While sailing along recently and having to do multiple tacks while my family was busy doing more important stuff (hint: iPhones and food were involved ;D) I got tired of the dancing between the helm and the genoa winches and decided to put the genoa lines around the spinnaker winches in the back, next to the helm.
This worked really well but I wonder if it was a good idea. These winches are tiny compared to the others and before doing it again, potentially under more wind, I would like to know if they're able to support the forces in play?
I'm referring to the red one, which is smaller than the green ones.
If you are powerful enough to turn the winch handle, everything should be ok. No worries about damaging something. The working load of these winches is more than enough.
But is the construction beneath the winches strong enough?
The GRP deck is reinforced with aluminum plates at the mounting points of the deck hardware. The winches, together with the cleats, are the points on our boats that can absorb the greatest forces. The halyard winches on the cabin roof have a similar dimension to the spinnaker winches and carry the considerable load of the mainsheet .
Cool, thanks. I'll keep tacking along then. :-)