winch replacement

[Farmer Wayne]

I have a 1975 Ty weekender # 897 which I sail and do some club racing during the summer. Most of my sailing is solo. At present I am using a Barton convert to a self-tailing winch. The way it works is it has me put a donut that fits snugly over the top of the winch drum in which you put your jib sheet around. When I am racing I end up bringing the sheet across from the leeward side and wrap it around the windward winch "donut", that way I can stay on the windward side until tacking. All in all it works pretty good but I was wondering if I should spend the money and replace the original winches with self tailing? Any input would be great, and hopefully there is a winch that will match up to my standard mounting bracket.

Thanks
Farmer Wayne

[Jim Walsh]

A new set of self tailers will cost a grand. I love self tailers but I'm sure there are more economical alternatives. There are tons of winches on eBay and every marine consignment store is loaded with them. It would pay to see what you are buying so you can strip them to quickly assess their condition. Bargains are there to be had but you must be an informed consumer.

[Steve Laume]

I just don't quite get the fascination with self tailing winches.

There have been a few times over the years where it was a bit of a pain to be frequently, adjusting the jib and then recleating it. Most of the time I enjoy handling the line and running it around a nice, bronze, cleat. It just seems like part of sailing to me. I have found some nice, used, conventional, winches at very reasonable prices because so many people are switching. If you are serious about racing, good sails would be first and then I suppose the self tailers make sense if you are going to be tweaking things all of the time.

The bronze brackets are very easy to drill any hole configuration you might end up with, Steve.

[Maine_Buzzard]

Your high side sheeting is entirely practical- I arranged crossed sheets on a dinghy after dumping it too many times trying to reach the cleat on the low side.

Let's see, one hand with the handle, one hand on the tail, an eye on the leech, tiller getting adjusted with one foot, and the mainsheet in your teeth, getting taken in a few inches. Sounds like singlehanding!

Self tailers are nice bling, but a real traveler with 3:1 or better blocks on the car is sheer delight. Drop $400 in that first, if you have the old Nico (Fico?) track and roller skate cars.

[tjr818]

What is with all this sitting on the high side? You're not sailing a Laser. I find the low side much better on a boat like our Cape Dorys

[Keith]

I'm with you Tim. I love sailing on the low side watching the bow wake and the rail go awash.

Keith

[tjr818]

I'm with you Tim. I love sailing on the low side watching the bow wake and the rail go awash.Keith

It's nice to have "Friends in Low Places"

[mgphl52]

sitting on the low side has always helped my TyPhoon, CD25 and CD28 in light air.
When racing the Ty single-handed in some breeze, I'd put a wrap on the leeward winch then a couple on the windward. To trim in without a winch handle, i put a foot on the sheet between the winches and then pull in the slack as I eased foot pressure. That left the the other foot to helm with while the other hand held my beer...

As for self-tailing winches, I had no need for them on my Ty and CD25 but truly love them on KAYLA!