At 14:52 12 July 2009, bildan wrote:

Do I have an emotional bias against crappy engineering? Damn right I
do - especially when it's being sold as the 'perfect' solution.

My club in New Jersey used to operate a winch. It was before my time
(hard to believe anything was before my time, but there you are). It was
made from a Model A Ford chassis. One rear axle was welded solid and a
drum (probably made from an old truck wheel) was mounted on the other axle
with the launch rope wrapped around it. They launched down the side of a
hill and had one helluva lot of fun doing it.

OK, this was back in the 1930s, as I've heard the tales.

We'd all like to have the ultimate winch to launch with. We'd also like
to all have Ferraris to drive. Most of us settle for what we can afford,
and try to avoid letting the perfect become the enemy of the good.

Jim Beckman