Glider Winch Manufacturers or Plans to make???

Does anyone out there in this world make glider launch winches or are there
plans available?? THANKS!! Ted

Ted wrote:
Does anyone out there in this world make glider launch winches or are there
plans available?? THANKS!! Ted

Yes. There are two Yahoo groups that can provide you with much more
information:

http://groups.yahoo.com/group/winchdesign/

http://groups.yahoo.com/group/winchengineer/

Marc

At 00:43 13 July 2008, Ted wrote :-

Does anyone out there in this world make glider launch winches . . . .


Well you did say "Does anyone out there in this world make glider launch
winches . . . . " ?

Out of interest try looking at :-

http://www.skylaunchuk.com/index.htm

You sould feel at home, as the one I drive, the Skylanch 8200 is powered
by a Chevy 8.2 litre V8 (Run on LPG)

Hi Mark & Tony,
THANK YOU SO MUCH for your replies!! You guys are GREAT!!
Cheers, Ted



"Tony Clark" wrote in message
...
At 00:43 13 July 2008, Ted wrote :-

Does anyone out there in this world make glider launch winches . . . .


Well you did say "Does anyone out there in this world make glider launch
winches . . . . " ?

Out of interest try looking at :-

http://www.skylaunchuk.com/index.htm

You sould feel at home, as the one I drive, the Skylanch 8200 is powered
by a Chevy 8.2 litre V8 (Run on LPG)

The skylaunch is a cosmetic update of the 1960's US Gerhlein winches and
suffers from the same major shortcomings. If you still like it, save $50k -
$75k by spending a couple of thousand for an old Gerhlein and fix it up.

If you'd like a modern, state of the art winch, take a look at these from US
winch buiders:

http://www.romansdesign.com/
and
http://www.hydrowinch.com

Bill Daniels


"Ted" TBBlakeley@comcastDOTnet wrote in message
. ..
Hi Mark & Tony,
THANK YOU SO MUCH for your replies!! You guys are GREAT!!
Cheers, Ted



"Tony Clark" wrote in message
...
At 00:43 13 July 2008, Ted wrote :-

Does anyone out there in this world make glider launch winches . . . .


Well you did say "Does anyone out there in this world make glider launch
winches . . . . " ?

Out of interest try looking at :-

http://www.skylaunchuk.com/index.htm

You sould feel at home, as the one I drive, the Skylanch 8200 is powered
by a Chevy 8.2 litre V8 (Run on LPG)

Here you can see why Yahoo has two winch groups, rather than one 8^)

My advice is that you study what people have to say on both groups
carefully, take those with an obvious bone to pick with a grain of salt,
assess the finances and available expertise, and make the most
appropriate choice for your club or soaring operation. Also, take a
careful look at retrieve winches, they allow you to start off with a
single or double drum winch, and provide a straightforward upgrade path
to higher launch rates when justified, at only a slight cost in launch
height.

And, I've gone out of my way to spend some time sitting in, poking
around, and getting launched by updated Gehrlein, Tost, Supacat, and
Skylaunch winches. Skylaunch has a proven design, and gives you the
option of buying individual components, kits, or completely built
winches. Yes, the basic configuration of a Skylaunch is similar to a
Gehrlein (though most Gehrleins have one drum). With an
engine/transmission swap, upgraded drum, changes to the cable rollers
and guillotine, and some amount of tinkering, a Gehrlein can be made
quite usable. A Skylaunch simply gets you there quicker and in more
comfort, though of course, at higher cost.

Roman of Roman's Design is a mechanical genius, he has helped upgrade a
number of the old Gehrleins in Southern California, and his new winch is
an automated marvel which has started test launching. It costs a bit
more than a Skylaunch, and may well end up being a viable alternative.
Roman also recognizes that finances are an issue for a lot of clubs, so
he is currently designing a simpler lower cost single drum model which
may be a better fit for many.

As for Hydrowinch, well, I'd like to have an Antares, but I'll likely
never be able to afford to buy or maintain one...

Marc

Bill Daniels wrote:
The skylaunch is a cosmetic update of the 1960's US Gerhlein winches and
suffers from the same major shortcomings. If you still like it, save $50k -
$75k by spending a couple of thousand for an old Gerhlein and fix it up.

If you'd like a modern, state of the art winch, take a look at these from US
winch buiders:

http://www.romansdesign.com/
and
http://www.hydrowinch.com

Bill Daniels

On 13 Jul, 14:33, "Bill Daniels" bildan@comcast-dot-net wrote:
The skylaunch is a cosmetic update of the 1960's US Gerhlein winches and
suffers from the same major shortcomings.

