Electric windlass

[richardh10]

I originally thought that the exercise would do me good, but have come to the conclusion that raising my anchor by hand is actually going to give me a heart attack. So an electric windlass it is.

Has anybody any recommendations, plus things I should look for. The boat is 12.5 tonne and 11.5 m.

Thanks

 

[martinaskey]

I had the same experience when I bought Rumbuster (36ft, wooden, 9te). Only 8mm chain and hauling up the anchor is all part of the classic boat experience isn't it ? (it was on the previous boat - a Folkboat). A year or so of pulling up the chain lead to the fitting of a Quick electric windlass and the crew have been extremely pleased with it ! Quick were at the cheaper end of the range but it is compact and has been reliable. Went for 1000W vertical arrangement and it is more than powerful enough.
Martin

 

[Tranona]

Your choice will depend on the size of your anchoring gear, the specific layout of your boat, and the depth of you pocket. You will need a minimum of 1000w and the main choice is vertical or horizontal axis. Choice depends on the layout of your foredeck and chain locker.

Have a look at the Lofrans range as these are probably the most popular at a reasonable price. There is plenty of information on their website to help you decide which model will suit you.

 

[Neeves]

We had a Muir Atlantic for 17 years, with which we were satisfied. We replaced it with a Maxwell, RC8-6, which appears much better, but then technology has changed (or moved on). Both were/are 1,000 watts - the Muir was lifting 8mm chain the Maxwell 6mm chain. The Maxwell lifts much faster than did the Muir. The Maxwell service has been exceptional, Muir pretty average - though this is in Australia, might be different in other locations. The Maxwell will be easier to service, but this is part of the development over the last 17 years.

Installation of the Maxwell was pretty easy. Instructions pretty foolproof and sufficient.

When you check prices - you will need a solenoid, circuit breaker and deck switches or remote - plus some pretty hefty cables. Some will quote with circuit breaker, solenoid and a switch, some without - make sure you compare like with like.

You may need to build some form of support on which to house your choice, again it is not difficult, but your existing deck might not be adequate. Windlass can take a hefty load (I think our Maxwell has a static load limit of 1.2t), when you try to retrieve in a bit of a chop (though unlikely to be near the static load limit!)

Jonathan

 

[johnalison]

Our boat is only 5 tons, but the anchor is 45lb. Our Lofrans 1000w has worked fine over eighteen seasons. It is essential to have a down function as well as an up. Although this is normal, there have been occasional exceptions.

 

[GHA]

When you check prices - you will need a solenoid, circuit breaker and deck switches or remote - plus some pretty hefty cables.

And a wonderfully useful device to add is a cheap remote control off ebay, up/down from anywhere on the boat with a remote hung round your neck

 

[Leighb]

Another thing to consider when making a choice is whether to have a simple "Chain gypsy only" type of windlass, or one with a warping drum as well to handle rope separately from the chain.

I had a SL Seawolf on my last boat which had a warping drum and found it very useful, not least when hoisting the furling genoa single handed, as by feeding the halyard onto the drum I could operate the windlass deck switch with my knee, feed the sail into the luff groove with one hand whilst the other hand kept the tension on the halyard.

 

[duncan99210]

And a wonderfully useful device to add is a cheap remote control off ebay, up/down from anywhere on the boat with a remote hung round your neck

+1 on this. Yes, fit a wired handset as a backup but the wireless remote just makes things simple. It also makes dropping or recovering the anchor easy when single handing, as you can control the windlass from where else you need to be on the boat.

 

[sailaboutvic]

We just frittered an Lofrans Cayman , and we did have our share of problems , you can read about it on the PBO forum .
We had a solenoid that melted and the thing just kept tripping the breaker 100A that is recommended by Lofrans , it took a while to sort it all out in the end it turned out that one of the short wires that are build into the motor had a short but it also turned out that the 100A breaker just wasn't man enough and would trip as soon as Any strain was put on the chain .
Although the advise here was not to put a bigger breaker on seven different company some in the UK some in Greece and one in Italy have said they always fit between and 120 and a 140A breaker on the Lofrans so in the end we change the breaker to an 120A and so far so good . But it was a long and expenses learning curve .

 

[NormanS]

Our boat is only 5 tons, but the anchor is 45lb. Our Lofrans 1000w has worked fine over eighteen seasons. It is essential to have a down function as well as an up. Although this is normal, there have been occasional exceptions.

Not sure why you say that is essential to have a down function. Our last boat, which was big, and with which we must have anchored thousands of times, had no "down" function. Gravity never failed us.

 

[jdc]

...You will need a minimum of 1000w ...

One probably will have difficulty finding a smaller and less powerful windlass, but 1000W is really rather more than is actually required. A human, who is very very fit, and has an ideal coupling into the device - say a rowing machine - can output a bit under 800W for a few tens of seconds. Someone on a manual windlass is putting about 350W into the windlass when it's nearly causing a heart-attack. So something which can do 400W continuously will be absolutely fine.

