Type of Drum

The winches are also categorized based on the type of drum used in the setup:

Non-split drum mooring winch :

The undivided drum winches are commonly found on smaller ships. It is often difficult to spool and stow the wire on such a drum satisfactorily; when wires are handled directly off the drum, the final turns of the outer layer when under tension tend to bite into the lower layer.

This could result in possible wire damage and difficulties when releasing the line. To reduce this problem, the winch with a non-split drum should be placed at a sufficient distance from the fair lead to ensure that the wire can be properly spooled.

Split drum mooring winch :

A winch with a drum divided by a notched flange into a tension section and a line storage section.