Anyone make a home-made windlass?

[Cap Erict3]

You might want to consider a home made manual anchor windlass.

[Rakuflames]

Originally Posted by scoobert

So while looking for a good windlass for heavy chain (1/2") i noticed a trend.
they are all very overpriced. $5000-8000
why is a windlass 3500# $5500, and a 12,000# winch only $300-800

so i was thinking, again, why not make your own? what would it really take to cut a caspian in half, and weld it to a winch drum?
i have to imagine someone has done it before now....

I don't have a windlass. I don't have the mechanical skills to fix it if it malfunctions, and I have made a decision to keep things mechanically simple on the boat when I can.

That said, I'm a 67 year old woman and I can't always pull that anchor up by myself, and I can't risk driving over the anchor rode.

Instead of buying a windlass, I took advantage of my perforated toe rail. I got two snatch blocks for $20 each at a marine flea market. I place one near the bow and the other at about the middle of the cockpit. I pull out enough rode to lead to the back, and put that through the snatch blocks.

Then I slowly inch up on the anchor, pulling the rode into the cockpit as I go forward. When the rode is straight up and down, I lock it off on a cleat and inch forward again. Then I don't have much left to pull up and it's loose. it works extremely well.

I came up with this after I had to leave an anchor behind and lost 200' of brand new 8-plait anchor rode, 30 feet of new chain and a brand new stainless steel swivel. I was back out there only two hours later to retrieve it, but it had been spotted by a crabber (there was a line of crab traps right where I'd had a float attached to the rode). The Danforth was nothing to lose, but the rest of it ...

[Rakuflames]

Originally Posted by Coops

As we are all aware a caspian is a sea, so I guess you would need a Moses to cut one in half.

Coops.

ROTFL!!!

[Rakuflames]

Originally Posted by scoobert

i am planning a 7 seas voyage, with stops on every continent. i do not want a 60 knot gale to push me onto the antarctic coast. a 105# anchor or so, has more holding power then a 3/8" chain has breaking strength. i will be keeping my 5/16" for the primary, this will be my storm anchor, and my anchor i set when i go on shore for an extended period of time.
i want 600' of 1/2" on it. yes, this will be very heavy, and may be overkill, but i don't want an incident outside of towing range.

the home built windlass will be mounted below decks, out of the elements.

the 3/8" windlasses can be had inexpensively, under $2000 for some of the best models. over the next 12 months we will be making some major changes to our yacht.

Wow -- that is one ambitious plan, all seven continents -- but I love it! Antarctica is on my "bucket list," but I won't be taking my boat there.

[scoobert]

Originally Posted by Rakuflames

Wow -- that is one ambitious plan, all seven continents -- but I love it! Antarctica is on my "bucket list," but I won't be taking my boat there.

7 continents, and at least 20 island nations, so far. i am sure that list will grow over the next few years. we want to spend a year in san fran as well.

[Rakuflames]

Originally Posted by Suijin

This is sheer folly. Just buy G70 3/8"s if your that worried. It's MBL is enough to literally hang your boat from, and it's used as binder chain for heavy load transport so has a WLL with a much higher safety factor built in.

Also, when are you going to need 600' of chain? I personally think anything over 300' is a pointless waste of money and a danger to your vessel. Even if you're going to the arctic, 400' is plenty. Stuffing three quarters of a ton of chain at the bow of a 45' sailboat is going to create more safety issues than it solves.

I think you need to do a bit more research on ground tackle dynamics before you just decide to throw more metal at it.

Seriously, how much more likely is a boat with that kind of weight in the bow to plow into the bottom of a wave when the ship hits the fan? (I'm really asking.) My tender bow is starting to look better to me!

[stillbuilding]

I have 13mm on a 60' heavy yacht and i think is appropriate. USL want 16mm on a 66' yacht but will accept 13mm hi tensile.
I understand your thinking but feel 300' is adequate. If i had the chain i would prob stay with the size though. Possibly last longer?

[Suijin]

Originally Posted by scoobert

the anchor i will make myself.

do you all think 1/2" chain is way overkill? i do not want to size the anchor down any.... i don't want to be the next "my anchor didn't hold" story

Even regular 3/8" BBB chain is plenty strong for a 100 lb. anchor. That's not why you use heavier chain...you use it for it's working load limit, and that is based on the tonnage of your vessel and the anticipated force it will exert on the system. You could argue that if you're on a budget that BBB 7/16" will be cheaper than 3/8" G70, but I think that cost savings is more than offset by the issues you'll have with finding a gipsy to fit.

