[Rhodes22-list] Converting Electric Winch Motor Lift to a Manual System

[stan]

> Boys and Girls, you are clogging up my inbox with this thread, to the 
> point that you know I go out of my way not to do; step in.  Of course 
> Chis is correct: /"Are we reinventing the wheel, didn't Stan have a 
> manual lift with a 6:1 pull? I seem to recall one at the boat show a 
> while back and it lifted the motor pretty easily." /
We did.  And of course Roger is correct.  We used a direct in line 
pulling design with most all the energy going to moving the motor 
upward.  Even folk conceived in the roaring twenties could raise and 
gently lower that contaminating part of their boat.  Actually with 6 
sheaves I think it was set up as a 7:1 ratio.  Those smirking a GB 
design, redesigned by some previous owner, are being innocently 
disingenuous.

Consider the chair.  All 4 of its legs must work as designed or it 
becomes a rocking chair. Not so with a 3 legged stool. A stretch of an 
analogy but it points to the fact that any fault you are now 
encountering is not the result of a 3 X 2 wheel pulley system that 
worked heretofore, but is the fault of somehow new increased friction 
being introduced in the moving of the trolley.  So let's count those 
ways, bearing in mind that sometimes creative prior owners improve on 
our design - and sometimes, not being tuned into all the variables, they 
do not:

1. The 2 aluminum channel tracks that the trolley rides in are distanced 
so that there is almost zero side to side play of the trolley.  If there 
is noticeable trolley side to side play, /*or*/ the tracks are not 
parallel, something or someone has altered the tracks from how they were 
set when leaving the plant.   More important:

2.    The aluminum tracks must be in the same plane.   To make this 
possible on the curved transom of the boat, 2 long plastic parts are 
individually shaped and vertically mounted on the transom for the 
aluminum track channels to mount to so as to keep each track in the same 
plane. (These 2 long plastic parts are mounted to the transom by machine 
screws from inside the lazaret.) To the extent the aluminum tracks are 
displaced from being in the same plane, friction increases the force 
needed to raise the motor.  What could displace the tracks from being in 
the same plane?  Other owners "repairs". (I see in this thread where an 
owner replaced one of the two aluminum tracks with a home made plastic 
design, perhaps not tuned into the same plane need.  It did look like 
they were so far apart the trolley could be removed simply by moving it 
far enough to one side so the other side would lift out of its track. We 
do read some reporting of strange noises and machine screw heads pulling 
through transoms.  Hulls built by others were thin and reinforced with 
wood strips in the lazaret at the motor lift section of the transom.   A 
transom that could flex even slightly will take trolley tracks out of 
the same plane and increase friction that has to be overcome. On older 
recycled boats this gets caught and corrected, while it is probably 
missed on privately bought boats.  Hulls built in Edenton are coreless 
and of solid glass so thick, transoms carry motor lift, rudder loads and 
boarding ladder, all with no back up support. There is no flexing, even 
when pulled from the mold.

3.    Trolley sliders.  If you have one continuous long slider on each 
side of the trolley, it is not a factory installation and is a source of 
considerable friction in non parallel and/or not in the same plane 
tracks.  Manual lift trolleys had 4 small wheels or sliders, two per 
side, mounted on pins or axles that allowed them to adjust their angles 
continuously to accommodate small track variations.  If sliders are 
multi fastened to the trolley and thus are not accommodative, friction 
will increase.  When we went to trolleys that could work manually or 
electrically, we went back to the 3 legged stool idea. There is only one 
slider on each side of the trolley's upper end.  This reduces friction.  
There being no 4 sliders, the third leg of the trolley is a large wheel 
centered at the bottom of the trolley, that simply rides on the surface 
of the transom.  This allows for the trolley to start automatically 
tilting at the right moment to further raise the motor clear of the water.

Two final comments.  To answer Peter's good questioning of 'if the 
manual version was so good why did we go to the electric version?' One, 
for a commercial reason. To expand our market appeal beyond the Peter 
principle level. */The ladies love it./*  The other, personal.  I got 
old and lazy and giving one demonstration sail after another at the 
Annapolis Sailboat show, where both sailing and motoring is required and 
the cockpit is full, I became inspired. Then during the demo sail I 
would ask one of the prospects to tell the motor to come out of the 
water.  When he or she did and nothing happened, I would say, "No, no.  
That motor is from Japan. You have to speak to it in Japaneses".  
Luckily, never having a guest who could, I would make some gibberish 
noise, press the remote in my pocket, take my bows, and maybe a deposit.

The other comment is that all of the above is academic since when and if 
I ever get partnering, I have an idea that may make inboard, retractable 
electric propulsion competitive with outboards of any kind, and be 
standard with each Rhodes, making this entire thread of historical 
interest.

stan