Product of the Week- Selden Reversible Winch
by . on 29 Nov 2010
The innovative and safe Selden reversible winch SW
Sail-World's Product of the Week is the 2010 winner of the prestigious DAME Award (Design Award METS), now in its 20th year. The Seldén Reversible Winch, which comes from Seldén Mast AB, was the winner in the category of Deck Equipment, and overall winner.
The key to why this particular reversible winch won such an award from 132 entered products from 19 countries is in its innovative safety. By backing the line off the winch instead of easing it by hand, there is greater safety for the operator.
The Jury, in giving its reasons for the award, felt that this winch would have the largest impact on the leisure marine industry and would appear on many sailing boats in the future.
There are several models featuring the new technology, the R30, R40, R46, R52, and this patented new feature gives a new dimension to the concept of winches.
So how does it work?
The winches are of self tailing type with two gears forward. You start winching clock wise on the fast gear, shift down to low gear by rotating the winch handle anti clock wise. So far, exactly as usual.
The ingenious feature with the new Seldén winches is that you can let the rope out by reversing the winch drum. The purpose made winch handle has a knob which is pushed down with your thumb to prepare the winch for reverse drive.
The winch handle is then rotated clock wise and the rope is eased out. The rope remains in the self tailing jaws all the time which means it’s a one hand operation to trim the sheet, the halyard or the windward guy.
For the cruising sailor, and especially if you have less experienced people on board, the one handed operation means safety – no hands are even close to the drum when easing out the rope.
In rough conditions you can hold on with your free hand. Single handed sailors can steer and trim at the same time
The winches will be on sale from around March 2011 - if you're thinking of buying new winches, it's worth the wait.
To contact Selden for updated information as it comes to hand, inquire with Selden by clicking http://www.seldenmast.com/frameset.cfm?id=2140&randnum=951985650!here.
To see the winch being operated at METS (Marine Equipment Trade Show), watch the video below:
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