Electric Windlass for a complete deck installation? Recommendations?

[Franziska]

Hi,

need to tap the crowd knowledge again.
We'd like to install an electric anchor windlass.

We are on a cat and tend to use a combination of 15m chain with rode in almost all circumstances.

Boat is 10.6m x 6.1m and weighs about 5 metric tons fully loaded.

Most anchor windlasses feed the chain or rode directly into a chain locker and have a hole on the underside where this happens.

What we try to source is a smallish very reliable electric windlass that can be mounted completely on deck. It should go on the aluminum bracket of the longitudinal beam visible in the attached image.

Needs to handle rope and chain.
We will install a dedicated 12V battery and foot switches nearby.

The primary issue is that the chain/rode needs to go on deck. We will store it manually after raising.
When operating the windlass I will tail the rode or chain, but for this it has to exit not underneath.
That points towards a vertical axis, but those units usually have a motor which needs to be mounted below deck, which is not a option.

Any experience with reliability, spare availability worldwide and service quality of the main brands?
Lofrans vs. Quick vs. Maxwell?

We are on a budget, as always.

Thanks so much.

Franziska

[Franziska]

Anyone?

[Pete7]

Franziska,

First thought, why does the Windlass have to go on the centre line of the catamaran? Why can't the chain go around a pulley and then off 90 degrees to one of the hulls?

Pete

[a64pilot]

I was thinking as I believe the rode is mostly rope, and budget is an issue, and they are hand stowing the rode, why not lead the line back to a sheet winch and use that along with a Milwaukee drill?
If you had only a Boat length of chain you could haul all of it in, have no extra weight on the bow and save a bunch of money, and the Milwaukee drill has other uses, too.

[Franziska]

90degree is an interesting idea. Might be the solution if I can not source the proper fully on deck windlass.

I prefer straight though as the chain locker is closer....
Sheetwinch will most likely not work due to diameter of rode and stiffness of rode (see picture). Still the Milwaukee drill idea is an interesting thought too.

[Jim Cate]

We had friends with a 36 ft lightweight glass racer/cruiser monohull. For reasons of economy they bought a powered capstan from a fishing supply type place. Looked like the drum part of a normal vertical windlass. They simply hand tailed their mostly chain rode and piled in on deck for later stowage. The chain would take a couple of wraps around the drum to be easily hand tailed, but it worked well for them. Chewed up the surface of the drum cosmetically, but was still working when they sold the boat after a decade or so of S Pacific cruising.

Might work for you, too.

Jim

[MikeFergie]

I have a Leopard 40 cat that comes with a Lofrans windlass and I use 10mm all chain and a 25kg Rocna anchor. On the Leopards the anchor goes off the front of the fiberglass of the boat through a hole and not to the bow beam as some other cats do it. And then hooks on the bridal which is obviously at the bow of both hulls. It is a little bit tricky to pull up in shallow waters (2-5m) in a strong blow as the bows sometimes turn and you find the chain underneath on of the hulls near the bow but in deeper waters it’s fine. With the windlass mounted on the boat it makes for easier wiring and I don’t have a separate battery for the windlass. It runs of the house bank

[MikeFergie]

The lofrans is a horizontal one and has a rope drum on the one side and a chain gypsy on the other side

[Bean Counter]

drum winch windlass may work, no need to stow it away then


https://www.deckside.com.au/anchorin...hor-winch.html

[deluxe68]

Originally Posted by Jim Cate

We had friends with a 36 ft lightweight glass racer/cruiser monohull. For reasons of economy they bought a powered capstan from a fishing supply type place. Looked like the drum part of a normal vertical windlass. They simply hand tailed their mostly chain rode and piled in on deck for later stowage. The chain would take a couple of wraps around the drum to be easily hand tailed, but it worked well for them. Chewed up the surface of the drum cosmetically, but was still working when they sold the boat after a decade or so of S Pacific cruising.

Might work for you, too.

Jim

I was going to mention a manual windlass, cannot remember the brand. I have seen pics of some souther ocean cruisers who use a big horizontal reel that is positioned close to the mast.

