Check Minney's in Costa Mesa (Newport Beach), Calif. Until recently they had some of the larger ST winches still in stock and their price was better than even WM's recent sale price.For your 30 footer, I would suggest something in the 43 to 46 size range, nothing smaller. :nerd:
Self Tailing is a super-helpful mature technology these days and I would not sail without it.
Presume you are talking about the primaries mounted on the cockpit combings.
Did you notice that Lewmar 2 for price of 1 sale advertised recently @ West Marine? That was a really good deal.
If you are also considering an upgrade to the house top winch(es), do not go below a size 30ST. Our current boat has those and they are the absolute minimum for hauling an mature adult human up the mast. (And some folks think those are only for raising sails!)
Cheers,
Loren
Amen to that, Loren! I upgraded the winches on my E26-2 to Lewmar ST 30s and they are definitely overkill for that boat. But man, is it sweet cranking in that 135% genny even when the wind kicks up. Very nice when single handed and steering with a tiller extension in one hand and using the other hand to crank in the sail. No complaints!Knowledgeable buyers will order winch upgrades on their new boat anyway.
After all, no one ever returns from a good day's sailing in 18+ kts and complains that the boat's winches were too powerful and too easy to use.
Loren
I never objected to the non-ST winches when I was sailing regularly with crew. But these days I single hand a great deal and adding the self tailers to my boat was one of the best upgrades I have done to it. Though I single handed the boat for a few years with the non-ST winches, it was a pain because unless I wanted to set up the tillerpilot all the time, I needed to take my hand off the tiller in order to tail the winch. So I would typically contort myself on the leeward side to steer the tiller with my hip or foot while I would tail and crank the winch, etc. Certainly doable but when it's blowing 20 or 25 knots it's just not so much fun. So while ST winches are not a necessity they sure are nice and I enjoy single handed sailing much more with them. These, and upgrading to a new Garhauer traveler, make sail trim comfortable and a joy.On a 30 footer I really struggle to see the need for self tailers. Sure it is the fashion and the amount of times I see folks claim that you must have them is staggering. Buy yourself a harken 150 cam cleat, mount it on the cockpit side aft of the winch on a little bit of an angle, and you are off and running.
The loads on that boat do not require two handed winching, and you are likely to only have a single handed winch handle anyway. Pop line out of cam cleat, grind and tail as normal, pop line back in cleat. It takes mere seconds You are talking about spending 1000 dollars here for the smaller lewmar 15 and 2k for the 30. Try the 35 dollar option on one of the winches and if it does not work then blow the 1K. I have run boats to 40 feet singlehanded using this and it works fine. For 2k go buy yourself a brand new mainsail. Or go to Europe for a week.
I'm almost positive that these are brand new, in the box--just like the ones I bought not quite a year ago.Minney's yacht surplus has some Lewmar 30's and 40's on sale that look like a very good price and condition. Just scroll down the specials page. Good luck!
http://www.minneysyachtsurplus.com/specials/last-call-before-price-increase-lewmar-30s-40s#comments