with a magic marker and I should have no problem. At the time though, it just seemed easier than walking back and forth from the bow.

Actually, you really don't need a winch handle to crank in those sheets. My winch handle has been sitting in my cabin for years just collection dust. Most sailors lose them overboard anyway.
Some guys like to use cam cleats in back of the winches but I'll take clam cleats over them any day.
Joe

 

[kpgraci]

I like the whisker pole.

As for the rubber self-tailing thingys, they are called winchers I believe, some swear by them others say don't waste your money. I think they work ok under light loads but they are not cheap if I recall.

I have horn cleats after the winch but I don't tie it off, I just wrap the line under itself, 'jam' as it were, for a quick release.

 

[HukilauMike]

There is at least one kit available to turn plain old winches into self-tailers:

http://www.winchmate.com/

I know nothing about them, but it looks cool. Of course, I think every Oday 23 I have ever seen had Lewmars, which means the winchmate isn't an option. As for the Winchers, I put on a pair 11 years ago, and they are still alive and kicking. They don't really make the winches self-tailing; you still have to pull the tail out of the way, but it now takes almost no effort as the load is handled by the friction created by the windings on the underside of the wincher. As Joe mentions, you don't really need the winch handle much anyway on the 23; for me, its only when the 135 genny is fully unrolled in winds over 12 knots or so. Because of this, the primary benefit of the Wincher in those conditions is the "cleat" built into the unit. Very convenient. How do they work overall? I like them. They aren't a substitute for a real self-tailing winch, but hey, they only cost about $50. And as I said, they have lasted here in Connecticut for 11 summers (uncovered). I wouldn't use them on a boat much bigger than mine (Oday 23) because I don't think they would be very reliable holding lines with bigger loads, but they have worked fine for me.

 

[Joe11688]

I like the whisker pole.

As for the rubber self-tailing thingys, they are called winchers I believe, some swear by them others say don't waste your money. I think they work ok under light loads but they are not cheap if I recall.

I have horn cleats after the winch but I don't tie it off, I just wrap the line under itself, 'jam' as it were, for a quick release.

One our club members had them on his O'Day 25 and I think they got old and delapidated. Those rubber spreader boots get the way after a while and they are pretty pricey too. I made my own spreader boots out of leather back in 2007 and they're just as good today as the day I made them.
You probably have the jam type horn cleats like the one I installed on my boat for my furler control line this past spring. Wayne has them on his Seaward 22 and he was using them for his sheets before he installed the open clam cleats like I have. He left these cleats on his combing and he uses them now to snub off his boom brake control line. He built a copy of the Dutchman boom brake a couple of years ago and was using that for a while until he found out that the same thing could be accomplished with a Black Diamond mountain climbing "Super Eight" belay device. I bought one for my boat that I hope to install next year.
I like that horn jam cleat that I mounted for my furler line. I didn't realize it at the time, but those cleats need to be mounted on an angle from the sheet coming off the winch, or they won't work. I had to mount my cleat straight with the combing because I didn't have enought room to mount it on the required angle. Luckily it will only work if I wrap the control line around the cleat clockwise.
I love my whisker pole. I should have sprung for one years ago but I just didn't want to lay out the money back then. I kept my eye out for one at the marine consignment shops but the ones I saw were always built for boats smaller than mine.
I'd like to pick up a snap type extrusion for my whisker pole and replace that prong. Then I could attach it to my Gennie sheet.

Last summer Penny and I were sailing back from Bristol RI and we were on a course down wind heading back toward Fall River Ma on Mount Hope Bay when it started to rain. I quickly dropped the main and covered it. After I poled out the Gennie, I tied my 8'x10' polytarp over the boom to the lifelines and also tied two more smaller polytarps over the cockpit and we were nice and dry about six miles all the way back to the club. We probably looked real funny out there but we were nice and dry. Man, do I love that whisker pole!

 

[kersse]

Open clam cleats

Thanks for the tip on the cleats. I was looking at them at West Marine today. Did you just screw them in or did you have to put on a nut?

Thanks

 

[Joe11688]

Thanks for the tip on the cleats. I was looking at them at West Marine today. Did you just screw them in or did you have to put on a nut?

Thanks

I used stainless steel Phillips head bolts, nuts and washers and a small 1/2" plywood backup board inside. For caulking, I would use Butyl Tape. Plastic hardware requires a specific type of caulking that isn't harmful to the plastic like silicon, but silicon really doesn't have the adhering qualities of other caulking which can be used on plastics. Check out this great link for info on bedding hardware which was written by Main Sail.
http://forums.macgregor.sailboatowners.com/showthread.php?t=117172

Sometimes it's hard to get at areas inside of the combing near the stern. I wanted to install a jam cleat near my Starboard stern rail for my CDI Roller Furler drum control line and was unable to get at it from inside the cabin. What I wound up doing was buying a 4" Beckson Deck Plate and cutting a hole for it in the fuel locker. I was able to install the jam cleat and also get at the mooring cleat further back on that combing by reaching into that hole in the fuel locker. I picked up the cleat and the deck plate at a marine consignment store in Newport RI for $2.00 and $5.00 respectively. I couldn't beat those prices.
There's a lot of things that you can do to these boats that really personalize them and make them easier and more fun to sail. I've probably done well over thirty modifications on my boat through the years and it's been non stop. Check out my photo album on this site.
Good luck!
Joe