Why do we have electric anchor winches when they clearly do not work. Anchor winches

[sy_gilana]

Rather look at a electronic speed control of your electric motor. Leeson make good ones.


Soft Start, Load Limits, Auto Reset, Overspeed possibilities wit torque limits....


22 years living on the anchor, in a 70,000 pound boat, seen most conditions, re-anchoring in 70 knots, 1/2" chain, 110Lb anchor...only burned out one motor (due to oil saturation) New motor cost 95 Pounds Sterling.....


Hydraulics, nah. Overkill.

[dfelsent]

My windlass is about 30 yrs old. Boat is 48 yrs old. On her second electric windlass. Don’t know what the first one was. Not shabby.

Seems to work just fine.

And she came with a spare motor so ....

[chrisr]

i'm with the others...nothing wrong with electric windlass if used properly

but it's like any machinery...abus it and it will (eventually) fail

and if you burn out the windlass motor, perhaps there is something wrong with your circuit breaker ? you do have a circuit breaker in the windlass power supply don't you ?

cheers,

[TrentePieds]

Quote: "I’m going to the lee of the island, I f***ed up with the weather forecast, there is a local storm, it’s dark, the waves are bigger than forecast, it became a lee shore, it’s my weather apps fault etc etc"

Oh, Dear!! If that's the situation you find yourself in, you might like go step ashore for a while to do some reading and learning before you play at skippers again!

But you are pulling our legs, right?

TrentePieds

[Benz]

Originally Posted by TrentePieds

Quote: "I’m going to the lee of the island, I f***ed up with the weather forecast, there is a local storm, it’s dark, the waves are bigger than forecast, it became a lee shore, it’s my weather apps fault etc etc"

Oh, Dear!! If that's the situation you find yourself in, you might like go step ashore for a while to do some reading and learning before you play at skippers again!

But you are pulling our legs, right?

TrentePieds

Have you never been in an anchorage where a weather change made it untenable (wind shift, swell beginning) and safety required that you move in the middle of the night? I have, more than once--it's not bad seamanship: it's what happens when you make passages, and arrive places at night, and are away from reliable weather forecasts. In short, it's part of cruising.
But I do have a manual windlass with which I can pull the boat up to the anchor in anything short of a gale. If blowing too hard, I motor up with the outboard

[Palarran]

Originally Posted by Shrew

The windlass is designed to retrieve the anchor chain and and anchor, not drag the boat there in the process. Drive the boat to the anchor and pull in the slack chain as you go. It's not that hard.

Is your example a real-world scenario?? If it's blowing so hard that you can't reasonably retrieve the anchor, where the heck are you going that you need to pull up the anchor?

The OP's question really doesn't interest me (anchor winches?) but I will say that I use my windlass to bring my boat to the anchor all the time, and I really mean, almost all the time. It doesn't come close to stressing it as much as lifting 100' of chain and my 121 pound anchor straight up. I'd have to be in over 15 knots of wind, probably close to 20, to use the motors to bring the boat to the anchor.

[AKA-None]

you have a winch that can raise the titanic
Scenario 1 the deck fitting sucks and it rips the foredeck out
Senario2 the foredeck is strong you pull the bow under, now you are a submarine
Scenario 3 you start your engine and drive towards the anchor while the winch retrieves the rode and anchor
Senario 4 you pull the plug on the ocean thereby getting the elephants wet and they run off the turtle and fall into space
Did I leave anything out?

[Chotu]

Originally Posted by Palarran

The OP's question really doesn't interest me (anchor winches?) but I will say that I use my windlass to bring my boat to the anchor all the time, and I really mean, almost all the time. It doesn't come close to stressing it as much as lifting 100' of chain and my 121 pound anchor straight up. I'd have to be in over 15 knots of wind, probably close to 20, to use the motors to bring the boat to the anchor.

Right? Plus, if someone is nervous about pulling the boat to the anchor using the windlass, they can always wait for the boat to “tack” while sailing at anchor. You can pull it in a bit by hand even when it’s tacking, so no problem for a windlass.

[Sailor 99]

My windlass is 34 yrs old Last year I had the motor rebuilt and the windlass bearings and seals replaced, the transmission overhauled new bearings and seals. 1200 bucks at a local machine shop.

