Giving Old Winches New Grip

A strip of 3M Safety‑Walk tape on the drum gave these tired Barient winches fresh bite without the cost of new self‑tailers.

By
Bert Vermeer
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5
An old winch with a strip of 3M Safety-Walk tape applied for extra grip. (Photo/ Bert Vermeer)
An old winch with a strip of 3M Safety-Walk tape applied for extra grip. (Photo/ Bert Vermeer)

On Natasha, our 1978 Islander Bahama 30, the Barient two speed sheet winches were showing their age—a dull chrome surface and the drum were worn quite smooth. It was getting difficult to get a good grip on the genoa sheet when the winds picked up. I decided to re-chrome them—the process included etching the drum to provide the necessary grip. However, the etching turned out too fine and didn’t really solve the line-slip problem.

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Bert Vermeer
As a coastal cruise (and occasional racer & ocean crosser), Bert Vermeer has sailed the coast of British Columbia for over 40 years. With his wife Carey & daughter Nicky (and eventually granddaughter Natasha) in tow, Bert has gained an appreciation for the fabulous cruising grounds of the Canadian west coast. Based on his experience as a hands-on boater, he established a marine based business after completing his police career. Bert stays busy during the winter months dabbling in You Tube sailing videos and writing tales of summer adventures, awaiting blue skies and warm winds.

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5 COMMENTS

  3. Thanks for the comment Ralph. Did you have them re-chromed after the knurling? I may have approached this the wrong way around. I assumed that the re-chroming wouldn’t affect the original knurling as much as it did.

  5. Unfortunately, I have no knowledge of the Chicago area, being a Pacific NW sailor. I simply approached the chroming shop (primarily a business for automotive restoration) and told them what I wanted to happen to the winches. They came back chromed with a light knurling. It ends up that the light knurling was not enough to hold the lines under tension and I found this solution.