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

[Mary Lou Troy]

I will add to this discussion and say that we had the 6:1 manual motor 
mount on Fretless and for the entire 18 years  we owned her I did not 
have trouble raising the motor.  I vaguely remember we did replace a 
stop at the bottom of the lift (or something). Unlike pushing the button 
on the electric lift, I did have to stand on the seat to get the correct 
angle to haul it up and I did have to use a few muscles. I also 
occasionally had to give it a little shove to get it to start down when 
lowering the outboard but I am not an especially fit person and managed 
just fine.

Mary Lou
ex Rhodes 22
now Rosborough RF-246, Tara


On 9/6/2020 4:04 PM, stan wrote:
>
>> 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
>
>


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