Self Tailing Winches

Peter · Post by **Peter** » Sat Oct 20, 2007 8:09 pm

Forgetting (momentarily) about the cost, are self-tailing winches a worthwhile upgrade, especially for someone doing a lot of single-handing?

The reason I ask is one of my old Lewmar 7's flew apart during some frantic action. Although I retrieved all the pieces, and it is repairable, it got me thinking about an upgrade.

So far, Anderson 12ST's are my choice, but I'm interested to know what experiences others have had.

Post by **dasein668** » Sat Oct 20, 2007 8:15 pm

Barring cost? Yes, absolutely.

Bluenose · Post by **Bluenose** » Sat Oct 20, 2007 9:12 pm

Hey Peter,

I just went through this same task myself. I jotted down some of my thoughts and the comparison data on these two winches on my blog.

http://knockaboutsloops.blogspot.com/20 ... ction.html

In the end I decided that the winch loads on the Shields were pretty small and I wanted to spend the money on other things. I did struggle with the choice though and I really, really wanted those Andersens.

Happy hunting

Bill

Case · Post by **Case** » Sat Oct 20, 2007 9:32 pm

Andersen 12STs are a great choice. Pay more for the All Stainless Steel versions. The regular versions has some plastic bits. I've read reports they fall apart if you keep the lines in them while not in use - the all stainless steel versions doesn't have this problem. UV rays eventually degrade the plastic bits as well, too. If you're spending the moolah for Andersen 12TS, another 200 bucks for the all stainless steel versions is nothing...

Plus they look nicer. No faded black plastic 10 years in the future...

- Case

Post by **Tim** » Sun Oct 21, 2007 7:13 am

I assume we're talking about jib sheet winches here, specifically.

I don't have any self-tailers, and frankly I don't see how they'd make my life much easier 99% of the time. I don't find tailing and grinding that hard for the amount that's required on such a small boat with such a small headsail; it's just such a minimal amount of tailing.

Larger boats with heavier loads and large overlapping headsails (and therefore more winching required) would benefit more from self-tailers, since. I've used them extensively on larger boats, and they're certainly worth having there when sailing short-handed.

The best thing about self-tailers is that you don't normally need a cleat. Dealing with the cleat is my least favorite part of operating my jib sheets; it'd be much handier having the line secured in a self-tailer. (There should be a cleat, too, for those times when it might be needed.) To me, this is the major selling point for self-tailers on a 27' or 28' boat.

Now, all this being said, if I were buying new winches, I'd most likely go for self-tailers. They're very nice to have, and of course you don't always have to use the self-tailing feature, which sometimes seems like more hassle than it's worth.

For something like a mainsheet or centerboard winch, with a much different sort of use profile, self-tailers start to make sense a lot sooner even on smaller boats.

Peter · Post by **Peter** » Sun Oct 21, 2007 11:56 am

Bill, those Lewmar 14 CST's look interesting. The Andersens are quite tall, which has me a bit concerned. Also, I didn't realize there were all-stainless and stainless-plastic versions, as Case pointed out.