I'm thinking about raising the main with a impact driver/battery drill has anyone tried such modification?

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southace said...
I'm thinking about raising the main with a impact driver/battery drill has anyone tried such modification?

Im doing the same for when i get a little bit older

Someone has to ask... Why??? How big and heavy is your main that you can't use the winch?

Apologies in advance if you're ninety-twelve or have one arm.

It's not a bad idea.I assume you are looking at making an adaptor from the appliance to a cabintop or mast winch?

I adapted a cordless drill to save hand cranking an old engine and it worked out ok.

Would not recommend however the use of cordless impact driver,as the rattling action would probably destroy the internal bearings of your winch.

For a mainsail,the drill would need plenty of power(18v or more) and in a low gear to work.
Suggest some clutch for relief just in case the thing grabs and wants to turn you 'inside out'.
It may also take a couple of batteries to get the main right up to the head .

Another option is to get hold of a cheap 12v corded impact driver(say Aldi).
Mine has worked surprisingly well over time and the impact only cuts in when it's really loaded up,unlike the cordless.
This could play out well for you.Obviously you would need a battery nearby to hook up the aligator clips onto.

Interested to see how you go on this.

Cheers.CR.

There is this one already on the market. www.winchrite.co.uk

Why Dr Rog? My new rig is approx 15 meters high and I would estimate raising the main would be equivalent to hauling a man in a bosons chair to the top. As a solo sailor I think I would use the main more if I had a electric winch that would hoist the main with in a minute with ease.

Fully Understand southace. If I had crew to pump the halyard it would be easier but normally is just me (left hand, right hand, left hand right hand)

That £649 is a bit eye watering for the electric winch handle. Over $1000, so GST comes into play if you were to import one yourself

I did see them in afloat mag maybe aussie built....around 700 to 800

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southace said...

Why Dr Rog? My new rig is approx 15 meters high and I would estimate raising the main would be equivalent to hauling a man in a bosons chair to the top. As a solo sailor I think I would use the main more if I had a electric winch that would hoist the main with in a minute with ease.

Really? Wow. Mine's 12 metres and I only need the winch for the last 3 inches. My apologies - if it's that heavy then I understand.

the main he used it on in the vid was inmast furled ......peice a cake ...... would it pull yours up the mast ? does your main weigh more than a 4 hp outboard ? ......it did lift that

www.cruisersforum.com/forums/f116/electric-drill-winch-41025.html

A mate of mine with a forty footer has a large cordless right angle drill with a winch adaptor fitted to it

He had a crew member called Eric who used to be on the sheet winches and when Eric was not available my mate used to sail single handed and use the drill to wind in the winches while he helmed

He called the drill Electric Eric

Regards Don

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Donk107 said..
A mate of mine with a forty footer has a large cordless right angle drill with a winch adaptor fitted to it

He had a crew member called Eric who used to be on the sheet winches and when Eric was not available my mate used to sail single handed and use the drill to wind in the winches while he helmed

He called the drill Electric Eric

Regards Don

How about a double purchase on the halyard , more halyard but maybe easier than juggling a cordless drill that may be less reliable.

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FreeRadical said...

I thought this was a silly idea. Not now. A 24v impact driver with a spare battery can be had on eBay for $200. Where do u get the 90deg drive?

I don't think the drill is fast enough.

So you need 90 degree attachment so. .. Think outside the box s bit further..... Angle grinder.

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slammin said..
I don't think the drill is fast enough.

So you need 90 degree attachment so. .. Think outside the box s bit further..... Angle grinder.

I don't think a battery angle grinder would have enough torque.

I have a good Hitachi 5" - it has the speed but definitely not the torque. Maybe a bigger one might do it!!

From memory Electric Eric is a good quality fairly large cordless 90 degree drill like this

www.milwaukeetool.com/products/power-tools

Regards Don

I don't know guys?? There's something about using that power tool thing that would want to make me take off a bloke and throw it over the side

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Jolene said..
I don't know guys?? There's something about using that power tool thing that would want to make me take off a bloke and throw it over the side

The bloke I know with Electric Eric uses it when sailing his 40 footer alone

In one race of approx 50 nm a couple of years ago we were fully crewed on (6 of us) a 32 footer and he was alone on his boat

it was blowing fairly hard for a fair bit of the race and we used a kite and he only used main and headsail

We had a tacking duel coming back up the huon and by the end of the race which lasted most of the day we were worn out and only just beat him over the line

He looked pretty good at the end of the race and to disharten us completly told us he had cooked roast lamb along the way for lunch

This is his boat

Regards Don

hey donk did you know electric eric was a nick name given to eric reece a former premier of tassie who was inspirational in tassie have hydro electric power

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aus005 said..
hey donk did you know electric eric was a nick name given to eric reece a former premier of tassie who was inspirational in tassie have hydro electric power

Hi Aus005

No I did not but I am a recent (4 years) blow in from the mainland

Regards Don

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Lazzarae said..

slammin said..
I don't think the drill is fast enough.

So you need 90 degree attachment so. .. Think outside the box s bit further..... Angle grinder.

I don't think a battery angle grinder would have enough torque.

I have a good Hitachi 5" - it has the speed but definitely not the torque. Maybe a bigger one might do it!!

The tool recommended on the WinchBit website www.winchbit.com/ is a 28v Milwaukee M28 28-Volt Lithium-Ion 1/2 in. Cordless Right Angle Drill but it doesn't appear to be available in Australia. It also looks very heavy and cumbersome as Donk has illustrated.

To my mind the perfect tool is going to be slender, lightweight, have good torque, reversible to take advantage of a two-speed winch and does not need a chuck (assuming you can weld the end of a winch handle to a piece of 1/4" hex rod).

From the locally available options, these two look OK having over 40 Nm of torque:

Makita BTL061Z 18V LXT Lithium-Ion Angle Impact Driver - 60 Nm - about $300 (skin only)




Milwaukee M18BRAID-0 18V Lithium-Ion Right Angle Impact Driver - 41 or 81 Nm of torque - about $250 (skin only)

Impact drivers flog with impacts, they stuff things up.

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Jolene said..
Impact drivers flog with impacts, they stuff things up.

But only if you turn on the impact function. Which in this application you would not.

sort of dont see the point. You still have to hold the thing in place. I cant see it saving manpower. Id rather deal with a winch handle personally than a rather heavy tool. Where does that live heeled over on a tack etc. Motorised winch foot powered or rubber button in cockpit or weetbix and exercise. the video wasn't that convincing at all.

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Gravy7 said..

Jolene said..
Impact drivers flog with impacts, they stuff things up.

But only if you turn on the impact function. Which in this application you would not.

That's interesting, I have never seen an impact driver that you can disable the impact function on. It must be a new thing.

tie it off to a sea anchor that will raise it

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Jolene said..

Gravy7 said..

Jolene said..
Impact drivers flog with impacts, they stuff things up.

But only if you turn on the impact function. Which in this application you would not.

That's interesting, I have never seen an impact driver that you can disable the impact function on. It must be a new thing.

I bow to your experience, Jolene. On further research it seems that the typical impact driver doesn't have an 'impact off' mode. So back to the drawing board!

Gotta love this forum for the depth of knowledge out there - albeit wedded to healthy cynicism.

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Sectorsteve said..
sort of dont see the point. You still have to hold the thing in place. I cant see it saving manpower. Id rather deal with a winch handle personally than a rather heavy tool. Where does that live heeled over on a tack etc. Motorised winch foot powered or rubber button in cockpit or weetbix and exercise. the video wasn't that convincing at all.

Haha... good idea Steve