Simon, the choice of winch will be dictated by performance requirements versus cost. If price is not a consideration then my personal choice for a drum winch is the RMG or for an arm winch a Hitec Monster Power. (I am using both, arm winch in a Britpop and RMG in a Psycho. The arm winch is certainly the quickest and is good downwind to jybe, but sometimes unless you are controlled on the stick can be too fast. If cost is a consideration the KingMax winches are a good choice as Component Shop in Wales can supply these. The most suitable range in price from £30 to £70. I also sail a Tonic IOM and have used a variety of these chinese winches in this, the Eurgle Winch (no longer available had satisfactory performance but proved unreliable. The KingMax winches have adequate torque and speed and have proved to be suprisingly good with reliability. There are plenty of IOM's using these winches. The lower cost versions are too slow and they are even slower as you approach the endpoints, I cannot reccomend these. I did start a thread regarding the KingMax winches, I personally have only used the £30 versions (metal case) with either the metal optional drum on the faster but lower torque version or the higher torque version with an even larger 3D printed drum to improve speed. Happy with either in the Tonic. One of our members purchased the next version up approx £50 and has been sailing her IOM with that without issue, even at the top end of the top suit of sails. The decision on what suits your reqirements is yours!
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Eric Finley · 21 hours ago 21 hr