Well I don’t know yet seeing as I haven’t decided which one I will get. Hence the thread . Powering down is too slow to anchor a fishing mark in a fast tried . Three why I want to go to a horizontal for the quick release :
Ok thank you, what model do you use ?
Having looked up the email correspondence from 2006 I'm reminded that it's a VW1500 in which the VW stands for Vertical Windlass and the 1500 is watts. Although it's a VW it's merely mounted horizontally under the chain locker lid through the side of a longitudinal bulkhead.
Mine doesn't have a clutch that is easy to activate. If I do really want freefall I take the chain of the gypsy and hand it out. Big problem that I have though, is that the anchor and 20m of 8mm chain is at the very limit of my ability to hold, so any 'drag' causes problems. Changing to 6mm chain is not a viable option before any one mentions it !
I've rigged mine so I can raise and lower it remotely from the helm while having control of throttle, gearbox and wheel plus sight of plotter position, depth, COG/SOG and TV views of the stemhead and chain locker using cameras linked to the plotter video screens. Saves all that hollering, gesticulating and fingers lost in the windlass. 5 & 10 metre marks are painted on the chain and visible on the cameras and together with the sounding that tells me when the anchor has bottomed and it's time to go astern rather than dump more chain on top of it.