I know a few folks in 50' heavily provisioned boats that have made repeated trips to the arctic. They carry 350' of G70 3/8". It's expensive, but being in the trucking industry I would expect you could probably find a deal on it. But you'll need to hot dip galvanize it.

Don't underestimate the impact of planting 1500 lbs. in the bow of your boat on handling, seaworthiness, and comfort. If you want a preview, get seven of your 200 lb. friends and have them all stand on the bow while you're beating to weather some day, or even more fun, running downwind in a heavy swell.

[scoobert]

i have never bought more then 25' of chain at a time, but i am sure if i look around, i can find it. we used 1/2" chains on this:
oversize load stuck on hill - YouTube
it was overkill but with a price tag like this:

[noelex 77]

I am not sure of the displacement of your boat and even if it is 45 or 48 feet, but 13mm is not way overkill. Heavy cruising boats of your size are a bit between 10 and 13 (or 12mm if you are metric) chain.
For my own similar sized boat I have gone for 10mm G7, which is as strong as 12mm G3. G7 is expensive and unlikely to available second hand so it's not an option for you.

If you are relying on second hand G3 chain, with some potential wear in the links before you regalvanise it, I think 12 or 13mm is not a bad choice. (12mm is a bit easier to get worldwide if you have a choice. Once you build or buy a gypsy you cannot change)

However the reality is that this will limit you to about 300 feet. More than this will be too much weight for the bow and windlass (you will need a hydraulic, or least 24v windlass for 600 feet of 13mm. Even if you build an electric windlass yourself you are unlikely to solve this problem. Around 1500-1800w is the most that can be extracted on a continuous basis from 12v. (You could possibly gear a 12v motor way down, but it will have very slow chain retrieval which introduces its own problems)

The other problem is the volume of the chain. The windlass needs a reasonable chain drop to work. 600 feet of 13mm is a very big pile. Few boats your size have enough room to store it with an adequate drop.

You can store an additional lot of 300 feet 13mm in the bilge if want, but the reality is that its so heavy you are unlikely to use it. Some lengths of 10mm chain for a kedge/stern/second anchors will be of more use.

Around 300 feet is generally adequate so limiting your primary chain to this length is not a great a great drawback. You can back it up with some rope with little weight penalty if you wish.

If you can get good quality G4 10mm chain this will be just acceptable strength wise. It will enable you to put more weight in the anchor where it will do more good.

I also don't think your proposed 105 lb anchor is overkill. A homemade anchor will be less effective and can be made bigger at little additional cost.

Just one more comment. There are lots of different chain specifications used for lifting etc. The gypsy needs to be designed to fit the specific chain. Marine chain has only a few general sizes, but if you build a gypsy to suit a non standard chain size you will have some difficulties if you want to replace the chain in future.
More critically if you purchase chain with a different link or pitch to the standard marine chain you not be able to use it with a commercial windlass.
Also chain that is suitable for a gypsy needs to have tight specifications on the constancy of the links (often called calibrated chain) so be careful if buy chain of unknown specifications.

For the windlass on a tight budget my advice would be to find a second hand marine windlass that your can refurbish. It will need to be a good quality 2500-3500Lb model. If you are mechanically competent a hydraulic alternative may be worth considering.
The windlass needs to be reliable. Making your own ( or modifying a non marine windlass) will involve some teething problems you are likely to discover the shortcomings at the least opportune moment.

[atoll]

here is the windlass that i built for salamandra,with 10mm and 12 mm gypseys
has worked a treat on 2 circumnavigations.

220volt,with reversing switchgear,2000watt motor.
gear box is 80:1 ,motor sits directly below under the deck

never used the 12mm,as found 350 ft of 10mm and 90lb bugle enough for 44000lb ,63ft boat,
second anchor 90lb is only rope rode,making it possible to lift by hand.

when i refurb it i will replace the 12mm gypsey with a rope capstan.

works off either the generator,or a 220v alternater driven by the main engine.

cost about $700 to build in 1999

[cjhaley]

Hey, I don't know if you're still looking for a windlass. I have been shopping for one myself and just ran across a guy in Kemah, TX with a 555 Simpson Lawrence Sea Tiger, the two speed manual that has a 1/2" chain gypsy on it. He told me he would take $400 for it. I went to look at it since he didn't know the gypsy size ( I need 5/16"), it's in good working condition needs a paint job and maybe some grease seals. Not sure if you would settle for manual but if you're still looking for one I don't think you could make one for less. If you're interested I can send you his contact info