electric anchor winch

[christo2024]

Does anyone think that a 500w anchor windlass would be enough for a Westerly Fulmar on the East Coast?

Its just that a 1000w seems so much more expensive!!

 

[puddock]

I've just had a look at Rosallys (it's sitting in the garage after a respray) but can't find what any markings on it.......... give me a minute and I'll check through the docs that I got from Alba, there might be something in there (there are manuals for everything else!).

 

[puddock]

The windlass on Rosally appears to be a Simpson Lawrence, Horizon 600.
Apparently 12v/ 400w and I have had no issues with it so far.

Did you sail her round?

 

[Jcorstorphine]

300 w SL electric anchor winch.

I installed an early 300 watt SL Anchorman winch on my 31ft Westerly Pentland Ketch which had a 35 lb CQR and 5/16th (8mm) chain. No real problems other than you just have to motor up onto the anchor and make sure you do not try and pull the boat onto the anchor from a position of anything other than direct in line.

 

[Otter]

If you motor up the scope whilst winding the chain/warp in then the size of motor is less important. The depth and wieght of chain is going to be the factor rather than the size of the boat. The power of the motor is a direct issue if you want to pull the boat forward as you retrieve rather than motor up the scope. If you want to use it to hoist someone up the mast then the weight of the crew member is the issue

 

[LadyInBed]

It's not so much the power of the winch but the technique used to lift the weight.
Use the winch to straighten the cantanery, then let the weight of the chain pull the boat forward.
Keep doing this till the chain is vertical, then the power of the winch only needs to be sufficient to cope with the vertical lift of the weight of the anchor plus the weight of the remaining chain which might be in the order of five to ten meters (7 to 15 Kg for 8mm chain).

 

[ditchcrawler]

I have the Horizon 500 with a Rocna10kg anchor on my Moody 31 and it works fine.You may want to look at the South Pacific Windlass which is 600w.As others have said when retrieving anchor motor up,don't pull the boat up to the anchor with the windlass.

 

[reeac]

It's not so much the power of the winch but the technique used to lift the weight.
Use the winch to straighten the cantanery, then let the weight of the chain pull the boat forward.
Keep doing this till the chain is vertical, then the power of the winch only needs to be sufficient to cope with the vertical lift of the weight of the anchor plus the weight of the remaining chain which might be in the order of five to ten meters (7 to 15 Kg for 8mm chain).

My experience using a manual winch is that if the anchor is well stuck into a heavy clay East Coast estuary bottom then you need to pull far more than just the weight of chain and anchor in order to unstick it- I would guess 4 or 5 times as much. Once it's unstuck the mere lifting of anchor plus chain [plus attached block of clay] is child's play. In this situation I use the traditional manual sideways pull on the chain as used for tightening halyards - always works but don't try it with an electric windlass while it's running!

 

[LadyInBed]

anchor is well stuck into a heavy clay East Coast estuary bottom then you need to pull far more than just the weight of chain and anchor in order to unstick it- I would guess 4 or 5 times as much.

Certainly wouldn't argue with that.

 

[Otter]

Belay the chain and motor the anchor out?

 

[puddock]

Not a whinge or criticism.....

Not poo pooing any of the advice, which has been well meaning but it seems to have started to drift toward anchor recovery technique rather than windlass uuumph.
(Chris is familiar with anchoring techniques. He's an been at sea since leaving school (and he's pretty old now ! ), he's an RYA instructor, ex fishing boat owner/ skipper, ex superyacht skipper (?) and currently skippering a crew boat.)

I think he was just looking for advice as to the power needed when fitting a new one.
As I said, I don't mean to step on toes.

 

[Tranona]

Both the major manufacturers (Lofrans and Lewmar) recommend a 1000w windlass for a 32 foot boat, so in a way it would be silly to use a 500w model which is designed for a smaller boat. However people do use smaller models, partly for cost, partly because that was what was available, and partly because of the usage pattern.

If you are just using it to raise the rode and anchor then it will do the job. If you were in the Med laying and retrieving 40-60 metres of chain twice a day it wouild not do the job.

There are 700w windlasses on the market which would be a reasonable compromise. Personally, I would not fit a 500w as once you have used a more powerful one you realise its benefits.