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This is the place to post your ideas, thoughts, questions and comments as relates to general boatbuilding and reconstruction techniques and procedures (i.e. recoring, epoxy, fiberglass, wood, etc.)
My Pearson 39 has a very wimpy centerboard winch. It appears to me more suitable for a day sailing dinghy than a 39' boat.
I've included a picture of it below from a P-35... its the exact same set-up. Anyone have any suggestions on replacing this with something similar, yet beefier? I like the fact that I can use line to pull up the wire, but there is a lot of stress on the hub of the plastic drum (it is cracking) and the 1" pipe around which the wire is held is too small a diameter for 3/16" 7x19 wire.
On mine, the hub of the plastic Schaefer rope wheel is cracking from stress. The picture shows a stainless ring around that hub, but mine doesn't have one anymore... after 31 years, it appearently got lost somewhere.
The winch drum-- or the stainless pipe the gathers the 3/16" wire and also goes thru the rope wheel hub is only 1" in diameter.
Ideally, I'd like to replace the whole thing. But I'm also looking to find a replacement for the Schaefer rope wheel as a temporary fix till I haul again next year.
The centerboard is probably 200# and the wire pennent takes a circuitous route below the waterline via two watertight sheaves. Not the best arrangement. I'm gonna leave that can of worms for another thread perhaps!
Thanks for the welcome Tim! Re the user name... just a fun way to stay somewhat annonymous in this here interweb. :) You'll remember me from the Triton e-mail list!
two options, see if you can have someone turn a wheel for the rope from aluminum or steel to avoid problems from the different metals. It'll keep the current system working well, way to attack it is to have a larger spool turned to fit over the wire side, if you do that you'll have to enlarge the rope wheel or loose some advantage
otherwise assemble a 'rope drive' for a regular trailer winch, which already comes with a larger drive hub and very nice advantage, which means you can use a smaller diameter line on the same size drum which will need to be longer because of the greater advantage.
the problem with the original layup as I see it in the picture is that the drive is transferred from the rope to the hub by a single pin, all stress is transferred to a single point and cracking the hub, what is the advantage on that setup now?
Thanks for the suggestions... They are basically what I've come up with so far. Since I'm a week away from splashing, I used the quick and dirty method for the time being, but plan on replacing this whole arrangement soon enough.
What I did was replaced the plastic rope wheel with one made of Tuffnol. This I got by finding a similar set-up at the local consignment store. I attached it to the stainless pipe by throughbolting it. I agree its not ideal, but at this point is better than the set-screws holding in that cheap plastic wheel. And the phenolic of the Tuffnol is STRONG!
What I'd like to replace it with is what you suggested kendall... a trailer handwinch-- replacing the handle with a rope wheel and taking out the locking mechanism. The rope wheel ovbiously offers good mechanical advantage... the downside is I only have 10 inches of vertical clearance in this space.
The advantage of the rope wheel is that it offers much more control of the centerboard. By using marks on the line in the cockpit, I can see whether the board is 1/4, 1/2 or all the way down. Can't do that as easily as a winch with a handle.