Edit. Here is the manual windlass.

https://www.waveinn.com/nautical-fis...E&gclsrc=aw.ds

https://www.waveinn.com/f/65/650313/...yal-manual.jpg

[Pete7]

Franziska,

Given the rather exposed location I think I would opt for a manual windlass. I just see lots of problems with wiring and corrosion otherwise. We have a manual one on our 5T yacht, which I use occasionally when the tide is running or its blowing a hooley as it does in this part of the world. Even with the tide running the manual is vertical drum is easy to use.

Its that keep it simple stupid (KISS) approach, which I need to keep reminding myself of. Otherwise you end up fixing stuff all day long.

I don't know how to size a windlass, but how about something like this? a lot cheaper too.

Horizontal Windlasses: Lofrans Royal Manual Windlass 8mm Gypsy With Drum (404725)

Actually, given that the load isn't great a vertical drum will be quicker to use and winch in, so something like this which often turn up on e bay:

http://slspares.co.uk/pdf/Website%20...n%20Manual.pdf

Pete

[Sailmonkey]

This may work for you.

https://www.jamestowndistributors.co...eries+Windlass

[JOHNMARDALL]

Hello Franziska,
John Mardall here from Vetus Maxwell. We offer electric windlasses at 12 or 24 volts, for rope/chain rodes, in both vertical and horizontal shaft models. As you can't have the motor or gearbox below the deck, you pretty much have to go with a horizontal shaft model, with all components in or on a a single assembly bolted to the deck or in your case beam, but even then, there must be a drop from the chainwheel/gypsy in order for the chain to adequately engage it. Tailing a power windlass is not really practicable. I agree with a previous poster that the best approach will be to mount the windlass on the main/bridge deck, over a chain/rope storage device (a five gallon bucket can work well, if properly secured) and bring the rode from a bow roller on the forward crossbeam, across the foredeck/trampoline (in a plastic pipe if your want to avoid chafing the deck and don't mind the look). Bear in mind that no windlass should be used as a king-post. Once you've set the anchor, and positioned the boat, the riding loads must be taken off the windlass, either with a chain stopper or a snubber hooked on the chain or secured to the rope part of the rode with a rolling hitch and brought back to a strong cleat or bit. Failure to off-load the windlass will result in damage to the gearbox. The damage happens slowly, but the shock and pull loads go on for hours or days, and can do a lot of damage.
Depending on the rope and chain you want to use, you could go with either a Maxwell HRC8 or HRC10. Also be aware that no windlass can digest a shackle - the rope chain connection must be a splice. For a lot more information, please take a look at www.vetus.com - products- anchoring systems, and feel free to contact me directly for a discussion (jmardall@comcast.net)


I hope this helps


John Mardall
Vetus Maxwell Boat Equipment

[a64pilot]

Try the sheet winch, I have done it with old, stiff 5/8” three strand. When wet it’s a lot more pliable
It does take two people though, one to run the winch and the second to tail the line. I didn’t use the self tailing, but suppose you could.

This was before I got my Windlass and was hoisting a 25 kg Rocna by hand. Well one day the wind was too strong to handle it by hand and I didn’t want to have the wife trying to drive the boat while I pulled on the rode, so I used the sheet winch.
Worked better than I thought it would.

[oceanshoretiga]

I recently fitted an electric Muir windlass, horizontal shaft, on deck. Replaced a very, very good manual windlass due the difficulty of controlling the boat in wind or current when hoisting an anchor from the bow when solo sailing.

One solution to the problem of horizontal windlass is placing a horizontal axis fixed pulley under which the rode moves after leaving the windlass itself. Kept close the deck level, this pulley acts to make the rode 'think' it is dropping vertically into a locker. Sorry, no diagram, but such a fitting was on my boat when I bought it years ago.

As pointed out by another person here, you can use the boat's existing batteries but two points are worth making. You must use a suitable delivery cable and the engine should be running to assist the power supply and, sometimes, the pulling power.

Muir windlasses are very well respected. They are manufactured in Tasmania, Australia. URL: Muir.com.au