The Early Radio Yacht Winches.

Since we started R/C yachting in about 1974, there was a perennial problem of obtaining a R/C sail winch.

These days we just ring up RMG and say “G’day Rob” and Hey Presto! There’s one in the letterbox. It wasn’t always like this, for in the early days you had to make your own. This is even before the British were making winches. I remember making my own winch out of Perspex sides and Mechanno commercial gears (No8). With no limit switches on it.

             There were not too many R/C boats around at that time. Notable ones were 2 highlanders “A’s from the Sydney Model Yacht Club, owed by John Summerfield and Bob Close (See photo 1A). Both these had properly constructed winches (circa 1968) for they were engineers by trade and had lathes and workshops available to make them. The Victorians had some R/C 36Rs in the Frankston club. While there was a radio class for As called Q class in earlier times, the other classes were considered illegal for registering if they had R/C in them.  

 Some of the earlier attempts for a winch for a Marblehead included using a commercial ‘Monoperm’ motors with gearboxes were used with a drum attached to the end. Spiral gearboxes were tried from model train gearboxes by others including, Doug Billing in this early era.

Around this time the lake Macquarie Model Yacht Club had the same problem when they started. Some of their members set to and constructed some tiny, powerful winches.  They used a jig to put them together because the winch was so compact in its construction and that was the only way to assemble them properly. They were half the weight of the Sydney winches and one could use half the weight battery than the southern, heavier variety used. The heavier types used 6 volt lantern batteries.

Another type of Newcastle winch they had, had a clutch arrangement that came into operation when the sheet rope was pulled fully in. The motor would still continue to rotate, but the drum would slip as it were on the shaft, for it was held on the shaft by a clutch spring arrangement pressing on the drum. The spring and washer against the drum side was the friction. Now this might sounds complicated or crude from your point of view but in actual fact it was simplicity in itself.  When one wound the winch on, for a beat, the sheet cords pulled in till the sheet was tight and then the clutch/ drum started to slip, the motor kept going, worked great! Till the operator could see that the sails were fully in and then centre the stick on the transmitter.

The Newcastle members, Bill Carter and Co, used to construct winches in the later times from kitchen stove’s rotisserie gearboxes with a Mabuchi motor glued (yes glued) on to the gearbox, that ran on 6 volts AA cell pack. The final drive shafts on these little units were 3/8” (10mm) Dia.  This gearbox is still available (look for old stoves thrown out at ‘clean ups’, they are inside little covers and they run the rotisserie gearbox on the back of the stoves) and is about 50 mm by 75 mm by 15 mm thick. The final gear and indeed all the gears have bronzed bushed bearings. This little gearbox winch can be homemade for about $20 (2006) and it has enough force to be used on every class.(see photo 1)  A micro switch either side of the servo provided the direction of travel for the winch. This gearbox arrangement lends itself to putting an arm on the shaft instead of a drum. For I have been told that Arm Winches give you more ‘inching up’ ability on the sheet, when the boat is hard on a beat!

The next type of winches were an early proportional winch that worked on a cord from the servo to limit switch travelers, then this followed a screw/ nut arrangement on a thread. The nut would run up the rod to the limit switch each time, when the servo was moved again, the cord would pull the limit switches arrangement past the nut again for a new setting and the nut would run forward to the switch again etc.

There was a particular one made in Sydney for “A”class, by Phillip Tyson. This winch was the best made, I had seen, for it was properly made with bronzed bearings for all gears. The chassi was made out of anodized aluminum in hideous reds and blues and the set-up was not unlike the ‘Black’ winch with an arm off the servo. This winch was ideal for A class, for it was too big in area to fit either a 10 rater or Marbleheads.

I got a winch off David Black of Queensland in I think about 1982 (circa)(see photo 2). This is a neat little unit. I saw it first on the decks of the EC12’s that came to race in the NSW Easter state championships, about that time, from Brisbane. This winch was designed around a little gearbox that David had got from somewhere and I think it was run as well with a Mabuchi motor. I believe it came in two versions, the ‘through deck’ variety (drum on deck)(see photo 3. This was given to me by Ian Gilmore, the EC12 Manufacturer) and the ‘inside version inside the boat. One of the really great feature as far as I was concerned was the final shaft that has the drum on was in a conical shape to it and the more you tightened the holding nut, the more you pushed the drum on the shaft. This winch had only the shaft nut holding it to the deck and ease of fitting of it was great. I got one of the ones that sat down in the boat hull and I have given my one a real hiding over the years and it still goes as good as when I bought it from David. The beauty of Black’s winches was they could be run on 4 AA cells (ordinary type batteries). This winch was a servo operated type.

