It's funny how often we skip the basic checks and jump to blaming gear or outside factors. I see this all the time with tech stuff where people buy new gadgets when a simple setting change would fix the problem. We get so used to complex answers that the easy ones feel too simple to be right. My dad always said to check the plug first before calling an electrician, and it applies to so much more. Makes you wonder how many headaches we create for ourselves by not starting with the obvious.
Back in the marina last season, I saw dozens of cables replaced without touching the drum. Most twists come from overloading or cheap line, not how it spools... Alignment just masks the issue, so check the load rating instead.
Dozens of cables replaced in one season? That's a wild number of failures to just accept as normal. It really does sound like the load rating was ignored every single time. Hollyn99 might be onto something about overloading our own brains, because skipping that basic check is a mental shortcut that costs real money. You see a twist and assume it's the gear, not the guy using it wrong. Alignment might help it spool neatly, but it won't stop a cheap line from snapping under weight it was never meant to hold. Starting with the obvious, like the rating on the side of the box, would have saved most of those cables.