I had reason to test this recently as my windlass motor failed while I was far from anywhere where one could obtain spares. I adapted a cordless electric screwdriver, capable of about 280W, in its place, and it was fine. Plenty of power and torque and a great deal faster than I could do over the time it took to raise 50m of chain in a gale. My boat is 12.8m LOA and a heavy cruiser with 10mm chain and a 25kg anchor.

 

[NormanS]

That's good PBO stuff.

 

[Neeves]

One probably will have difficulty finding a smaller and less powerful windlass, but 1000W is really rather more than is actually required. A human, who is very very fit, and has an ideal coupling into the device - say a rowing machine - can output a bit under 800W for a few tens of seconds. Someone on a manual windlass is putting about 350W into the windlass when it's nearly causing a heart-attack. So something which can do 400W continuously will be absolutely fine.


I had reason to test this recently as my windlass motor failed while I was far from anywhere where one could obtain spares. I adapted a cordless electric screwdriver, capable of about 280W, in its place, and it was fine. Plenty of power and torque and a great deal faster than I could do over the time it took to raise 50m of chain in a gale. My boat is 12.8m LOA and a heavy cruiser with 10mm chain and a 25kg anchor.

The OP has not declared what size nor length of chain he intends to carry nor weight of anchor. I like your maths but in a worst case scenario you might have all your chain deployed, or more likely deploying by accident. We don't know how much chain the OP has but with a windlass he has the option to increase length, as retrieval is going to be easier. I would not want to be retrieving a long length of 10mm (nor 8mm) chain by hand, winch handle in windlass. I'm not sure that I'd want to try a 400 watt motor either to retrieve that long length. The idea of the larger motor is to cater for worst case scenario as a slightly larger motor is commonly not a major increase in price and windlass can usually take a range of motors, as the fittings are identical.

When we bought our Maxwell we specifically chose to have the larger motor, 1,000 watt, we have 75m of 6mm, as this minimises the load on the motor and wiring.

Jonathan

 

[geem]

Our 19 tonne boat has 60 metres of chain, 50 metres of anchorplait and a 33kg anchor attached. The original windlass installed on the boat was a Lofrans Falkon. The motor was 2kw. The windlass was in place for over 30 years from what I can tell. We decided to replace it due to corrosion of the case as it had been installed on a teak pad that helped to accelerate corrosion in the base. We installed a new Lofrans Falkon that now comes with a 1.7kw motor. Being on top of the job has its advantages. The motor and gearbox are not stressed and there is ample spare power for when you need it. There have been a couple of occasions when our Spade anchor is so well dug in that the windlass has pulled the bow of the boat down by a good foot! At that point I usually nudge the boat forward to break it out. Also if you are sailing alone and you need to lift the anchor, the windlass is powerful enough to pull the boat up wind without and assistance from the engine. I can stand on the bow with the engine in neutral and watch the anchor come up.
I would certainly not size a windlass for the minimum I can get away with, rather the biggest I can justify

 

[Neeves]

I would certainly not size a windlass for the minimum I can get away with, rather the biggest I can justify

+1

Jonathan

 

[superheat6k]

I had the same experience when I bought Rumbuster (36ft, wooden, 9te). Only 8mm chain and hauling up the anchor is all part of the classic boat experience isn't it ? (it was on the previous boat - a Folkboat). A year or so of pulling up the chain lead to the fitting of a Quick electric windlass and the crew have been extremely pleased with it ! Quick were at the cheaper end of the range but it is compact and has been reliable. Went for 1000W vertical arrangement and it is more than powerful enough.
Martin

Is that the same Rumbuster as previously owned By Admiral David Williams in the late 1980's ? What a lovely boat you have. She was kept at Hornet (JSSC) where we kept HMS Sultan's boats on adjacent pontoons.

 

[Champagne Murphy]

A couple of years ago I fitted one of these

http://boatgeardirect.co.uk/windlass/product/541-vs1000-vertical-windlass

It was simple to fit, the only debate was on siting, cable runs etc. Also considerably less costly than the big name stuff

 

[Tranona]

+1

Jonathan

Another +1. Makes no sense to underspecify. The 1000W version of the Cayman for example is physically the same as the 700W and only £30 more in money. Similar with other models.

The whole point of fitting an electric windlass is to make life easier in all conditions.

 

[Neeves]

Another +1. Makes no sense to underspecify. The 1000W version of the Cayman for example is physically the same as the 700W and only £30 more in money. Similar with other models.

The whole point of fitting an electric windlass is to make life easier in all conditions.

Make you wonder who would buy the 700W model and why.

 

[johnalison]

Make you wonder who would buy the 700W model and why.

I believe that there are still people sailing around in small boats.