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GoWindlass


roggie

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8 hours ago, zenataomm said:

There was a thread on this a few months back, try searching.

...and we all know how good the search function is. I did find this thread. No, not a link. THIS thread. Can't see and I don't remember anything that recent. 

Interested in the answer but can't see it being that good as everyone would have one already.

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Specialist tool for those with a specific requirement, maybe?  For most of us, I suspect the risk of hearing the "sploosh!" made by an 80 quid windlass outweighs the benefit. You'd really feel strongly obliged to waste the rest of your day plopping about in a lock with a magnet on a string, wouldn't you? :(

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All this windlass do would make you do a back and forth motion instead of circular.  If you have trouble with some paddles a longer lever is what is needed or a reducing gearbox thingy on something like this windlass.

Do you have many paddles where you are where a back n forth motion is better?

I have two windlasses, a normal aluminium one that I mainly use.  And a long steel one for those stubborn paddles.

Edited by Robbo
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I too went looking and it's a very recent thing. There was a bit in Towpath Talk on the 21st of March. I, for one, am perfectly willing to try anything that helps as I steadily get more ancient.

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19 minutes ago, Jo_ said:

I too went looking and it's a very recent thing. There was a bit in Towpath Talk on the 21st of March. I, for one, am perfectly willing to try anything that helps as I steadily get more ancient.

 It’s nearly a kg in weight, I find my lightweight aluminium one much easier to carry around than my steel one of same size and length.  It’s not all about just doing the paddles?

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1 minute ago, Robbo said:

 It’s nearly a kg in weight, I find my lightweight aluminium one much easier to carry around than my steel one of same size and length.  It’s not all about just doing the paddles?

I agree.  Obviously the windlass has to be light enough for ladies to carry and use as they are primarily for female use and only to be used by males when single handed.

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To me it looks horribly under-engineered at the point it has that extra fixed eye part way along the shaft. I would have thought it could easily break at that point.

Also it is presumably useless on spindle that are not tapered, such as those on the Birmingham main line of the GU, and on many of the locks and bridges where old 1970s style hydraulic paddle gear still survives.

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8 minutes ago, mrsmelly said:

I agree.  Obviously the windlass has to be light enough for ladies to carry and use as they are primarily for female use and only to be used by males when single handed.

What misogynistic crap!! The weight of a windlass is inconsequential compared with the strength needed to wind them and open gates. Most of the women that i have observed on the canals are equally, if not more, profficient at lock wheeling than some of the weedy men I have seen.

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1 minute ago, David Schweizer said:

What misogynistic crap!! The weight of a windlass is inconsequential compared with the strength needed to wind them and open gates. Most of the women that i have observed on the canals are equally, if not more, profficient at lock wheeling than some of the weedy men I have seen.

Quite right. Thats why its a womans job. Like having babies etc.

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My crew member manages well enough without added expenditure. The more locks that are operated,the more efficient and able the crew member becomes. In addition, during the winter months the carrying of coal bags is enhanced. 

Edited by Nightwatch
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1 hour ago, alan_fincher said:

To me it looks horribly under-engineered...

Whereas to me it just looks like a horribly expensive solution to a simple job that already has cheap and simple solutions.  I didn't bother to look further!

Note to self: perhaps, rather than a Chartered Engineer and a Yorkshireman, I'm a Chartered Yorkshireman and an Engineer? :wacko:

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3 minutes ago, Sea Dog said:

Whereas to me it just looks like a horribly expensive solution to a simple job that already has cheap and simple solutions.  I didn't bother to look further!

Yes,

I wasn't going to comment on the whole concept of a ratchet windlass per-se, because t seems that some people find them of use, (for clarity though, I can't ever envisage being such a person!)

Previous attempts at it have yielded something far heavier and more unwieldy that this particular offering would appear to be, (and I believe in some cases substantially far more expensive too - £150, I have seen in the past for something that looked like it needed a trolley to move it around.).

However previous attempts have also produced things with folding/extending handles, (or even internal reduction gearing), allowing the greater leverage that some might feel they need to move a recalcitrant paddle at all.

As someone has already said, this design doesn't offer any greater leverage at all, so if you can't easily move a paddle at any point in its rotation with a standard windlass with a similar throw, you ain't going to move it with this either.  It assumes you can do it through part, but not the whole, of the total rotation of the paddle.

Finally, comparing to some standard past windlasses where the handle rotates, I suggest there is the added potential for skin and flesh to get trapped between the rotating and non rotating parts, usually leading to particularly horrible blood blisters.  The fact that the handle doesn't appear to be that long would increase the chances of that for those with wide hands.

Have I now said enough to make it clear I'll not be buying one? :lol:

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1 hour ago, mrsmelly said:

Quite right. Thats why its a womans job. Like having babies etc.

I think you'll find that, whilst it might not be achievable for everyone, everyone should at least have the right to have babies.  And don't come back with any of that "Where's the bloody foetus gonna gestate? In a box?" nonsense. What are you, bleeding Popular People's Front of Judea? Splitter! You're not a boater, you're a very naughty boy!

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3 minutes ago, Robbo said:

The £150 one is here; http://www.lockmasterwindlass.co.uk/.   Looks like to have the advantage of a longer lever when needed.

Yes, and at 150 quid, I'll be leaving the longer lever longer than the rat-sh*t (or was it ratchet, I forget) design of this topic!

I will be keeping an eye on sales though with a view to partnering with Makita or DeWalt to produce a £467.00  rechargeable battery powered windlass with inbuilt led for night cruising. 

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11 minutes ago, Sea Dog said:

Yes, and at 150 quid, I'll be leaving the longer lever longer than the rat-sh*t (or was it ratchet, I forget) design of this topic!

I will be keeping an eye on sales though with a view to partnering with Makita or DeWalt to produce a £467.00  rechargeable battery powered windlass with inbuilt led for night cruising. 

There is one on eBay here that finishes today if any one is interested. https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Canal-Boat-Lockmaster-Windlass-Narrow-Boat/292516044895?hash=item441b50a05f:g:QOAAAOSwY4taykcL

Edited by Robbo
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11 minutes ago, Mike the Boilerman said:

 

He's winding you up David, with remarkable success if I may say !

I do have sufficient awarenes to realise that is what he is purporting to do, but attempting to disguise the sexist views in his first post with weak humour is pathetic and unacceptable. 

Edited by David Schweizer
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3 minutes ago, David Schweizer said:

Attempting to disguise the sexist views in his first post with weak humour is pathetic and unacceptable. 

Make your mind up, is he being sexist or misogynistic? Different things. 

 

Edited by Mike the Boilerman
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