BOATS & GEAR Deck Machinery

Wintech’s newest winch, the HW Series harbor winch, model HW30-E5, was introduced to the towing industry at the 2022 International WorkBoat Show in New Orleans. It’s primarily designed for eet boats or harbor boats that make up groups of barges for larger inland towboats. The major issues addressed by Wintech when designing its harbor winch were safety and ef ciency.

Prior to the development of the harbor winch, most harbor boats had two winches mounted near the center of the forward deck with a line going from each winch drum, around a roller or stainless-steel chock and out to the barges. Thus, ropes and winches took up much of a harbor boat’s limited deck area.

Wintech’s solution was to put two winches in a single housing and mount it next to the tug’s bulkhead. The two lines leaving the winch follow the bulkhead, turn through starboard and port rollers or stainless-steel chocks, and then follow the edge of the superstructure back to the barges.

“It keeps everything tucked in, so you aren’t tripping over things,” said Bryan. Wintech’s double-drum deck winch is “fully serviceable from both sides,” and inspections can be conducted by removing two latches that hold aluminum guards in place.

The Wintech HW30-E5 winch introduced at the WorkBoat Show is the rst of three models. The remaining two will be introduced to the market later. The HW30-E5 is 44"×18 1/4"×44 1/2".

The Patterson Davit Crane

Since 1858 Patterson Manufacturing in Pittsburgh has been coming up with labor saving technology for barge operators. Some of the most notable include the River Ratchet in 1871. It was the first ratchet able to link barges together. More recently was the YoYo Winch in 2010, a one-person manually operated winch that would not bind up when making barge connections.

“Fifteen thousand to 16,000 have been sold in the past 10 years,” said Taylor Grapes, Patterson Manufacturing’s president, Patterson’s latest innovation is the Patterson davit crane, introduced in early 2020 to make lifting operations safer and faster on river boats. “It’s 100-percent galvanized, stainless steel, zinc plated,” said Grapes. “Corrosion prevention is one thing we do differently” than other crane manufacturers.

There are no plastic pulleys or sheaves, and the davit crane comes with an electric winch. Each end of the electric winch’s galvanized drum is supported by pillow block bearings that absorb the forces generated during a lifting operation, thus minimizing the stresses placed on the gearbox.

The davit crane’s boom, when in a horizontal position, is 56" off the deck and 107" when fully extended at a 45° angle. That should get the deck crane’s load over most obstructions. The davit crane has either a half-ton lifting capacity when using 1/4" wire rope or a one-ton lifting capacity with 5/16" wire rope. The boom length on the half-ton model extends from 29" to 59" and from 39" to 74" on the one-ton crane. If a vessel operator needs a longer boom, the davit crane can be modified. A robust brake ensures that the boom and its load stay at the desired height.

“A better-quality brake is a point of focus for us,” said Grapes. “No creeping on the brake.” If a vessel operator has a particularly heavy metal object that needs to be moved and the deck crane’s standard lifting arrangement won’t work, Patterson’s optional magnetic attachment with a 2,000-lb. capacity will do the lifting.