Hello to all and Happy New Year. I have two Ericson 23-2 sailboats. The 1975 E23-2 has Barlow 16 winches. The 1976 E23-2 has Barlow 15 winches. Has anyone upgraded away from the Barlow winches to something different and preferably still maintained by an operational manufacturer/supplier? The boats are intended for simple cruising if that makes a difference in the response. Thanks in advance for any suggestions.
Prairie Schooner
Jeff & Donna, E35-3 purchased 7/21
What would be your goal in changing?
The idea about changing stems from support and parts availability. I looked again and the Barlow 16 winches have been known to suffer from catastrophic failure, which probably was the cause of the Barlow 15 a year later. I am looking for a winch that will be reliable for many years to come and one that has parts support in the US for maintenance items when needed. More research has showed that the Harken B6 and the Anderson 10 have very similar dimensions to the Barlow 15/16. The other option would be sourcing a used couple of Barlow 15s from Ebay or similar source but the reported design issues and failures with the four Barlow 16s on the 1975 E23 caused me hesitation. Before proceeding with another choice, I thought why not ask the question here?