About this time the then Sydney Model Yacht Club, started to try a fairly primitive proportional winch that at that stage was very advanced for the times made by Martin Halloran of Cronulla. But Martin was having a lot of trouble with the vagaries of reed switch contacts operations and such likes. As the reed switch arced, it pitted the contacts, which in turn gave a varied performance in the radio receivers. The club sold more of the early ‘Cord Type’ ones than any other type at that time, where the piece of string pulled the limit switch to the stops.

The next winches on the scene were the ‘big’ Futaba winches. These gave sterling service; these revolutionize the R/C scene, in my view. For while they were big, robust and ran a brass gear train, they were mightily reliable and waterproof.  Even today people with the bigger style boats/ class consider their luck, if they can get their hands on one of these winches.  The Futaba Company also bought out a small arm winch and I saw a couple of people using two of them for separate jib and main winches on Marbleheads. I know Henri Nuerybecki of Northern Mariners (NSW) tried this idea out for a while, with some success in his Marblehead “Fox Bat” designs.

Also at this time there was a Multiplex winch (photo 4). This was a really robust unit. Housed in a small red case with dimensions of 50mmX 50mm cube. One of the features of this winch was a screw adjustment to the throw of the winch or in other words, one could set the distance of the sheet rope length. It had one draw back like all the other winches (so far) that it had to have a separate battery to drive the winch.  I had my one mounted in an EC12, sailing in open water for many years with great service. A couple of times the boat went under- but it still runs today. The good thing with it was that it was half the weight of the big Futaba winch.

 About this time the first of the RMG winches dubbed “the Mechanical” (photo 5) started to show up, these were a large gear train with a servo attached to change the direction of the drum. Make no mistake, this winch had enough power to literally pull your mast & rigging down to the bottom of the boat, it was a powerful brute, some “unfortunates” actually caught their fingers and clothes in it (me).  Rob Guyett said the early RMG winches came from early experimentations with Leggo type gearboxes before he ventured into these later gearboxes. This was followed some time later with a compact version with the switching arrangement in a small microchip on board. This winch set a new benchmark in R/C yacht winches. Rob & Michele Guyatt who made these beaut little units, called it the ‘Dumb’ winch. This Dumb winch as far as I’m concerned, made R/C yachting so easy. And as far as I could see, every man and his dog had one and I think this winch spread throughout the world.

At this time there was a winch in England called the ‘Whirlwind’, it was made by a few different makers. Basically this winch was waterproof with plenty of power, with an adjustable sheet length screw, which was a real plus. It was about the size of a standard size servo. Quite a few were sold in Australia around late 1980s . The maker of the Maltese Falcons boats in Melbourne, Ron Attard was putting them in his boats, Ron was the Bantock’s Australian Agent then. Ron’s MF was “the” boat at the 88/89 Nats. I must say to my personal knowledge these little units were very reliable. Anyone that had one, loved them. For they could fit in the space of a normal servo. But Alas, at the time of writing (2006), they have ceased production.

And then the RMG Smart Winch came along. I think it’s called a smart winch, because if you get one it will be the smartest thing you ever do. This winch is a little beauty.  Call Rob & Michelle to day and order one..... Or two, at www.user.bigpond.com/rmgsw  . RMG has also been innovative by making Step-Down winch drums. This in effect helps to get more control when the sheets are close hauled like an arm winch does in “inching in”.

So the World moves on the and into the one-meter class with a new type winch. These appear to be in similar proportions as a larger servo with a drum on the top. They come on the cheaper end of the market. Of course they are not competitive with a RMG in all departments but they are an alternative. Some people have had “burnouts” with them by trying to get them to do the winching job for what they were not designed for.

Stephen Crewes.  Historical Officer ARYA 2006