A drill as a winch handle, AGAIN!

Posted by rick_simonds (rick_simonds@…>)

I know this has been discussed to death but I needed a right
angle drill for a major repair I was doing on my house and,
remembering the discussion of this on this board, I bought a big ol’
honkin’ cordless, the new 28 volt Milwaukee. It’s a hoss. I got
a “Cranker” winchbit on eBay.

This setup is so cool.

I tried it a few times at the dock but finally put it through its
paces yesterday. I only have one battery but on one battery charge I
put the main up once, the jib up 4 times and the spinnaker up twice.
I’d guess it probably could have done each sail maybe once more each.
The main is the hard one. I have an F32 with 2-speed Barient self-
tailers (no. 23’s? I forget.) The main will go up about 80% of the
way on high speed on the winch and then I have to reverse the drill
for low speed for the last 20%. It puts it up every bit as tight as I
could get it with a standard winch handle, maybe tighter. It goes up
in maybe 20 seconds.

I bought the cheaper “Cranker” bit. ( http://www.thecranker.com/ )
Knowing what I know now, I’d probably spend the extra for
the “Winchbit” ( http://www.winchbit.com/ ) There’s some pretty
serious torque here and despite the claims by The Cranker, not having
flats ground into the shank of the bit will sometimes let it slip
when you are really grinding at the maximum. I ground 3 flats into
mine just to get it to hold better. The Winchbit also has a bigger
shank. I doubt that the square drive vs. the “star” drive makes a bit
of difference.

Hang on tight; if something binds up YOU spin around until you can
get your finger off the trigger!

I haven’t tried it yet but I’m sure this rig would crank a man up the
mast without a problem. Lead the rope anchor rode to the winches and
that would come right up, too. I’m going to experiment with using
this in place of the hand crank for hand starting the diesel, too.
(I’ll post something when I try it.)

This is one kick-ass winch handle! (Oh, yeah,… it’s a pretty good
drill, too!)

Rick
Tallahassee

Posted by Pat and Laurie Stockwell (svmisspearl@…>)
Hello Rick. Sorry, but I have to ask. My wife found an article by a catamaran owner who used a Milwaukee right angle drill for sail raising. He found it used(on ebay)and bought the winch bit. So I have been checking ebay and so far no luck. However, new is easy. The best price so far was $320. or 340. for the “kit”. The kit is basically the box and a battery. Is that the ballpark you paid? Did you go to your local tool store? Any other tips? Thanks. pat rick_simonds <rick_simonds@…> wrote: I know this has been
discussed to death but I needed a right angle drill for a major repair I was doing on my house and, remembering the discussion of this on this board, I bought a big ol’ honkin’ cordless, the new 28 volt Milwaukee. It’s a hoss. I got a “Cranker” winchbit on eBay.This setup is so cool.I tried it a few times at the dock but finally put it through its paces yesterday. I only have one battery but on one battery charge I put the main up once, the jib up 4 times and the spinnaker up twice. I’d guess it probably could have done each sail maybe once more each. The main is the hard one. I have an F32 with 2-speed Barient self-tailers (no. 23’s? I forget.) The main will go up about 80% of the way on high speed on the winch and then I have to reverse the drill for low speed for the last 20%. It puts it up every bit as tight as I could get it with a standard winch handle, maybe tighter. It goes up in maybe 20
seconds.I bought the cheaper “Cranker” bit. ( http://www.thecranker.com/ ) Knowing what I know now, I’d probably spend the extra for the “Winchbit” ( http://www.winchbit.com/ ) There’s some pretty serious torque here and despite the claims by The Cranker, not having flats ground into the shank of the bit will sometimes let it slip when you are really grinding at the maximum. I ground 3 flats into mine just to get it to hold better. The Winchbit also has a bigger shank. I doubt that the square drive vs. the “star” drive makes a bit of difference.Hang on tight; if something binds up YOU spin around until you can get your finger off the trigger!I haven’t tried it yet but I’m sure this rig would crank a man up the mast without a problem. Lead the rope anchor rode to the winches and that would come right up, too. I’m going
to experiment with using this in place of the hand crank for hand starting the diesel, too. (I’ll post something when I try it.)This is one kick-ass winch handle! (Oh, yeah,… it’s a pretty good drill, too!)RickTallahassee
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Posted by rick_simonds (rick_simonds@…>)

— In freedomyachts2003@yahoogroups.com, Pat and Laurie Stockwell
<svmisspearl@…> wrote:

Hello Rick. Sorry, but I have to ask. My wife found an article by a
catamaran owner who used a Milwaukee right angle drill for sail
raising. He found it used(on ebay)and bought the winch bit. So I have
been checking ebay and so far no luck. However, new is easy. The best
price so far was $320. or 340. for the “kit”. The kit is basically
the box and a battery. Is that the ballpark you paid? Did you go to
your local tool store? Any other tips? Thanks. pat



Yeah, they don’t exactly give these things away. Mine was something
around $300. I just surfed the net for the best price, though I
bought some other stuff at the same time so I ended up getting a
break on the total. I guess I got the “kit” cause mine came with all
that stuff and a case.

Of course the battery and charger is mandatory, the case maybe not.
Mine came with a supplemental screw-in handle that I like. There is a
lot of torque here so being able to hold on with 2 hands helps.

No other tips on this, really. Put the bit in, stick it in the winch,
hold on, mash the trigger and the sail goes up. It’s slick.