Anchor Rodes & Windlasses

[petem1]

We are beginning our full time cruising in 5 weeks ob our 43' Tartan going form Lake Michigan to the Caribbean. I am confused about anchor rodes and windlasses. We have a Lewmar V4 with 70' of 3/8 G4 and 250' of 5/8 nylon with a 44lb Rocna at the end.
I want to go to all chain and the best I can tell this Windlass, although one size larger than the standard for this boat, is not powerful enough? It has a SWL of 688# and maximum pull of 2700#. I am under the understanding that I can only have a rode/anchor weight of 1/4 of the SWL.
Can somebody with real experience help clarify this.
Safe journies.

Pete

[GordMay]

Greetings and welcome aboard the CF, Pete.

The maximum pulling power required is equal to the weight of your anchor & rode.
To allow for prolonged operation, pulling power is multiplied by 4 to get SWL.
Accordingly, a “V4" Windlass, with a 2700 Lb MAXIMUM pulling power, has a Safe Working Load of 675 Lbs (weight of anchor + rode).

See the Lewmar Windlass Selection Guide
➥ http://www.lewmar.com/cms/assets/1/c...tion_guide.pdf

[btrayfors]

The V4 should be fine, if you use it correctly.

Correctly means:

1. Use the windlass ONLY to lower and raise the anchor;
2. DO NOT use the windlass to break out the anchor;
3. DO NOT use the windlass to pull the boat up to the anchor in a headwind; and
4. DO NOT use the windlass to secure the chain to the boat; use a proper bridle and a chain stopper.

Remember that although you will carry 200' of G4 chain (just as I do), you'll never be lifting all that at one time. At most, you'll be lifting a chain length equal to the water depth plus, when you break out the anchor (with the engine, not the windlass), the weight of the anchor itself -- less whatever buoyancy the anchor and chain have in seawater.

BTW, the Lewmar Deluxe 3/8" chain stopper is TOO SMALL to allow free passage of 3/8" chain without jamming -- they've admitted their dimensions are wrong and are supposedly re-tooling it. The 1/2" model is massively larger, and works very well with 3/8" chain. Ask me how I know :-)

http://wdsg.com/gallery/main.php?g2_...geViewsIndex=1

Bill

[Unicorn Dreams]

As quoted above, the only actual weight the windlass should actually be picking if used correctly, is about 110 lbs. The 44 lbs of anchor plus at the most 60 lbs of chain equal to 30' of water. Anchoring in the Carribean is shallower than that 99% of the time...

[Delfin]

You're fine with the V4. 320' of chain, if you go that route, will weigh about 500#, so theoretically you could put a 175# anchor at the end of it and still be within the SWL limits of the device.

Of more concern is the effect of 550# on your bow. Before switching to all chain, perhaps place the additional 350# you'll be adding by asking Rosanne Barr to stand on the bow, or perhaps 2 other people of about that weight. See how you sit, then consider where to put the offsetting load in the stern if it looks like you need that.

[Unicorn Dreams]

Roseanne would have togo on a diet, or rudder would ba out of the water.

[Bash]

Last summer I used that very winch on that very boat during a one-week cruise in the San Juan islands. It was certainly adequate, but was not impressive other than for the retrieval speed. It's far faster than my Lewman horizontal windlass, but also significantly less powerful.

The V4 had been factory installed by Tartan, and they did a lousy job with connectors and connections. I had to go back through the whole system one afternoon while on the hook to bring it up to cruising standards. I could only conclude that no one at the Tartan factory owned a soldering iron or knew how to use loctite, et cetera.

The boat was 3 years old.

[Curmudgeon]

Do you really want to go all chain? 3/8 inch galvanized is roughly 1.4 lb per foot, so you will be adding 300+ pounds to the bow of your boat.

And for what? How much better will the all-chain rode hold than the 70 ft. of chain you have now? Plus you have to mess with snubbers. You aren't planning to tackle New South Georgia or the Chilean canals, are you?

If your nylon rode is 3 ply, I'd suggest replacing it with octoplait and letting it go at that.