Bruce wrote:

Interesting winch history mostly snipped...
Still has the same engine, same gearbox etc. Remarkable considering it
averages around 50-60 launches a weekend. So it has somewhere between
100,000 and 150,000 launches behind it without major overhaul.

Snip...
Purchase / build cost is lost to the mists of time. Hans Lobach
celebrated 60 years of gliding taking a launch on "his" winch a couple
of years ago - but could not recall what it cost to build. Cost per
launch is so low the club winch cost is $4 - and that is with the
thing drinking 800ml of premium per launch. Newer engines would be a lot
more efficient.
Your club is lucky indeed to have this sort of paid-for,
safely-functioning bit of hardware! Puts y'all in the happy position of
being able to decide what sort of financial model you want to use (e.g.
"cheap launches" at one end of the model spectrum, as contrasted to
"capital improvement fund" at another end). Definitely more flexible
(and recession-resistant) than "gotta pay off this beastie's mortgage"
rigid pricing!

Snip...
That winch is probably the only reason such a small club can continue to
operate economically.
"Ayup...this in a nutshell is (to me, anyway) the crux of 'tension
control' winching gaining acceptance.

Assuming at least one 'cheapie-version/technology-demonstrator'
tension-control winch can be brought to operational use somewhere in the
world, then 'Father Time' will be the judge as to whether or not safety
is statistically-enhanced in practice...while he'll also be keeping a
keen eye on maintenance costs/issues.

Meanwhile, the new technology - for better or worse - will be competing
against existing technology, cost-wise. Seems to me there's no realistic
way to remove practical economics from this particular playing field...

Regards,
Bob W.