Blog | upffront.com

Some exciting news this month from one of our favourite French deck hardware suppliers, Karver Systems, who acquired Pontos winches in February this year.

Pontos was another innovative start-up French company based on St Malo who brought their innovative 4 speed winches to the market in 2012/2013. They dominated the media for the following 2-3 years, coming first in Yachting World’s New Year’s Top 10 (2013) and with feature articles in Yachting Monthly, Practical Boat Owner, Sail World, Seahorse and Yachting World all of whom were impressed and wondering why no-one had done this before.

Choosing a winch can be daunting. The main decision criteria may be size or power Ratio, but Style, Speeds, Material and Grip are also of a consideration. That’s without going into powered options (electric / hydraulic), and then an extensive range of winch handle styles and sizes! Winches are an expensive bit of equipment and an educated choice will save you from unnecessary spend.

Type in ‘how to service a winch’ on Google, and the results you will get are endless. There are two types of steps to take: those that are universal to all winches, and those that are applicable to specific models. In this post, we discuss minimum requirements for servicing.

Although the fundamental mechanics of winches have not really changed over the years, there are some innovative features and performance improvements which have appeared in more recent years. Winches are a durable piece of equipment, lasting many years, but it is important to consider if the winches on-board are right for you.