Anchor Windless

Tortuga's Lie · **Joined:** 27 Oct 2006 10:32 **Posts:** 827

I guess it's been about 4 or 5 years that I have had my windlass and it's been worth every penny. I installed a second anchor roller from Garhauer that I bought at the boat show along with a chain stopper, I think mines from Maxwell...nice and heavy. I divided my anchor locker into two sections to handle two rodes with a verticle divider that the upper half slides out so I can access the hardware etc....the bottom half is glasses to the hull so it's nice and stout. I religiously use a snubber line to help quiet down the noise from the chain at night and to reduce shock loads when it blows. The Quick brand, Antares model is what I decided on and it has a nice feature that the cover plate has is hinged so I can access the chain quickly and stip it off of the gypsy and use the capstan for the other rope rode on the secondary anchor. This set up has worked well so far. Just make sure you use the right size wire so the motor won't suffer from voltage drop. If in question, there are plenty of "voltage drop calculators" on the web...just Google it.

jvoelxen · **Joined:** 21 Oct 2006 15:36 **Posts:** 268

I will be installing a windlass on my boat this winter. For those who have recently installed a windlass, what gauge cable did you use, how long was it, and were you able to find a good discount supplier for that cable?

Thanks.

Jim
Odyssey #191

Tortuga's Lie · **Joined:** 27 Oct 2006 10:32 **Posts:** 827

Jim,
I used 00 wire and I believe I figured on 60 feet round trip. I could have used heavier wire to get down to a 3% voltage drop, but I felt comfortable with a 5% +/- drop. Of course much of it depends on the motor. I have a 1000 watt, but if you go with a 1500 watt motor, then you'll need to go heavier. The other option is to have a dedicated battery in the v-berth to power the windlass, but then you need to deal with recharging the battery plus the added weight up front. I ran the wire along the port side from the batteries to the windlass switch at the nav station and up and behind the cabinets along the port side and behind the head cabinets, which of course you'll need to remove to properly run it all.
This is the source I used for the wire. http://genuinedealz.com/
Great service and price....I have no affiliation with GenuineDealz.com, just a great source.

Tom

Velera · **Joined:** 29 Dec 2006 09:38 **Posts:** 656

The brand was a Simpson Lawrence Sprint 900--no longer made but it was supposed to be for a larger boat than mine. But the design is similar to the V series Lewmar, who bought Simpson Lawrence and carries parts for them. I found out through an internet search that Nihlsson of Austrailia designed this unit (and many of the other brands) and his son helped me beef it up a little with some bigger bearings that I machined into place. Like many recreational windlasses, they are put together with parts from various suppliers. The motor is a 1000 watt British starter motor, the gear box is from Italy and I have seen the same one on windlasses of other makes, the casting for the chain wheel and top looks suspiciously like the one Lewmar uses on its V series with minor modification. What I learned by taking this thing completely apart is that these recreational windlasses are less beefy than a single car wheel bearing. I do not think this is unique to Simpson Lawrence or this model. There is no way that any of the Maxwells or Lewmars I have seen have adequate roller bearings to bear the weight of your Tartan backing down on them repeatedly or holding your boat in any kind of sea or wind--I would think that the instructions tell us not to do that--but of course I only read instructions after I have a problem. Mine has only one race of wheel ball bearings in a mild steel cage with a rubber seal---(stainless races would not be strong enough) that bears almost all the stress. Once you get a little crack in the seal, you are going to start the rust process......etc. They can be rebuilt if you have some machinist understanding of metals, seals and bearings but it is a PITA job.
I have a chain stopper, but I more often use a chain hook on a 15 ft 5/8" line tied to the great Tartan cleats. They were made for that kind of stress.
I tried to upload some pictures of the guts of the windlass, but the site rejected them.

Tortuga's Lie · **Joined:** 27 Oct 2006 10:32 **Posts:** 827

Valera,
I totally agree about the windlass not being adequate to break loose an anchor or pull the boat in any wind/current situation. We almost religously (sometimes when it's dead calm I won't) motor up to the anchor while reeling it in with the windlass and then breaking it loose with the chain stopper. I also use a nylon line with a hook for a chain snubber while at anchor to take the load off of the chain/chain stopper, plus it is much quieter with the snubber than to hear the chain rolling on the bow roller all night long.
Tom

efgrina · **Joined:** 23 Jan 2007 19:04 **Posts:** 10

I installed a Lofrans Project 1000 a few years ago using AWG 1 gauge cable. Neither the motor nor the cable have experienced significant temp rise following a 20' hoist of a 45# anchor carrying 100# mud/eel grass ball.

I chose to route the cable under the cabin sole holding it off the bottom with wire ties. Clearly they are subject to moisture/water in bilge but I'm counting on the very thick insulation to do its job. I struggled with this for quite awhile. This seemed like the lesser of two evils in as much as routing along either side of the boat involves disassembling cabinetry.

The acid test for both batteries and windlass seems to me not the typical hoist from 20 ft, but rather the situation where you're forced to pull and reset multiple times, or in very deep water. Any weakness in cabling or batteries would show then. I haven't encountered that yet. But if you are typically anchoring in deeper waters heavier power cable and battery capacity might be called for. Note that I'm squeaking by with 210 AH in two group 31 AGM house batteries

I have adjusted the clutch clamping force to slip at a force higher than I see an any normal use but low enough so I do rarely encounter a slip. It seems like a good indicator to stop and think about doing something differently. If I need to exert more force the clutch can be tightened with a winch handle.

I was happy with my planning goal of locating the windlass just forward of the anchor locker bulkhead. It just required careful measurements from different points before drilling down from the top. I made a cable channel to carry the power cables down the forward side of the bulkhead and aft through two holes drilled near the bottom. This protects from having any chain rubbing or catching the cables.

Contactor and control circuit wiring is mounted on the foreward side of the second bulkhead, and I made a removable cover to protect it from any objects stored up there. I used feed thru power posts to bring power through the bulkhead into that area.

Eric
Cricket
T37C #145

Tartan37.com

Anchor Windless

Who is online