Cheaper than a new windlass. Works a charm and looks much heavier in the transmission and motor department than the new ones.

Nice to have the right size wire too. It lasted 33 yrs and the wire was a 1/4 of what it should be. Lots abuse and it was still going.

Saving money on a wire is always a mugs game. Pay now or pay 3x later.

Having a hydraulic windlass requires 1 hydraulic motor to drive the windlass and a hydraulic system either stand alone or on your diesel. Regardless a lot of expensive unnecessary kit. Wire is much easier. A fuse/breaker is good and so is an off switch.


As others have said, your windlass is not meant to drag you forward into a 30 knot wind. There are lots of ways to take care of this issue and they have been talked about.

If your dragged off your anchor in the middle of the night, which happens, then you need nice strong deck lighting, a full duplex head set for easy communication and a partner of some type that can drive the boat or something. Preparation in boating always saves the day and lack of same makes for a terrible day with lots of yelling, cussing, and drama that is not helpful to the situation at all.

As for manual windlass.... I don't have a dedicated one but I have big winches in the back and lots and lots of line. We have done it before.

They make lots of different beer and everything else you need for a reason.

[GrowleyMonster]

ONLY add a hydraulic system when you also need it for other tasks. It is not worth the hassle of leaks, blowouts, spinbacks, etc just for one single purpose. The best solution for most yachts is an electric windlass that can also be operated manually.

With rope rode, I have lead the anchor rode back to the sheet winches and figure eighted across the cockpit. Two persons grind on the winches. When it is up and down, make it fast and motor ahead to break it out, then heave it on in. This works pretty good. But not as good as a regular sailboat anchor windlass.

[ggray]

Another reason not to drag the boat up to the anchor with the windlass is this will hasten the wearing of the gypsy and to some extent, the galvanizing on the chain.

[DeValency]

Any windlass should have an overload breaker.

Agree that hydraulic motor can be more reliable, especially at the very wet conditions under the chain locker, but the entire system to support it require an electric pump, high pressure plumbing etc. etc. At most cases not that practical for boats under say 45'...

[LoudMusic]

Originally Posted by Palarran

The OP's question really doesn't interest me (anchor winches?) but I will say that I use my windlass to bring my boat to the anchor all the time, and I really mean, almost all the time. It doesn't come close to stressing it as much as lifting 100' of chain and my 121 pound anchor straight up. I'd have to be in over 15 knots of wind, probably close to 20, to use the motors to bring the boat to the anchor.

I often use the windless on our Orana to take the slack out of the chain, then let the weight of the chain pull the boat forward, then repeat until we're on top of the anchor. It's a fairly quick process and keeps the stress on the windless to a minimum. If the wind has been blowing, the anchor is going to be BURRIED. I let the boat work the anchor loose while I take up slack on the chain with the windless.

In some hurried situations I've just laid on the "UP" button and hauled 150'+ of chain and anchor straight up. But as you're probably aware in a cat, the boat can get sideways and then you're rubbing chain against one of the hulls. Sometimes it's good to let it settle and center and just work the slack. A little bit of throttle can straighten that out pretty quick too, but then you're motoring forward and not pulling the boat forward with the windless, which is what this whole topic is about

[Simi 60]

Originally Posted by Shrew

The windlass is designed to retrieve the anchor chain and and anchor, not drag the boat there in the process. Drive the boat to the anchor and pull in the slack chain as you go. It's not that hard.

There is no way in hell our maxwell 3500 can pull chain in faster than we go forward even if its quick click in and out of gear so we always end up overshooting the chain and getting the hull marked by chain.

But that windlass easily pulse/ pulls our high windage 70tonne vessel to the anchor even in 25 knots of wind.
Hard to imagine the windlass ever getting damaged as the clutch is set to slip with not much load on it.
And the breaker has never tripped.

As an ex working trawler she has an oversized hydraulics system onboard and would have had hydraulic windlass and trawl witches at that stage of her life.
Unfortunately all that and the lines are gone, only the steering works off of that system now.

[Simi 60]

Originally Posted by CassidyNZ

The primary reason I don’t haul the boat forward on the anchor winch is more about excessive battery drain than the winch not being capable..

Engine running and amps running in aren't they?