Broken davit winch cable mystery?!

[slolooper]

A mystery...New winch cable (1200 lb winch) broke. Put my dinghy up 2 months ago and stowed the davit; connected the hook to an eye on deck, take out the slack and turn off the davit breaker. All went smoothly. Cable looked fine. Cruised from Chesapeake to Plymouth, MA. Normal mixed weather. Boat has been in repair status since sitting dockside.

Yesterday I went to launch the dinghy for maintenance and the winch cable had broken about 8 ft behind the hook, which would be about 1-2 ft from the winch drum inside the davit. The broken portion was kinked up inside the davit and I had to remove the pulley to get the broken portion free. Pics attached show the broken, kinked end and the end still on the drum.

Does anybody have an idea what happened? I'm spooked about a new winch cable breaking while not being used.


Bill

 

[Sea Q]

you must have kinked the cable by the look of your pictures your cable is in bad shape all twisted and stuff
Look into switching to rope I did it and found it rated stronger than cable ( per rope thickness) and easy to run between your hands when winding in and out . I redid my lifting harness also with the stuff make it easier to store away
Can remember the name of the stuff but it is blue and braded
No more cuts from frays
Also warmer on the hand
And no more kinks
very limp and flexible easier to swing
no more snapping as the cable winds on the spool (causes frays)
Great stuff
Its been 10 years and the stuff has held up I'm lifting 3,000 and I think it is 3/8 inch
Prettier to

 

[LaBomba]

I agree with Sea Q, cable does not just break unless kinked or knotted. I also had rope on my last boat and bought it direct from St. Croix. Never had any issues with it.

 

[Ski in NC]

Is it possible the winch motor came on without pendant plugged in?

And cable remnant looks all kinked up. Something happened there.

 

[nwboater]

"Does anybody have an idea what happened? I'm spooked about a new winch cable breaking while not being used."

Replace the cable with AmSteel rope...many times stronger than wire and will never kink or break.

 

[hmason]

I too switched to Dyneema (same as Amsteel) for my davit. Great improvement.

 

[ktdtx]

https://www.cargoequipmentcorp.com/Dyneema-Tow-Rope?campaignid=1506272084&adgroupid=57758463573&creative=287572809979&keyword=dyneema%20rope&matchtype=b&network=g&device=c&gclid=Cj0KCQiA2o_fBRC8ARIsAIOyQ-kO4HuW9suSQFfJpx39OvIKChyFthNS-rvxdg81yJQMTzBe0II_JJwaAmB7EALw_wcB




https://www.amazon.com/TOUGH-GRID-N...e=UTF8&qid=1541692759&sr=8-5&keywords=amsteel

 

[wwestman]

Switch to amsteel. I did it and love the change. Lasts longer, lighter, no fish hooks.

 

[jungpeter]

Hi Slolooper,

I was rafted next to a Selene last spring, when out of nowhere the dinghy winch started to operate, all on it's own. Before anyone could intervene by switching off the main ship's DC circuit breaker, the winch had two-blocked and bent the hoist boom, and broken the turning block and cable. Turns out, the handheld controller had failed internally, sending power to the winch even while unattended.

The fix was (after repairs of course) was to replace the controller, and the owner now NEVER leaves the controller plugged into the dinghy winch while unattended.

And IMHO, synthetic hoist line is significantly more user-friendly than stainless.

Regards,

Pete

 

[OldDan1943]

Switch to amsteel. I did it and love the change. Lasts longer, lighter, no fish hooks.

Yup, I changed from a rusted cable to a grey braided line (name unknown). Looks a whole lot better. The stretch is minimal. Bought enough to make a clothes line too!!

 

[jleonard]

Whatever you use to replace make sure you inspect inside the davit for a sharp edge or burr

 

[healhustler]

Whatever you use to replace make sure you inspect inside the davit for a sharp edge or burr

Jay is right. Regardless whether or not you replace the cable, I’d worry why it happened in the first place. I’m a real fan of dynema line too, but if there really is something going on in there that’s tearing up your wire cable, having dynema line isn’t going to help. It looks like a lot more than a kink to me.

 

[psneeld]

I read it that he IS a fan, but is suggesting there is a bigger issue why the cable broke and it could destroy any new dyneema too.

 

[OldDan1943]

I read it that he IS a fan, but is suggesting there is a bigger issue why the cable broke and it could destroy any new dyneema too.

Sorry, I read that all wrong.
He is a fan of it.
I have removed my question and thanks for pointing that out to me.

 

[slolooper]

Thanks for all the input. Switching to dyneema. And will inspect the inside of the davit. Also got a tip that if the new cable wasn't properly loaded when installed it can coil and kink. Ditto if you don't keep an adequate load on it after. All problems that go away with synthetic line. I had heard the winch motor coming on by itself story before so we shut the breaker off unless loading/unloading.

 

[Larry M]

We changed to Dyneema. It's very easy to splice with lots of how to vids on YouTube.

A heads up; The stuff is slippery. From other forums and talking to Nick Jackson, our davit manufacturer, the recommendation is to have a minimum of 4 wraps on the drum when fully extended with Dyneema or similar.

 

[latravcha]

Boat has been in repair status since sitting dockside.

Bill

Did you have a yard working on the boat.
If so they may have decided to use your winch, broke the cable and did not say a word.

 

[FF]

Wire might hate knots , but it does not die in sun light.

The same can not be assured with chemical created line.

 

[BrianSmith]

Plus One for Dyneema (or whatever brand you choose). Not only for the winch, but have your bridle made out of it, too. Wonderful stuff!

Plus One on inspecting inside the winch, too. That cable didn't break from old age.

 

[dhays]

Wire might hate knots , but it does not die in sun light.

The same can not be assured with chemical created line.

Good point. When stored for long term, protect the line from the sun.

Having said that, sailboats have been using dyneema line for lifelines, halyards, and even standing rigging. However, most of the boats that are using it are racing boats that are replacing rigging on a regular basis. Also, the loads on a lifeline aren’t nearly as high as on some winches. Finally, most dyneema is sized for convenience and handling rather than breaking strength. This means that it is usually way oversized for strength. So come UV degradation won’t affect the performance in most applications.