Gentlemen,
At the helm in the Ariel you probably sit in the middle of the cockpit. That would put the winches right behind and in front. If you are alone and you are coming about, you have to unwinde the sheet and prepare the other side to haul in the jib. Alone, I was never able to this gracefully. Tend to use the winch handle as a last resort only, because it's another damn piece of gear. Two hands on the sheet and you loose control of the tiller. Altho you do have a couple seconds when the tiller is pushed all the way down to quickly gather in and start wrapping the sheet on the winch. With practice it gets smoother - hope so.
Two feet back from the front would put the winches closer to the front than what 338 came with. Being large person I could probably reach any corner of the cockpit but having the winches at an angle to where I would sit with the tiller seems like an advantage. Less contortion. Not having self-tailers, a small distance, 9" to a foot to a jam cleat is what I imagine. Can see that that puts the cleat right across the cockpit.
That is why I was wondering if the winches could be forward of the traditional midpoint - or aft - as Ariel #1 has them. Either location the jam cleat would be in the middle. A forward location would get it out of the way of the 'traffic' of the tiller. A aft location would free up the cockpit around the companionway.
Read a Bob Perry review putting down a small Hunter for having their primaries at a radical angle. It made the side deck they were mounted on I think dangerous. But often you may see a flat winch island with wedge shaped pads under the winch. I know it is a function of the lead from the jib and genaker, but has anybody changed that angle on their Ariel to allow more 'automatic' line wrapping on the drum?
Is it logical to imagine the winches horizontal instead of vertical? Why not have them sideways?