Upgrading CD33 winches

[LaVida]

I'm curious to know what kind and max size winches CD33 owners have installed as upgrades.

Thanks in Advance,
Mike
LaVida
CD33

[bottomscraper]

Mahalo came with a pair of bronze self tailing Lewmar 46's (I don't think they make them anymore, they skip from 44 to 48 now).

<a href="http://www.lewmar.com/webcat/index.asp"> Lewmar Web Site </a>

I believe Robinhood uses Harken now:

<a href="http://www.harken.com/winches/winchspecs.php"> Harken Web Site </a>

Rigging Only usually has good prices, they handle Lewmar, Harken and Anderson.

<a href="http://www.riggingonly.com/"> Rigging Only </a>

[Frank Vernet]

Mike

I upgraded the genoa/jib winches from the original Lewmar 40s to Lewmar 40 BBST - all bronze self-tailing. I thought about going up a size, but the reality is that 40 is plenty to handle even our huge 150% genoa.

The winches are beautiful and I love the self-tailing capability.

[LaVida]

Thanks for the info, guys.

Guess my main query should have said, what size is the max size one can mount on the existing fiberglass?

Thanks in advance,
Mike
LaVida

[Tom Keevil]

Jean and I each received a Lewmar 40 bronze self tailing winch for Christmas (required prior arrangements with each other). We just finished installing them on Saturday, moving the old Lewmar 40's aft to serve as secondaries. We went with the Lewmars to match the old winches, and bought them from Rigging Only.

We considered moving up to a 44, but the cost didn't seem worth the relatively small increase in power. Our old 40's worked fine for us. The sparkling bronze made quite a hit at the dock, many wondering if they were gold plated. Should have been, considering the cost. We are now letting them develop that nice green color to match the old winches.

It was a beautiful sunny day on Saturday, but poured rain on Sunday, so we haven't yet had a chance to try them out.

Tom Keevil
CD33 Rover
Charleston, OR

[Frank Vernet]

Tom,

Your post intrigued me.

We just finished installing them on Saturday, moving the old Lewmar 40's aft to serve as secondaries.

Can you share with me the new layout? Where did you put the "old" new secondary winches? Do you have any pictures? After upgrading my old Lewmar 40s to Lewmar 40BBSTs, I now have 2 perfectly good winches sitting in my garage and I would love to put them back onboard.

Thanks in advance.

[Tom Keevil]

I didn't take any pictures, but will try to remember next time we're down at the boat. It will be two weeks though.

The previous owner had installed a second set of cleats in anticipation of adding another pair of winches. We re-installed the old winches on the remaining aft portion of the fiberglass winch area. We made circular backing plates out of 1/4" aluminum. The port side is somewhat straightforward, as you can access the bottom by contorting yourself around the batteries. The starboard side was more challenging, as the plate straddles the bulkhead at the end of the quarterberth. It was just possible to reach three of the bolts from the cockpit locker, but two were inaccessible. Rather than cut another hole in the quarterberth overhead, we threaded the holes in the backing plate, and screwed the winch into the plate without putting nuts on the inside. Our thought was that the stress is mostly parallel to the deck, and the caulking should keep the screws from backing out.

[Paul D.]

Two seasons ago I was thinking of replacing my winches due to their stiffness. I then pulled them apart and cleaned them up and re greased them and have been quite happy since. Our originals are self tailing though so they were worth keeping.

I wouldn't know which brand are best but I do like Harken gear generally and they make a bronze drum model that would look good on a CD.

All the best,
Paul