Anchor windlass

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nimrod1230

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We were tangled by another boat at the weekend who managed to get his guard wire over our anchor and stemhead broadside across our bow. Much pushing and pulling eventually separated the boats and he berthed successfully in the finger next to us. A couple of small scratches and dented pride seemed to cover any damage. On tidying up we noticed the anchor chain and anchor were loose presumably from the tangle and decided to tension back to normal stow. The windlass motor tried to turn slowly but the drum hardly moved. This is in both up and down modes. Loosening the clutch makes no difference to the slow motor speed and it is not possible to turn the drum using the handle in the manual socket. We anchored for a lunch stop two weeks ago and all was fine. So to the question. Does a Quick 1000w unit have a fail safe device, shear pin to protect the gearbox or has the strain totalled the unit? If a simple fix we are prepared to diy but potentially serious damage we would prefer professional help. So, any experience to help decide the next step would be most helpful.
 
I can't see how the forces you exerted on the anchor by pushing and pulling the boats apart could damage your windlass. Normal forces while anchoring, exspcially while digging in, should be much higher.
Anyway, if there were a shear pin to protect the gearbox, breaking this would result in a drum that could easyly be rotated.
 
I would drop the motor/gearbox from underneath the deck unit and see if you can then turn the drum by hand. Unlike Christoph above, I imagine the forces on the windlass could have been pretty horrific on the windlass, the shaft could have bent enough that it has essentially locked up.

Also highlights the importance of having a proper chain-stopper between windlass and anchor and/or a mechanical fixing of the anchor on the bowroller (pin through the shank etc.).
 
My guess it that the electrical connections are corroded. You can use a voltmeter to check for voltage drops ..... but usually the corrosion is obvious by sight.

You can also bypass the solenoid to take that out of the equation.
 
I think the forces involved with a 42ft boat in windy conditions would be significantly higher than snubbing loads in normal operations. A pin or chain stopper would be good but not easy to execute on this setup. Electrical contacts could indeed be a cause but would be a huge coincidence though not impossible. Thanks for your thoughts. Will investigate further.
 
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