Could you expand on that a bit? I know a few clubs here which use 'em
and think very highly of them.

Ian

At 18:06 13 July 2008, Ian wrote:
On 13 Jul, 14:33, "Bill Daniels" wrote:
The skylaunch is a cosmetic update of the 1960's US Gerhlein winches
and
suffers from the same major shortcomings.

Could you expand on that a bit? I know a few clubs here which use 'em
and think very highly of them.

Now you've done it!

At 13:33 13 July 2008, Bill Daniels wrote :-

The Skylaunch is a cosmetic update of the 1960's US
Gerhlein winches and suffers from the same major shortcomings. If you
still like it, save $50k-$75k by
spending a couple of thousand for an old Gerhlein and
fix it up. If you'd like a modern, state of the art
winch, take a look at these from US winch buiders:

http://www.romansdesign.com/ and
http://www.hydrowinch.com

Bill Daniels


Hi Bill,

I'm not particularly promoting Skylaunch! It's just that Bill asked if
anybody had information on professionally built, and self build winches,
and we as readers and contributors to these forums, are surely doing what
he asks for if we throw him all the information and links etc. we can, so
he can study the situation for himself. I look on comments like yours as a
positive aid to Bill's information gathering, so long as they are unbiased
and accurate!

With this in mind I would be pleased if you could explain in more specific
detail about what you personally found are the "shortcomings" of the
'Skylaunch' winch - rather than just just leave it at a vague reference
to mysterious "shortcomings.

I found this staccato comment perplexing because I have been driving
winches since 1972 and the Skylaunch 8200 since 2001, launched thousands
of gliders with the Skylaunch and trained many new winch drivers. Yet,
after all these launches, I have yet to find these mysterious
"shortcomings" that you speak of!

If you have had a lot experience of driving Skylaunch winches, but have
specific problems with launching or the winch, I for one would take much
interest if you could explain them. There may be a reason for your
problems and something as simple as a different method of operation might
be all that is needed to solve them! Maybe you need a little guidance on
setting-up, driving, or maintenance, etc.

On the other hand, if you are making a statement regarding certain
"shortcomings" (that I have not personally found) without actually
having had experience of these winches, and your opinion is actually only
based on secondhand comments, it is not paticularly fair to the
manufacturer, or to Bill, who is trying to gather what accurate
information there is available.



Tony Clark

On 13 Jul, 19:56, Tony Clark wrote:
* *At 13:33 13 July 2008, Bill Daniels wrote :-

The Skylaunch is a cosmetic update of the 1960's US
Gerhlein winches and suffers from the same major shortcomings. *If you

still like it, save $50k-$75k by

spending a couple of thousand for an old Gerhlein and
fix it up. *If you'd like a modern, state of the art
winch, take a look at these from US winch buiders:

http://www.romansdesign.com/*and
http://www.hydrowinch.com

Bill Daniels

Hi Bill,

I'm not particularly promoting Skylaunch! It's just that Bill asked if
anybody had information on professionally built, and self build winches,
and we as readers and contributors to these forums, are surely doing what
he asks for if we throw him all the information and links etc. we can, so
he can study the situation for himself. I look on comments like yours as a
positive aid to Bill's information gathering, so long as they are unbiased
and accurate!

With this in mind I would be pleased if you could explain in more specific
detail about what you personally found are the "shortcomings" of the
'Skylaunch' winch - rather than just just leave it at a vague reference
to mysterious "shortcomings.

I found this staccato comment perplexing because I have been driving
winches since 1972 and the Skylaunch 8200 since 2001, launched thousands
of gliders with the Skylaunch and trained many new winch drivers. Yet,
after all these launches, I have yet to find these mysterious
"shortcomings" that you speak of!

If you have had a lot experience of driving Skylaunch winches, but have
specific problems with launching or the winch, I for one would take much
interest if you could explain them. There may be a reason for your
problems and something as simple as a different method of operation might
be all that is needed to solve them! Maybe you need a little guidance on
setting-up, driving, or maintenance, etc.

On the other hand, if you are making a statement regarding certain
"shortcomings" (that I have not personally found) without actually
having had experience of these winches, and your opinion is actually only
based on secondhand comments, it is not paticularly fair to the
manufacturer, or to Bill, who is trying to gather what accurate
information there is available.

Tony Clark

I'm getting confused about the Bills and Teds but I am anticipating an
excellent adventure!