Equipment & Gear used on our CR Yachts 400DS sailboat
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Lewmar sailboat winches
What are they? What do they do?

Sailboat winches allow you to increase your strength when pulling or “winching” on the lines (ropes) of the sailboat. There are many factors that affect the strength of a winch including the length of the handle (the longer the handle the more leverage), the gear reduction (to allow you to winch in lines at superhuman strength and ratchets to stop the winch from unwinding all your hard work.

Most winches are used with the “sheet lines” or “sheets”. Sheets are the lines (or ropes) attached to the ends of sails. It is these lines that we normally need to exert the most force on when winching them in. On large cruising and racing boats, the loads on these lines can range from 500 to 5,000 pounds – far more than you can pull or weigh down. You could use a tackle (as in a “block and tackle”) but winches are much safer and far more convenient.

Winches are designed with reduction gears and multiple rotation speeds to make the job much easier. When combined with a long winch handle, these winches make lighter work of tensioning sheets.

This combination of the features of sailboat winches can be dramatic. For example a winch with a 12” handle, a drum with a 6” diameter and a 7:1 gear ratio will multiply your strength by 28 times! (12” handle / 3” drum radius x 7 gear ratio).

Materials
Winches come in a variety of materials, with stainless steel (Like the ones on Mad Dog Voyager) being the most durable and most popular. Even in the abusive salt water environment an occasional polishing will render them almost like new. The drums are usually finished with a unique “rough finish” that prevents the line from slipping, but doesn’t cut or damage the line.

Multiple speed winches
Most winches are two speed winches (Like the ones on Mad Dog Voyager). Unique internal mechanisms allow the winch to rotate at one speed when the handle is turned clockwise and another speed when turned counter-clockwise. One way you get a lot of line in fast, but it’s hard work; the other direction turns slower, but you can keep at it a lot longer.

Self tailing winches
Lewmar’s self-tailing winches allow you to use two hands when turning (or “grinding”) the winch. The line is wrapped a few turns around the drum, up over the stripping arm and through the cleats. This arrangement holds the line incredibly tight while it is easily stripped off the drum as more line is winched in. Some people recommend self-tailing winches in case you are short-handed, however we find they are just much nicer to use and are quickly becoming standard equipment on most sailboats including charter boats.

We have two sizes of winches on our pilothouse sailboat Mad Dog Voyager. Two outer larger winches handle the Genoa sheets (the lines off of the headsail) as well as furling the head sail, and two smaller ones inside the cockpit are for setting & furling the main sail and to tighten the Selden Boom vang.