Electric anchor windlass

[noelex]

In most anchoring situations, either allowing the anchor to free fall or powering the anchor down, are both satisfactory solutions.

However, there are times where one or the other technique (or even a combination) is preferable so it is worth practising both methods if your anchor winch allows this (most do).

 

[GHA]

I can see no advantage in using single speed powerdown when all other speeds are available on manual clutch and lever?

Does laziness count

Most cases it's just dead easy, no need to dig out the handle and with a garage door remote hanging round your neck you can power it down from anywhere on the boat without even having to bend down. Great singlehanded.

Maybe blowing big guns or in really deep water things might dictate otherwise, can't actually remember that ever being the case though.

Hardest bit is remembering to take your mobile phone so you can mark bang on where the anchor is for the anchor alarm instead of minor guesswork later .

 

[geem]

I do the opposite, allowing gravity to do the work.

But, I achieve both of John Morris's aims:

I can see the chain markers as they go past (it doesn't go down too fast that you cannot).

As soon as I know it is on the bottom, I tighten the windlass to stop more paying out. The person on the helm engages reverse so any chain that has ended up on top of the anchor (probably only a couple of metres) is pulled off and I gently release the brake to allow more to be pulled out of the locker as the boats reverses away from the anchor. Then, when the scope is right, lock it again when you want to dig it in properly.

Two advantages I find:

Less load on the batteries.
You get the anchor on the bottom much more quickly.

p.s. I can adjust the braking power on the windlass by varying the tightness of the drum. This allows good control over the speed with which the chain comes out of the locker. I don't know whether all models can do this.

We do the same but would add that when it is blowing hard this gravity drop is the way to go. You can get the anchor on the bottom just where you want it before the boat is blown off its position. We see lots of yachts over here anchoring who power down. By the time they have let enough chain out they have dragged down wind.
We never find it a problem piling chain on top of the anchor. As soon as the anchor hits the bottom I apply full lock to the helm and the addition hull windage pulls the chain out of the locker. We rarely use reverse.

 

[TQA]

I bow to the length of your experence on the hook but the point of the manual clutch (or more accurately brake I suppose) is to allow you to control a fast or slow speed as you go without getting hands near the mechanism. I wouldn't want to power down all the way in 20m of water and certainly couldn't cope with the delay of powering down when reversing back to a quay in a cross wind.

Is there a reason for objecting to using the clutch when lowering. I can see no advantage in using single speed powerdown when all other speeds are available on manual clutch and lever?

I like to stay well clear of fast running chain where ever possible. Yes you can get a variable speed drop using the clutch but I can not remember a time when I needed that. I can manually control the drop on my Lofrans Tigress but the only time I have done this is when the footswitch fails, [ average life 13 months a great example of dissimilar metals giving rise to galvanic corrosion ]

I single hand a fair bit and can drop from the helm, I find this useful when I need to get the anchor in a precise spot.