Winch on aft gunnel

[Yannis]

Given my soft back, I wish to install ONE sailboat type winch at the aft gunnel corner.
Looking at various winch types, I am between the single speed or double speed NON self tailing type, manual of course.
The idea is that you first pull one side with the winch, then go over to the other side and tie up the other rope, and then you come back, undo the rope from the winch and tie to the cleat.
Question: has anybody done that, and if yes, what diameter winch does he use, and whether the single or double speed feature is any useful...I’m asking because the price is almost 3X for the latter.
Thanks.

[Tony Meola]

Yannis

Never seen that one done before. I would think you might need to reinforce the gunnel. So you need one winch so you are not pulling the boat back, but the winch is.

I know you dock differently than we do, but is it that you can not back up close enough to tie the boat off?

[Yannis]

I can Tony, but those last strokes kill me.
I might as well have that winch.
Yep, you tie up differently.

[Rocket]

Yannis it all depends on the ratio and the drum diameter of the winch. In a two speed winch the fast speed is often 1:1 and the slow speed is much much lower, the purpose is to winch in a sheet that is under no or very little load when tacking, then you grind in the last bit and make the trim adjustments. A single speed winch may have a lower ratio than the high speed of a two speed.

The loads on the sheet of a sailboat are huge compared to the loads on a dock line. You may never actually have to grind the winch, the purchase on the drum may be enough. I would look for a used winch, boats are decommissioned or people are upgrading all the time, they are fairly easy to service as a boy I use to take apart clean, grease and reassemble winches on the boat that I crewed on, so they are actually relatively simple. Take a picture before disassembly and don't use too much grease or the palls will stick.

[Yannis]

Good idea, Rocket, thanks!

Stern-to is what the 99% of boaters do. And they secure their bow, either by means of their own anchor OR, what is more probable in marinas and ports, with one or two permanent lines that are tied up to the bottom on a thick chain (tied onto huge cement blocks), that runs parallel to the length of the dock, at a distance. The other tip of those lines is attached to the dock and someone gives it to you when you approach, or you pull it with your hook.

It is the slack of those lines that is sometimes difficult to pull in. So if you're moored stern-to you may use the anchor windlass to pull that slack in, but if you're moored bow-to, as I usually do, you either pull hard and break your back or use that winch.
I guess I have to check the ratio on those single speed winches before I decide on what type to buy.
Also, the reason I don't need the winch to be self tailing is that those mooring lines are usually very thick and could never fit in the gap provided by the winch for that purpose.
We don’t have floating docks between boats, we also don’t have pillars as we don’t have tides.