Switching out rope and block rigging for wire cable.

[healhustler]

It occurs to me that my Admiral and I are getting to that age when the appeal of yanking on lines is fading. *I've got a simple mast and boom setup on my Krogen Manatee, and wondered if anyone has swapped-out their rope and multi-gang block rigging for something as simple as a couple of galvanized or Stainless hand cranks (one or two speed) with something like 1/4 inch wire rope. *The boom and mast stays are already 1/4" wire rope. *It would be great to know the Admiral could pull up the dingy and outboard if need be. *No way she can do it with the setup we've got now, even though the rated capacity (according to Krogen) is 600 pounds. *I'm not looking to increase the capacity, just make it more convenient. *Also would rather not do electric.


-- Edited by healhustler on Sunday 24th of April 2011 11:52:05 AM

 

[HeyJude]

Check out GarryP's Mango Mama...he's got a crane affair that we're hoping to look at in person late May.

Our Manatee has a shorten mast due to marina roof height & forward stay was removed making mast worthless for lifting..it's a glorified light pole.

Last Fall at the Krogen Rendezvous we saw a Manatee with short twin davits on the upper deck for lifting & storing small inflatable outside the upper deck railing. Owner said it worked well.

 

[Tidahapah]

Yep,
Way to go Oldstone.
I have a similar set up on Tidahapah.
It originally had a hand winch but a few years ago changed it out for an electric boat trailer winch.
It has it's own 12 V battery mounted at the base and charged by a small solar panel mounted on top of the jib.

 

[FF]

What you need is either an old wire halyard winch (if you need to release quickly and completely) or

an old center board winch , heavily geared that does not release , but must be cranked backwards for complete control.

 

[koliver]

A sailboat winch, self tailing, and a Milwalkee lithium powered angle drill fitted with a 1" drive end to provide power to the winch. Pull the trigger, up goes the dinghy.
That concept was demonstrated to me by my sailing brother, when he hauled me up his mast using only the muscle in his index finger.

 

[Penta]

We had a small boat trailer hand winch on Penta for years that started out using wire rope. In just a couple of years we found that the wire started to grow "wire snakes" that were hard on the hands when handling the line, when moving the dink.
Switched to 1/4 multi-braid line and it was in use until we hauled Penta for the refit (about 10 years) and I will be replacing the system only this time using a small (cheap) "jeep" winch that will run off the house bank via #4 ga. lines that I added during the refit.
The only complaint that I had with the hand winch was its tendancy to free wheel when the dingy was off its cradle (lifting or lowering) and my getting wacked by the handle - pay attention dummy
Just a Canucks version,
John Tones "Penta"
Sidney BC

 

[Phil Fill]

You can buy 2000 lb winches with a wire remote power up and down at most harbor tool for 75 bucks. The have lasted 3 years in the PNW rain.* *That is what I have on the Eagles boom and mast and with the two power winches I can now lower and raise the dink by my self.* You could use a portable/hand deep cycle as they do not take much power/amps.* I use the electric motor deep cycle battery.

*

*


-- Edited by Phil Fill on Wednesday 27th of April 2011 12:01:45 PM

 

[healhustler]

BON DIA wrote:
Check out GarryP's Mango Mama...he's got a crane affair that we're hoping to look at in person late May.

Our Manatee has a shorten mast due to marina roof height & forward stay was removed making mast worthless for lifting..it's a glorified light pole.

Last Fall at the Krogen Rendezvous we saw a Manatee with short twin davits on the upper deck for lifting & storing small inflatable outside the upper deck railing. Owner said it worked well.

*

*

Phil: *I should have included an accurate photo of Bucky with the davits, as seen here. *The davits work fine, as does the boom. *It's just that I have rope all over everything and everywhere, and I know it's nautical, etc., but going with cable or straps with hand winches might encourage my Admiral to get more involved in the other more physical jobs on the boat, .....dingy, outboard, bringing aboard heavy items, etc.. *Besides, it would be fun to boss her around when handling the machinery.

Gary has a good idea with that swivel boom, and eventually I may have to go that way too. *There's a lot of advantages to getting rid of the boom and mast, but I also like the tradition and style of the old boom, even if I want to tidy the tradition up a little bit. *I've been looking at Stainless boat trailer winches, but they are twice as much as electric winches like Phil/Fill is talking about. *Of course, one could go with the old galvanized trailer winch, but what would that look like sitting on top of a stainless davit or dripping rust on a painted boom? *If I can't do it right and reasonable, I might just have to "give up hope and keep the rope", that is until I get too old for that too. *Meanwhile, I'm looking into the other good ideas mentioned above.

 

[Anode]

Grab a sailor in your marina and get him/her teach you how to coil and tidy your lines. It'll made things a lot easier when you get ready to handle the lines and store them.

 

[healhustler]

Chip....I'm embarrased. Yes, those lines are more than terrible there, but after I removed them for some pictures, I threw them back on the cleats to just indicate the amount of rope hanging around. True, any sailor could teach me something, but I wouldn't go anywhere with my lines like that. I shoulda known better than to post a picture like that. I'll correct without delay.

*

Other reasons my lines looked so bad:

1. Wife did it.

2. I was purposely trying to make it look disheveled to make my point about how neat a single cable would be.

3. Someone else used my boat and that's the way they returned it.

4. Maid was washing the boat, and didn't know how to properly arrange the lines.


-- Edited by healhustler on Sunday 1st of May 2011 12:50:42 PM

 

[SaltyDog]

I have two davits for my dingy. I use two life sling 5:1 blocks. The ones designed for power boats. Either one can be used for the life sling if needed too. The 5:1 makes pulling up relatively easy. The cams on the blocks keep it from slipping back down. You can stop pulling and let go and the thing just stays put. A flip of the line releases the the cams. The cams are always engaged by the tension of pulling down. Works a treat for me.

However because it might be the wife or daughter that needs to pull up the dingy (or me) I had to come up with something even easier physically. I have pins lanyard-ed at the base of the davits on the main deck. I had to drill holes for the pins through the base and the davits. With the pins in place the davits stay out over the water. The forward davit line can be brought forward directly to the windlass. The rear davit line needs to go through a snatch block that is mounted just outside the port pilothouse door then to the windlass. Both lines can be wrapped on the windlass drum and then it is just a matter of stepping on the deck mounted switch to raise the load.

 

[Peter B]

And you could name the outboard Bam Bam....

ah...so you'd have to add an 's' to the Pebble


-- Edited by Peter B on Tuesday 12th of July 2011 07:43:35 AM