Sheet winches
John Lane
I, too, have marveled over this testament to the occasional illogic of our
market system (alas). Winches are just ridiculously overpriced. And I
agree. It appears to be largely that there just aren't that many companies
making them, and the demand is high enough -- or the curve inelastic
enough -- that they can just charge whatever they want. Many of the winches
made by these mftrs are, I believe, bought by boat mftring companies, and
I'd be willing to bet the price of a few of these little jewels that the
mftrs don't pay these high prices for them.
Another thing to note. Some of these companies do not provide long-term
support for the product. For example, I have a pair of Lewmar 25's that are
about 25 years old, and Lewmar does not have parts for them. I recently had
a debate with a fellow who thought I was nuts for thinking that 25 yrs is
relatively new for marine hardware and that the product should still be
supported. To this chap (nice guy, BTW), one shouldn't expect a piece of
marine hardware to last any longer than that. Hogwash! A good piece of
marine hardware -- especially one costing that much -- should well last
forever. I had winches on my old Alden yawl that were made in 1948 (or
earlier, installed that year anyway), and they were in excellent condition.
Same with lots of other hardware on that beautiful boat. Lesson: don't buy
Lewmar.
But what are the choices? Not many. So, if you are having some winches
made up, I'd be interested. Please use only high grade stainless steel (or
bronze) for the bodies, ss for the gears. I have a couple of older Barients
that are in great shape. Those are the model I would work toward (not the
later Barients that were made of aluminum, but the old ss ones). Let's hear
more of this kind of thing. This is what it's all about.
Mark Lane
NY
Wilde wrote in message ...
>Why are sheet winches for cruising boats so bloody expensive?
>The level of technology (in spite of the hype) is about that of the gearbox
>in your washing machine and nowhere near that of a sewing machine. Numbers
>produced only explains a small part of the price.
>I suspect, mostly it's that the various manufacturers have found the price
>that the boating public are prepared to pay, as long as the product is
shiny
>and has the correct buzwords in it's sales literature.
>As you may have guessed from the above, I need several winches,
>about a dozen largish 2 speed beasties would do fine. What I do not need
>however is a second mortgage. The choice boils down to rounding up the
>required number of (hopefuly similar) second hand items and rebuilding them
>(proving difficult) or.... Manufacturing them from scratch. With the second
>option in mind and a collection of late model winch components and sketches
>in hand I visited a number of foundries, machine shops, gear cutting
>specialists and bearing suppliers. The numbers for a dozen off came to
>NZ$1160 ish (US$580) plus chrome and assembly costs. It's not hard to see a
>small business making say 100 units p/a selling for about NZ$2500 (US$1250)
>doing very well.
>Anyone interested in cheap, well engineered, largish, 2 speed sheet
winches?
>
>
Glenn Ashmore
Wilde wrote:
> Why are sheet winches for cruising boats so bloody expensive?
Marketing. There is definitely a large mark up.
List on a Lewmar 48AST is about $1,900. West Marine is asking $1,644. By
calling around and getting a quote on a package of 4 or 6 winches you can get
prices as low as $1,100. I have a confidential work sheet for a cost take off
dated 1997 from a well known simi-custom builder. The 48ASTs are on the
estimate at $551.60 each.
I would guestimate that the actual direct cost to manufacture a 48AST is about
$175 to $225. Double that for overhead, administration, advertising and other
sales cost. Based on a wholesale price of $550, in any other market, the
street price would be about $1,100 but this is a restricted market both in
competition and demand. A non-stocking dealer who just takes orders and has
Lewmar drop ship can probably make good money at that price but a stocking
dealer sitting on a $200,000 inventory is going to ask a lot more.
It cost a lot more to sell a winch than it does to make one. People buy the
name. Several years a go I had a chance to examine a Russian made ST winch of
about the size of a 48. It was well made if a bit heavy. Bronze and stainless,
beautiful chrome, well machined, smooth action and about half the price of a
Lewmar. Couldn't give them away. Nobody had ever heard of them before and
would not take the gamble.
--
Glenn Ashmore
I'm building a 45' cutter in strip/composite. Watch my progress (or lack there
of) at: http://www.mindspring.com/~gashmore