Opua: a reluctant winch
Opua: a reluctant winch
When I bought the then HAWKE she had thirteen Barient winches on her mast and deck. In the mid-70s when she was built rope clutches were not common and every line ran to a dedicated winch.
I soon rearranged the deck, leading almost everything back to the cockpit, and reduced the number of winches to eight.
A brief historical side note.
Those of you near my age may recall that Barients were the first modern winches and set standards, such as the shape and size of the socket for winch handles, which have been followed ever since.
Two industrialist sailors from the San Francisco area were unhappy with existing winches and designed better ones, which they named jointly after their boats, BARUNA and ORIENT.
The Barients on THE HAWKE OF TUONELA still functioned flawlessly. Their only defect was that they were not self-tailing, which wasn’t common in the mid-70s either.
When a temporary aberration in exchange rates made everything inexpensive in South Africa in early 2002, I replaced seven of my eight Barient winches with new self-tailing Andersens. The approximately $4000 cost was half what I would have paid for the same winches in the United States.
I didn’t replace the eighth winch because I wasn’t using it for anything, but I did leave it on the deck. In recent years I have run the cruising spinnaker halyard to it.
Yesterday I disassembled and lubricated the winches.
I started in the cockpit and was surprised by how clean they were. I don’t recall when I last worked on them. It might be in the journal. But I am reasonably certain it couldn’t have been more recently than the Society Islands.
However when I got to the Barient, I found that while the drum would turn in one direction, the center drive shaft was frozen. I removed the drum and applied winch grease and various other lubricants, but could not move the winch handle in either direction with both hands and all my considerable, if aged, strength. ‘Well,’ I thought, ‘It is time to replace this one, too.’
That was before I went online to price a new Andersen 28 ST. The lowest I found was $1060. Perhaps I should add that that was in the United States. In New Zealand it would cost considerably more.
With prices for all size winches on the site before me, I did a rough calculation and discovered to my amazement that the winches I bought in South Africa for $4000 would now cost more than $13,000. Oi!
In fact they would not cost me anything, because I would not consider paying that much for self-tailing.
I also would not consider paying more than a thousand dollars to replace the Barient. A cheaper alternative would be to buy a double rope clutch for less than $200 and run the spinnaker halyard back to the winch that now handles the mainsail outhaul and clew reef lines.
Before spending anything, I decided to give the Barient more grease, elbow and otherwise, and time.
Progress was slow. At first nonexistent.
But eventually I was able to move the winch handle slightly.
To shorten this, today I can move it full circle in both directions with one finger.
Obviously I need to set spinnakers more often.
And figure out what to do with the money I saved.
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The fleet is arriving.
Forecasts of our fine weather emptied harbors in the tropics. I’m not sure how good the sailing was, but most are willing to power more than I.
Eight boats were tied to the Quarantine Dock when I rowed ashore this morning, and subsequently two have taken moorings near me that are rented by the marina, and three more have anchored.
I expect many more will arrive in the next few days.
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Almost time to go on deck to watch the start of the Wednesday evening race.
While I was eating dinner--freeze dry Beef Stroganoff--on deck last evening, a gannet flew by at deck level about five yards away.
Wednesday, October 27, 2010