Smart Winch

tophopper

The resident asshole
Joined
Aug 27, 2010
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Minneapolis
Anyone seen this yet?

Whats better than a GRCS? One that you don't have to change out the harken for the bollard when you switch from hoisting to negative blocking.


download.php
 
tophopper: Don't leave us hangin' man--where'd you find that thing. Willie'll have to get one before tomorrow's job! The strap looks a bit anemic though.
 
Bite me dealio.:P

I mean what's the 411 on this thing a ling. Is Greg making it? Who's selling it? What's the price? I'm outta the loop here.

:D
 
Cannt be for sale in the US though or Im sure Gregg Good will have something to say about it since he holds a patent for that design.... Also that winch on there isnt as strong as the ones Gregg uses, which Harken actually discontinued. He has to special order them in batches of 100 to get them to make them, now do the math on that......

Another thing that occurs to me is those fairleads on the top will bend in a heartbeat as long as they are.....
 
Ahhh I see that makes more sense, but you don't think you could use both together as long as they weren't rubbing/crossing?
 
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  • #16
Cannt be for sale in the US though or Im sure Gregg Good will have something to say about it since he holds a patent for that design.... Also that winch on there isnt as strong as the ones Gregg uses, which Harken actually discontinued. He has to special order them in batches of 100 to get them to make them, now do the math on that......

Another thing that occurs to me is those fairleads on the top will bend in a heartbeat as long as they are.....


I too think the fairleads would get bent out of shape in no time.

So Id assume Gregs patent is on the mounting plate? I mean its a yachting winch mounted on a steel plate. Id think if the plate wasnt exactly the same there would be no infringement.

Being a prototype, it'll take several years to work out the bugs. Those fairleads will be the first to change Im sure.
 
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  • #17
I dunno Justin. Given the right circumstances maybe. Things could get hairy pretty quickly if you got 2 load lines tangled up in there, Im guessing.
 
From Tophopper's link:
Unlike the GRCS which has a winch handle plus a bar for the strapping, Steven has managed to make his winch handle multi-purpose - it's used for both the winch and the mounting mechanism.

Another unique feature (for a winch/bollard) is the ability to set two ropes at once - one around the winch and one around the outer bollard.

Might not be for negative blocking big stuff at the same time, but I wonder if you couldn't butt tie on the bollard, while winching a tip-tie, giving some protection if the hinge breaks free while lifting.
 
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  • #20
Good eye. I hadn't read that far into the page yet.

That winch handle isn't near long enough to get the mounting mechanism strapped down tight. We put 2 guys on the mounting bar of our GRCS..... and still sometimes shift it loose a bit.
 
Maybe there's some sort of gearing mechanism on the strap takeup to provide ma?

Doesn't really look like it though.
 
I think I would still prefer the GRCS. IMO, having the lowering bollard and the winch be a single unit is not a good idea. With the GRCS you have a choice: you can either use the lowering only bollard (as I would most of the time), or you can use the winch, which lifts and lowers. But if you used the winch all the time and just threw away the lowering only bollard, the winch would wear out much more quickly. And this would suck because the winch is the most expensive part of the machine. It sure does look pretty though.
 
Sorry, Sean...I'm not following you. Seems like with the Smart Winch when you use the bollard the winch doesn't get any wear at all. But I may be missing something.
 
More like the small units Frans and Paul fabbed up themselves. I don't think many would consider the Hobbs an "anything lite" :D.
 
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