>At a recent outing I noticed other Potters had ratcheting winches or
winches
>that could hold the keel up. My keel winch is very hard to turn and if you
>let go the keel comes flying down. I recently installed a rope instead of
>the cable. Is my winch broken or is it turning in the wrong direction? How
>is this thing supposed to work?
>Jim Nolan P-19, P-15, Loon 138T, LGYC #6
>
Jim
I suspect that yours won't be the last to fail. I had to replace the winch
on HC about a year and a half after I bought her. When I took everything
apart I found that the winch was held off of the underside of the deck with
washers. The instructions that came with the replacement winch were very
specific about installing the winch on a sturdy backing plate. My winch
failed just like yours, one day it stopped braking. I found that this was
due to the "split case" shifting so that the two sides no longer were in
alignment. When I installed the new one, I put a piece of steel under it to
give it the required strongback. I advised the factory about the problem
but don't know if they did anything to remedy the problem.
Larry