Anchor windlass trips out

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philipm

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My electric anchor windlass trips out sometimes when I try to retrieve it, mostly when I haven't engaged forward gear enough to free up the anchor before retrieving i.e. it is under massive strain.

Is that normal? Maybe it's designed that way for the good of the windlass motor?
 
Although it's good practice to motor towards the anchor, it shouldn't trip that easily. There are a few things you can check, depending on the winch you have, including all the electrical connections, stripping down the gypsy etc and cleaning / greasing where necessary, checking if the gearbox has oil in it.
 
Previous owner on mine greased his cone clutch - ended up having to jam tight the gypsy as there was no friction to pull the anchor chain up
.
it was so tight I had to put the gypsy and the shaft in a large lathe (switched off) in a low gear to prevent rotation and use a large mallet on the windlass handle to free her
 
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philipm said:
My electric anchor windlass trips out sometimes when I try to retrieve it, mostly when I haven't engaged forward gear enough to free up the anchor before retrieving i.e. it is under massive strain.

Is that normal? Maybe it's designed that way for the good of the windlass motor?
Click to expand...


Check for voltage drop, as above check all cabling connections etc. I dont motor to mine on retrieval as I solo the process. I wind in until the chain starts to lift and then wait for the boat to gain forward momentum as the chain weight pulls the boat forward. As the boat gains forward momentum I bring in chain according to pace.
 
philipm said:
My electric anchor windlass trips out sometimes when I try to retrieve it, mostly when I haven't engaged forward gear enough to free up the anchor before retrieving i.e. it is under massive strain.

Is that normal? Maybe it's designed that way for the good of the windlass motor?
Click to expand...
Age ?
Boat ?
Size in W of the motor ?

Has it always done his ?


We always motor gently towards the anchor , thinking longevity and being kind to the gears , the worm + drive .
Reason i enquire about the spec etc , is on our previous boat a S/Sker it had a winch that struggled and occasionally “ tripped out “
After a cool down period and reset of the pop out fuse it worked .

Current boat has a massive spec and thus far I have not managed to trip it .

Yours might just be at the low end of Watts for the job ....in a bean counters influenced the spec decision kinda way ?

You see this on a lot of boats theses days ...weedy windlass , short chain , tiny anchor , paper clips for cleats etc etc .

Anyhow tell us the make and year of the boat ps .
 
markc said:
because there's still friction, it just reduces wear when you slacken the clutch to drop the anchor manually or use the winch to tighten bow lines.
Click to expand...
OK - I don't use mine for bow lines - I have stern winches for tightening up.
But I still wouldn't grease the clutch.
I have 12mm chain and I wouldn't want the clutch to slip in a deep anchorage.
Also I have seen lots of people relying on the clutch and not tying the anchor off whilst under way.
I've never don that though - always tied off.
 
Hurricane said:
OK - I don't use mine for bow lines - I have stern winches for tightening up.
But I still wouldn't grease the clutch.
I have 12mm chain and I wouldn't want the clutch to slip in a deep anchorage.
Also I have seen lots of people relying on the clutch and not tying the anchor off whilst under way.
I've never don that though - always tied off.
Click to expand...
I use both stern winches and windlass depending on where I'm mooring. I agree that greasing the clutch seems counter-intuative but I did a lot of reading when I stripped the windlass down a couple of years ago and the majority of advice I read was to grease the clutch. I'm not talking about smothering it, just a smear. I've not had any problems with it slipping.
 
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Portofino said:
Age ?
Boat ?
Size in W of the motor ?

Has it always done his ?


We always motor gently towards the anchor , thinking longevity and being kind to the gears , the worm + drive .
Reason i enquire about the spec etc , is on our previous boat a S/Sker it had a winch that struggled and occasionally “ tripped out “
After a cool down period and reset of the pop out fuse it worked .

Current boat has a massive spec and thus far I have not managed to trip it .

Yours might just be at the low end of Watts for the job ....in a bean counters influenced the spec decision kinda way ?

You see this on a lot of boats theses days ...weedy windlass , short chain , tiny anchor , paper clips for cleats etc etc .

Anyhow tell us the make and year of the boat ps .
Click to expand...

Its a 2010 Jeanneau Leader 9 which I've owned for two years and it's done this from the start of me owning.

The windlass is a Lewmar V2/3 (not sure which as the manual covers both varieties). There is spec table in the manual covering the V2 and the V3 in both 12v and 24v voltage. Assuming mine is 12v then the "maximum pull" is stated as 650kg on the V2 or 890kg in the V3. Can't see the wattage.


To get it working I just have to flick across the trip switch.
 
I've got a lewmar v2, mine doesn't trip the breaker.

I guess you need to confirm firstly that the breaker is sized correctly for the max current that the winch can draw, and then assuming it is correctly sized, go round all the connections looking for corrosion. If all that checks out then maybe there's a fault with the winch?

Can the motors be rebuilt with these winches?
 
I grease the clutch on my Maxwell. The clue's in the name clutch, it's actually there to slip rather than damage the motor, gearbox or shaft. If it slips under load when breaking out the anchor it's doing you a favour and giving you a message.

As long as it grips enough to haul the anchor and chain once broken out, then it's doing its job. If the anchor is so dug in that it won't break out, wind in as much chain as possible then put a chain hook on it and run a line back to a sheet winch, even two. If necessary motor gently into it. I've only once found that necessary but then I don't tend to anchor in thick mud in a force 7.
 
alightly off topic but so I am right in guessing that most boaters rely on their windlass to free their anchor ? and not have a spare line and fender/bouy on to trip the anchor ?
 
Yes. However if the anchor is buried so deep that it would cause the clutch to slip it would be prudent to use a chain hook and a suitable fixed point to use the boat's weight to dislodge it rather than the windlass.
 
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