A
Stainless Steel Sailboat Winch Drill Adapter Bit. $19.95 + $5.95 Priority Mail
S&H.
Easily send someone aloft, sheet, furl or raise the mainsail.
The Cranker is a solid one-piece stainless steel bit that you chuck into your drill. It will fit into the socket of any standard sailboat winch allowing you to power the winch with your drill instead of a winch handle. Made in the USA and guaranteed for life.
The shank size of The Cranker is 3/8” so you need at least a 3/8” drill. More important is the torque rating of the drill and the size of your winches. Most winches are rated by their mechanical advantage, so a #25 winch has a 25 to 1 power ratio. A drill with a 600 inch pound torque rating in a #25 winch will produce 1250 pounds of pull (600/12x25=1250). The recommended drill is the Milwaukee 18 volt variable speed reversing angle drill (catalog #3109-24). It produces 600 inch pounds of torque, is a very heavy duty drill and will run a long time on a charge. Accessories like extra batteries or a 12 volt charger are readily available. One advantage of using an angle drill over a regular drill or winch handle is that the length of the lever arm is increased so you have less strain. The typical length of a winch handle is 8 or 10 inches. Most angle drills are 15 to 17 inches. This cuts the force that you need to apply nearly in half to achieve the same pull from your winch. I also like the Dewalt DW960 18 volt angle drill. It is light weight and more compact than the Milwaukee but only has half the torque (300 inch pounds). It will furl my headsail with ease, lift my dinghy out of the water and sheet - but only in light winds. It will not raise me up my mast which the Milwaukee does with no problem.
If you don’t set the jaws exactly on the flats of a hex or 3 sided bit, after applying torque to the bit it may set to a different (and smaller) part of the flats - since it is not tight in the chuck anymore it may fall out of the drill inadvertently – not good on a sailboat. You will be able to chuck it in tight enough to prevent slippage.
I have been sailing for
over 45 years. I’ve finished my present boat from a bare hull and have sailed
her on the east coast of the US from New Jersey to the Bahamas. The prototype of
The Cranker was made years ago when my wife had to send me aloft several times.
Knowing she didn’t have the strength to crank me quickly up the mast by hand I made an adapter
that fit my Milwaukee angle drill. I easily went up the mast with no strain on
the her or the drill.
The Cranker is $19.95 each plus a flat rate of $5.95 for USPS Priority Mail S&H in the United States no matter how many you buy. Orders outside the US will be shipped by International First Class Mail unless other arrangements have been made. Use the Buy Now button below to purchase The Cranker on PayPal's secure web site using a credit card or e-check, or e-mail thecranker@att.net for other payment options or questions.
At the dock doing repairs, hauling Judy up the mast to replace the Nth Windex or Yth feather, or changing furling genoa's or lubing the main track, etc. it is a pain crankin' the winch...yet electric winches, tho nice, are costly— even the electric winch handles are outa sight $$$Wise...
LO AND BEHOLD THE CRANKER...>20 bucks (way over priced for the stuff you get), a GREAT SOLUTION...O.K. IT'S WORTH 20.00...
The cranker is a SS device that is chucked in a moderately powerful drill and away you go...
I used it today with a 7AMP drill (not the recommended right-angle drill) to haul out the main (in-mast-furler) ... took 5 seconds ...brrpppr, spin, brrrrppp... it's out. Lowered, made few tweaks, and with crew at winch and me feeding into groove, 10 seconds and it's up again...
Was able to test hauling Judy (135lbs) up the bosun's chair, like no resistance at all.
Here's some of my eBay feedback:
Great Product- fast shipping.
Thanks!
Excellent transaction. Fast shipping. Fine product. Reasonable price.
good product, fast delivery, thanks
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Last revised: 10/07 The Cranker, LLC