Lofrans X1 vs X2 windlass

[TopBanana]

One of my winter refit projects is to fit a windlass to my Westerly Konsort. Currently, it's a heave-ho arrangement.

Both the Lofrans X1 and X2 are available with 1000w motors, and I'm struggling to tell them apart. Does anyone have any advice for me? Thanks

 

[pvb]

The 1000W versions are differently rated; the X2 has a higher working load and max pull, as well as a faster line speed. If you look at the Lofrans catalogue, you'll see the different specs - www.lofrans.com/filemanager/uploads/catalogues/Lofrans_2016_EN.pdf

 

[BelleSerene]

I had to replace my Quick 1000W windlass while cruising this summer. Chose the Lofrans X2, as the Quick supply chain (pardon the pun) was lousy up where I was sailing and I needed to anchor daily. I was committed to 10mm chain, which none of the X1 variants will handle so that decided it for me. PVB's comments all apply. Also, at 40m/m bare or 20m/min at max working load, the X2 recovers the anchor noticeably slower than the Quick I was used to; the X1 is even slower.

 

[TopBanana]

Thanks for the replies chaps. I'm not well known for my patience, so the X2 sounds a better bet.

BS, any regrets?

 

[BelleSerene]

BS, any regrets?

No. It's a solid piece of engineering. You too will get that impression when you're hanging half in and half out of your anchor locker, offering up the motor from inside so its shaft mounts with microscopic tolerance into the gypsy you've fitted to the deck - and then holding it there with one hand for long enough to secure it with a nut to one of the through-deck bolts with the other. Bad idea to drop the nut into the pile of anchor chain beneath. Never mind, my biceps were in need of a tune-up.

The Lofrans does run notably more slowly than the Quick - but perhaps that's a good thing by stressing the motor less; I don't know. Mine fitted almost the existing deck cut-out; I just had to Sikaflex a sliver of open deck around the curve by the chain drop.

Unlike the Quick that it replaced, you can't flip up the lid above the chain fall, to access the chain/ rode/ nasty splice in between. It takes three Allen key bolts to remove that. Oh, and unlike the Quick, it lacks a lock lever on the side for manual weighing of the anchor. I confess I never did understand how this was supposed to work, as mine corroded up years ago.

You can mount the Lofrans at any of 6 or 7 out of a theoretical 8 angles at 45° to each other in the horizontal plane. One or two such angles would place the motor in the line of the fall of chain. Predictably including the one that allowed the most convenient mounting for me, given the short cables I started with from the differently shaped Quick motor. The Lofrans is supplied with a good waterproof plastic tubular cowling, with grommeted access for your three cables from the solenoid, to keep salty water on rising and falling chain from splashing and corroding the motor over time. If your cables are already made up with crimped terminals on the end, they won't fit through the grommets, so you'll need to crimp them in situ, or else take the cowling with you to where the cables get crimped. That bit was a bugger. (I had to omit the grommets and will fit later after a kind offer from a forum member.)

I recall that a catalogue said some of the X2 models came with a 4-terminal motor and some with a 3-terminal one. This affects the solenoid type and whether you require three or four fat DC wires. Fortunately, mine came with a 3-terminal motor so I didn't bother to change my existing solenoid.

Fitting was relatively easy with a good toolkit - and a large mat laid out on a Baltic pontoon so I didn't lose any bits!

Good luck.

[Edit:] I could have replied more succinctly saying:
- If you want a lock lever for manual weighing, look elsewhere
- If you care about flipping up a little lid to access the falling chain, look elsewhere
- If you want rapid weighing, look at Quick or some other brand
- on the plus side, various 45° mounting positions offers flexibility for your boat
- apart from those small considerations, it's more than fine. And I think was good value too. (I bought online from a German outfit called SVB and had it delivered to a yacht club that was ahead of me.)