Halyard power winch question

[david hills]

Curious, re any J42 owners who may have installed a power winch on their portside cabin top for main halyard, and any wisdom for considering this.
Thanks!

David
SV Raven
J42

David Hills
Caretaker
Emery Farm
135 Piscataqua Rd
Durham, NH 03824
603-674-6412

I am my own strength, there is no other
I am my own weakness, there is no other
We are all one, there is no other

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[William Beebe]

Andersen winch, but on the stbd side. Came with the boat that the Mrs. purchased. Love it.

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[Tom Keffer]

Like William, mine came with a power winch on the starboard side.

If you use light laminate sails and sail with a crew, it is not a game changer. If your mainsail track is clean, you can get the main up without a winch at all by hauling it up at the mast except for the last couple of inches, in which case you don't want to use a power winch.

However, if you singlehand, it's very useful. I point the boat into the wind, set the autopilot to 0° apparent, walk forward and push the button. Nice!

It's also handy for hauling someone up the mast.

-tk

[Todd Stevens]

I’m not sure why you would. Seems superfluous if you already have powered primaries and if you don’t, why not convert the primaries first? Seems like the motor and control box would be a real obstacle in the head.

Presuming that you do have power primary winches (doesn’t everyone?) wrap the halyard once around the cabintop winch (half a turn for starboard) and across to the opposite-side primary. Hoist away.

But exercise extreme caution. These things allow even ordinary sailors to effortlessly turn any minor jam into full-blown catastrophe. And if you lead to the same side (at least with my set up) you get overrides that can damage the winch. But it does make raising the main easier and quicker and makes loading the dinghy a relative breeze. Make sure the halyard always leads fair and never, for example, hooks around a spreader or steaming light.

Todd
s/v Wild

[Walter Caldwell]

Our J40 came with a power port side halyard winch and leisure furl in-boom main. The power winch is almost a necessity for that setup. If you had batcars or similar it’s probably not necessary.
The motor on our winch is a little undersized which turns out is a good thing. It trips the breaker before it can tear anything up.

Walter
J40 007
Shaken Not Stirred
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> On Mar 11, 2026, at 10:30, david hills <davideh...@gmail.com> wrote:
>
> Curious, re any J42 owners who may have installed a power winch on their portside cabin top for main halyard, and any wisdom for considering this.

[Dennis Boyd]

Well  Bill and John Harries of Attainable Adventure Cruising would suggest you look at an eWincher.   

That's what I inherited from Bill when I bought Jaywalker.  The ACC articles are pretty detailed (two parts).    The verion two seems better, and it gives you an electric winch on all the winches.    I' am going to replace one of the batteries and sail with it this year.   I'll let everyone know after I've used it. 

Dennis 

Jaywalker  J/42 #6

[David Jade]

If you’re going to go the eWincher route, consider a Milwaukee right angle plumbers driver, the big low speed high torque 28v version. Harken makes a winch bit for them. So does winchbit.com.  Cheaper and less proprietary than an eWincher and you can easily carry multiple batteries that you can get at a Home Depot.

We had one on our previous boat and it worked great. 

 

David                      _/)

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

On Mar 11, 2026, at 12:03 PM, Dennis Boyd <dennis....@gmail.com> wrote:

Well  Bill and John Harries of Attainable Adventure Cruising would suggest you look at an eWincher.   

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[Dick York]

This may be the Wisdom of the Year: 

"The motor on our winch is a little undersized which turns out is a good thing. It trips the breaker before it can tear anything up."

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[Dick York]

Seconding David Jade's response.  We have the same rig for a power winch and it works great.  Buy one spare battery and you are set!

... Dick York J/46 #9 ARAGORN

On Wed, Mar 11, 2026 at 12:30 PM David Jade <da...@mutable.net> wrote:

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[Bernie Coyne]

Thirding David Jade!  We use the Milwaukee right angle drill:

https://www.milwaukeetool.com/products/details/m28-cordless-lithium-ion-right-angle-drill-kit/0721-21

 

..with the “Cranker” bit but that part no longer seems available.

 

Bernie  J/46 #10 Mystic Rose

 

Bernie Coyne

Email: bernie...@outlook.com

Cell/text: 781-789-0762

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[Paul DeFreitas]

I changed out the main halyard to a 2 to 1 setup using a high strength block connected to the shackle which is attached to the mainsail headboard.  Works well. Simple to install.  Much cheaper.  Also, you could add a Tides Marine sail track to further reduce fiction 

Paul

J-40 Flame #30

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[f...@nyu.edu]

I never use our power winchs on .(on both Jib winches)..  Resolve   J40..   First owner put every "extra" on her...       .. Interesting accident 25 years ago.... using power winch   on main halyard...lifting someone up the mast,   the halyard was lead from left side back to spinnaker wintch  then forward to power winch.....    It jammed in and had so much power it pulled out the spin winch like a cannon ball... no injuries.....  J40 doesn't need power jub winches...Frank...

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[Sean Motta]

I powered the OEM port cabin top winch. I solo a lot and that plus a stack pack made sail handling single handed a breeze. 

As others have said - respect the power. I generally trip the breaker if I have newer sailors or guests aboard so no one can hurt themselves/my boat. 

Took up a bit of room in the head ceiling, but it’s pretty manageable A just need to watch your head. 

S

Sean Motta

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USA 52910 | J/42 Hull # 50

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[Anthony Iacono]

I've never had a trouble hoisting the main, but I have lightweight sails. Nonetheless last year a friend talked me into trying his Milwaukee 1/2" right angle 28 Volt cordless drill with a bit made by Harken to fit the cabin top winch. The sail goes right up. It worked very well. Worked well for trimming the jib too when short handed.  I point out because it cost less than $500 give or take, so it is cheaper than installing a power winch, much less than am Ewincher handle and seemed to do the job during my limited trial. Ti.