Manual Marine Winch With Self Releasing Handle

A manual marine winch comprising:

• A winch housing
• a rotating drum assembly supported on the winch housing;
• and
• a manually actuated control for spooling and un-spooling a winch line on the drum, wherein the manually actuated control includes a self-releasing handle for selectively tensioning the drum including i) a ratchet gear coupled to the drum wherein rotation of the ratchet gear will cause rotation of the drum, ii) a rotating handle body with a manual end grip, iii) a user engaged trigger mechanism on the end grip moveable between an engaged position and a release position, and iv) a handle locking pawl on the handle body and coupled to the trigger mechanism and moveable between a position engaged with the ratchet gear to rotationally secure the handle body to the ratchet gear and the drum in at least one rotational direction when the trigger is in the engaged position and a position disengaged with the ratchet gear rotationally separating the handle body from the ratchet gear and the drum when the trigger is not in the engaged position.