Practical_Boat_Owner_-_November_2015_

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POTENTIAL DANGERS OF A SHORT-CIRCUIT IN POWERED WINCHES

Casting around

■ In PBO September, Iain Lindsay
asked if anyone still supplies the
castings of the Parsons injection
unit for cooling the engine exhaust.
I had one such unit on my 1938
motorboat, but it fell apart on me,
and the problem was the castings.
If you want to get hold of an
original, the son of the chap who
used to make them still has the
facility to cast them, but quoted
£940 for doing so when I asked
about it. I ended up having the unit
made in stainless steel for £350.
Rob Bull, Bude

■ While cruising in Brittany

this year we met a couple on

another yacht. The husband

had suffered a deforming

injury to his fi nger: he had

been tidying the jib sheet on

its powered winch when it

started to turn of its own accord,

trapping his fi ngers in the

tightening rope and winding

his arm around the winch.

Luckily it stopped itself after a

few seconds and his wife was

able to help free him, but not

before a layer of skin had been

removed down to the tendons

and the ligaments torn. He

spent over six weeks having

skin grafts and other medical

treatment for this painful and

terrifying injury. He has been

told his recovery will take

many months or even years,

and there is no certainty that

it will be complete.

Apparently, the power button

for the winch had a rubber cover

which perished so that invisible

cracks allowed water to enter the

switch, causing it to short-circuit

without warning. The winch

manufacturer was aware of the

defect in its product and has

admitted liability and paid our

friend’s medical fees. No doubt

compensation will follow.

The only action the manufacturer

had taken prior to this event was

to issue a notice to advise owners

to replace the switch every

three years. How many owners

have seen that notice? The

manufacturer said it had not

amended its design because

boatbuilders had not asked for

any changes to the set-up.

A simple solution would be to fi t

two switches in series (more than

one hand span apart) for each

winch. This would protect users

against the risks of (1) catching

fi ngers and (2) shorting switches.

(1): Both hands would have to be

clear of the winch before it could

be powered up. (2): A shorted

switch could not start the winch

on its own and could easily be

detected as long as the user were

to press a different switch fi rst

before each use.

One might argue that both

switches could short at exactly

the same time, but the chances of

that must be extremely remote. In

the longer term, it cannot be

beyond the wit of a major

manufacturer to make a switch

that cannot short-circuit and

does not rely on a fl imsy,

perishable rubber cover?

The unfortunate couple told

us they had discovered other

accidents caused by this

defect. One lady had part of

her arm torn off by her

powered winch while hoisting

her husband up the mast,

and another gentleman lost

eight of his fi ngers.

This is an appalling state of

affairs with an easy and cheap

solution: I hope you will publish

this letter to warn users of

powered winches of their

dangers and to pressurise

manufacturers into selling

installations that are safe.

Chris Mardon, by email

Perish the thought

The sands of time (saved)

■ I’ve been lying in Poole Hospital for the last

nine days with nothing to pass the time apart

from your excellent Project Boat Handbook.

After reading about the hassle and expense

of sourcing sandpaper and the large effort

of sanding, I’d just like to pass on a few

recommendations through my work as a

craftsman. I’ve tried most makes, prices and

types of sandpaper over the years, and the

two I solely use these days are Mirka Abranet

(which is a holey mesh material) and Festool

Granat. Yes, they are eye-wateringly expensive at

nearly £1 a disc, but they keep cutting without clogging. In the long

term, the savings add up. Same goes for a sander: I use a Festool

Rotex with full dust extraction. You can use it like a planer, and it sands

everything. Again, it’s very pricey brand new, but savings can be made

on eBay etc – and the time saved on jobs will be massive.

Joe Hart, by email

Everlasting luff

■ Like the owners in your article

‘New Sails: worth it for an Old

Westerly?’ (PBO October), we

also bought an old twin-keeled

Westerly ketch on a tight budget.

Ours is a Pentland, the 9.4m

(31ft) predecessor of the Westerly

33 in your article. However, your

Westerly owners missed a great

opportunity to improve an

outdated sail plan.

On purchase, we were surprised

and disappointed that our

Pentland with her original sail

plan was over-canvased and

headsail has transformed the

boat. After nearly 1,000 cruising

miles this summer, she goes

faster, points higher and is much

more comfortable. We now tend

to reef the main before taking the

easy option of rolling the new

genoa, and on top of this,

visibility is now tremendous.

Our experiment proves that

not only are new sails a great

investment, but modern sailcloths

also enable us to rejuvenate the

outdated sail plans of old cruisers.

Next, we’re going to take your

advice and play with a barber-

hauler before we replace the

dear old mizzen sail.

Esmond White,

Avocet of Medway

uncomfortable in any wind over

a Force 3/4 without serious

reefi ng. In particular, the fairly

new 150% genoa, so fashionable

in the 1970s, was a real handful.

Although the original Ratsey &

Lapthorn mizzen resembled

Nora Batty’s nylons, the newish

fully battened mainsail was fi ne.

Clearly, the problem was the

big genoa.

Knowing that most of the power

of a genoa comes from the luff,

we commissioned Quay Sails of

Poole to cut a new, smaller, but

full height 110% headsail. They

recommended a Bainbridge

Ocean Dacron, a padded luff and

three sets of telltales. Quay Sails

did a brilliant job: this smaller

PEYTON’S PICK FROM THE PAST

Taken from Practical Boat Owner March 2000

‘Relax, I always play safe and follow another boat over the Bar’

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REPAIRING

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EXTERIOR

FINISHING

KEEL AND RUDDER

INTERIOR

FINISHING

RIGGING

AND SAILS

HEADS & PLUMBING

NAVIGATION & ELECTRICS

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STARTED