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

[stormalong]

Originally Posted by CassidyNZ

The battery only weighs 20kgs. Whilst I accept that it is probably heavier than 20 metres of battery cable, it’s hardly of significance in a boat that weighs 13 tons and has a few hundred kilos of ground tackle right by the battery. Another battery to maintain? I would have a separate battery for the winch no matter where it was located.

I’ve had my boat for 13 years, changed the battery 9 years ago, still working fine. My up-front battery works very well for me, YMMV.

A Trojan T-105 weighs 28 KG so your battery must be about 100 amp hours. Just think how nice it would be to have that 100 amp hours available to share with other demands rather than dedicated to just the windlass. My boat is about the same size and weight as yours. The battery cable weight is spread out along the length if the boat, not concentrated at the bow. I hope you battery is well secured so that it does not break loose in a storm.

This topic has been discusses a thousand times on a hundred discussion boards and the two camps are intractable. We will have to agree to disagree. Be happy, go sailing.

[capt jolly]

Originally Posted by Fuss

It’s a safety issue for critical equipment.
So, let’s install an electric anchor winch. We do the research, we choose an oversize one that is far too powerful for our boat and we install.
We read a few threads on here about technique and we learn that we should never pull our boat up to the anchor using the windlass or it might burn out or whatever....(really who would design such a delicate system for such critical equipment, especially when you anchor is too heavy to bring in by hand).
Apart from this minor inconvenience, It works great.
Oh look, there’s a big wind now and it wakes us up, I think we have to move, get up get up, it’s raining too.
S**** those waves are big too, what did you say, I can’t see your hand signals, I said, I can’t see your hand signals, port, no starboard, stop , stop.
There’s a bad smell like burning coming from the windlass, is it ok.

So why do we put up with this weakness. When clearly what we need is a self contained hydraulic one for a reasonable price.
Advantages are huge... just start the process, if the hydraulics are overloaded the winch stops, nothing burns out. You can pull up your anchor in all conditions, not just sunny days.
Of course we don’t want a huge pump and motor and oil tank making it far too expensive but if something was available that brought up my anchor at a 3rd of the speed of my 2kw, 1000kg winch, I would consider it.

Any ideas, anyone made a hydraulic one?

LOL, you obviously dont know how to use your winch properly. Electric properly wired and installed gives xclnt reliability and usability. Just got be aware when you ARE overloading your winch. And a good trick is to reverse the brushes every 12 months. (the wind up and wind out brushes are usually identical, the wind ups obviously wear out quickest)

[Sherpa17]

I like using a windlass but frequently do short handed deliveries so I use a snatch block even when I have a windlass and run the rode back to a cockpit winch so I can be at the helm. I use a combination of slow ahead and grinding to get to short stay, particularly when windy. I use a chain hook with a 10m line run back to a winch if it's an all chain rode. I bring the anchor to short stay and hook on to grind it off the bottom.

[more]

Originally Posted by GRIT

What the heck is that you've caught? My first thought was Nessie's tail!

Is it edible?

Cheers.
Paul.

wrecked GRP boat.

[Izikalvo]

Electric windlasses are preety good of doing their job, if you treat them nicely.


Retrieving the anchor and some more. (copied from our wesite)


Retrieving an anchor should be as easy as deployment and setting but different skills are required. You should not use the windlass to ‘pull’ the yacht forward. The windlass should be capable of completing this - but why unnecessarily stress the windlass when your engine (or sails) are specifically designed to move the vessel. It is easier if 2 people are involved in the retrieval and then the person on the bow can direct the helmsman to follow the chain so that the chain remains as close as possible to central on the bow roller (otherwise you can unnecessarily wear the bow roller itself or its cheeks). It is possible to retrieve single-handed - but you might need to make a few trips to and from bow and helm. When the chain is vertical - don’t aggressively rely on the windlass to break the anchor free. A Viking anchor will set deeply, giving that second to none hold, and there is no need to test the abilities of your windlass. Leave the rode, vertical, but under tension and with a little patience the anchor will break free as the vessel moves up and down in chop, swell and wash. Once the anchor is free, signal the helmsman that this is so, and then continue to retrieve.



In clean sand, you may still need to wash the chain and anchor of sand and if in mud you will be glad you have a good deck wash. If the deck wash is not as good as you would like - leave the anchor just submerged in the water and let the slow movement of the yacht complete the cleaning.



We retrieve the last couple of meters by hand and have marked the chain so that we know when the anchor is just at the waterline. We, personally, don’t like the anchor or its shackle hitting the bow roller at speed, as it does the bow roller nor windlass much good. If you have a big anchor and/or a less strong crew member this might not be possible - in which case stop the windlass when the anchor is just below the bow roller - and retrieve those last few centimeters when you know the anchor is aligned correctly.



Once the anchor is on the bow roller apply a chain hook and release the tension on the windlass. Using the windlass to secure the anchor relies on the clutch - which might release and your complete rode hanging off the bow roller will do nothing for the yacht’s sailing ability! Use the same chain hook as back up when we are at anchor to secure the anchor at sea.



Make sure that the bitter end of the chain is attached to a strong point in the chain locker. If the gypsy releases that securement is the only means to stop all your rode and your anchor deploying on the seabed.



We may appear to overemphasis the protection of the windlass. We are cautious. Most windlasses are remarkably robust and can withstand years of abuse. But your anchor is a safety device and the windlass makes it easier to deploy and retrieve the anchor. You should service your windlass annually, it is not difficult. Most complaints of windlass relate to the poor, or no, servicing - seized main shaft or no lubricant in the gearbox.

[LoudMusic]

Originally Posted by Palarran

Pretty much the same. Once the boat is moving forward though I usually keep the windlass running. As an FYI my cat's anchor roller is routed forward to the crossbeam so we really never track anywhere except straight to the anchor. What also helps in retrieval is that once the boat is moving forward and you have taken in all the slack, I clip a short snubber onto the chain as the boat moves over the anchor. It pulls it out easily.

That sounds like a good routine.

Do you / how do you attach a bridle to the chain with it under the crossbeam? Is it easy to access? Our roller is at the chain locker under the trampoline, and we roll the bridle into the chain locker where we can attach/detach it in the open locker between the roller and windlass.

[Palarran]

Originally Posted by LoudMusic

Do you / how do you attach a bridle to the chain with it under the crossbeam? Is it easy to access?

Yes. I use an Ultra shackle. I haven't attached the bridle in this photo as it was a swim break on a calm day but you can see the set-up.