GLEN JUSTICE

Few things are more fun to watch in the boat show tents than the Winch Buddy.

Whether you are one of the hundreds of people who have purchased this audacious piece of gear, or whether you have scoffed as you walked by it at shows for the last your years, you must admit that the Winch Buddy is a bold idea.

The idea was to transform regular, manual winches into their far more modern – and more expensive – electrically-powered cousins. The vehicle for this transformation is a Milwaukee battery-powered angle drill, repowered and fitted with precision gearing to sock into a sailboat winch. Priced at $1,199, and $999 at the show, more than 600 have been sold.

The idea was the brainchild of Barry Becken of Massachusetts, a sailor who liked to tinker. Early in the decade, he came up with the idea, built one, tested it himself for 18 months and then hit the market. That was four years ago, and he's been marketing his product at sail shows ever since. In fact, he makes them, too – every one of them.

What was the motivation?

"My wife was always concerned that if I pulled a muscle, how would she do everything," he said. "It was a no brainer."

Having said that, Becken has a litany of reasons to buy his product, which has both forward and reverse settings (allowing full use of two-speed winches) and gets about two days of sailing on a single battery charge.

He says it allows more people to participate as crew, allows women to hoist men up the mast, and allows for the retrofitting of older boats , which may not have enough room for the motors required to install traditional powered winches. He also says it adds some muscle.

"People want to sail and continue to enjoy themselves," he said. "If they are getting older, they can make it easier for themselves."