no so quick windlass

[pathfinderstu]

having nearly been caught with my anchor down with no visible ways of retrieving it was wondering if there was any way of hotwiring it when the up down quick control malfunctions as what happened to me, luckily I managed to get the anchor up in fits and starts of power.
I fixed the problem today after finding it was a loose wire on the connection, also on this Quick windlass you are supposed to be able to manually winch it in with the handle this was impossible at the time. however I found out that Beneteau put an extra bolt on the Quick windlass at installation that stops you manually cranking it, not a lot of people know this and its not in any of the instruction manuals, why beneteau do this I don't know, maybe some kind of joke perhaps, seems an antisafety idea to me.
back to question is it possible to get a quick fix bye say putting a bar across two of the 3 leads at the electric motor ?

 

[maby]

Is that true of all Beneteaus? I have to say that I've never tried hand cranking ours, but would be disturbed to hear that it is not possible - will have to try!

 

[Angele]

Are you sure the windlass allows you to hand crank it up and that the hole to take a winch handle isn't simply there to allow you to release the brake to allow it all to fall under gravity?

That is how mine works. No way to raise it with the handle. Would need to be done truly manually (by pulling on the chain) and/or winching it on board by attaching a line to one of the cockpit winches. Fortunately, never had to resort to that.

Always thought the inability to winch it is was a bit of a design flaw. Probably the only bit of kit that the boat came with that I am not entirely comfortable with.

Anyway, to answer your question, hot wiring is possible if you know where the wiring break is, but bear in mind that the windlass itself takes a lot of current and so needs some heavy duty cable.

Chances are, though, that if there is a wiring problem it is probably in the switch circuit that drives the windlass relay and not in the windlass power cable itself. (Being heavy duty it will stand up to corrosion much better than the low current switching circuit). I had your problem happen to me once. One of the wires to deck switches had corroded. Fortunately, I have two sets of switches to drive the windlass - the normal handheld control (that plugs in via the forward cabin) and foot controls - and only one of these had corroded. In effect, I had a permanently fixed "hotwire" in place.

 

[noelex]

Solenoid failure is one of the most common windlass problems.
It is worth studying the solenoid and working out how you can bypass the solenoid, particularly in The up direction.
However, a completely independent system is a good idea for larger yachts. Using the sheet /halyard winches a couple of snatch blocks it is usually possible. It pays to think about the solution and purchase the necessary hardware beforehand.

 

[duncan99210]

I had a problem with the winch this year: turned out to be the joint in the cables between the fitted supply cables and the winch itself. In the process of sorting it, I ordered a new winch wireless remote off eBay for about £20, which now sits in the spares tub waiting for the fitted one to die, so that's that one sorted.

To return to the original question, I'd be very wary of trying to 'jump' the solenoid box to get the winch to work. The currents the winch uses will cause sparks to fly and may just weld whatever you use as a jumper to the terminals. If you can't pull the chain in by hand, then you could do it bit by bit by taking to the dinghy, making a rope fast to the chain as far down as possible, lead the rope back to one of the sail winches, haul in, stop chain off and repeat. Not easy but if the chain is not manageable by hand that might be the only way of doing it.

 

[john_morris_uk]

I had a problem with the winch this year: turned out to be the joint in the cables between the fitted supply cables and the winch itself. In the process of sorting it, I ordered a new winch wireless remote off eBay for about £20, which now sits in the spares tub waiting for the fitted one to die, so that's that one sorted.

To return to the original question, I'd be very wary of trying to 'jump' the solenoid box to get the winch to work. The currents the winch uses will cause sparks to fly and may just weld whatever you use as a jumper to the terminals. If you can't pull the chain in by hand, then you could do it bit by bit by taking to the dinghy, making a rope fast to the chain as far down as possible, lead the rope back to one of the sail winches, haul in, stop chain off and repeat. Not easy but if the chain is not manageable by hand that might be the only way of doing it.

I'm not sure that you have to use the dinghy. Just put a rolling hitch on the chain near the stem head and take the line back to a primary winch. Wind away and winch the chain back along the side deck. You need to have a way of stopping or holding the chain at the stem-head while you take the load off and unite the rolling hitch and run the line back forward again to haul in another 'bight' of chain. Mind the chain doesn't scratch the deck and fittings too much. Old bits of carpet and cardboard helps (if you have any on board!)

An even cleverer way is to use a chain hook.

 

[pathfinderstu]

Regarding cranking the winch. in my quick there is a drum on top with two holes in it one in centre one off centre, the centre is for the brake the other for manual.... instructions in the quick manual are quite simple for hand winching. however I never tried it when I did get round to try was too late and did not work.
I read on an American forum after the event that beneteaues put a bolt in the system that's stops the procedure. true enough there was a small hex bolt on the deck line on the port side it was stopping the system tripping so that manual was impossible. removed and the system worked.
A lot of people on the forum were very surprised. The guy that wrote the article actually phoned beneteau they did not now about it but put him on to the Quick people who in turn told him that it was beneteau who did this.

 

[noelex]

To return to the original question, I'd be very wary of trying to 'jump' the solenoid box to get the winch to work. The currents the winch uses will cause sparks to fly and may just weld whatever you use as a jumper to the terminals. If you can't pull the chain in by hand, then you could do it bit by bit by taking to the dinghy, making a rope fast to the chain as far down as possible, lead the rope back to one of the sail winches, haul in, stop chain off and repeat. Not easy but if the chain is not manageable by hand that might be the only way of doing it.

The best technique is to turn the winch Circuit Breaker, or battery switch off. Jump the up side of the solenoid (preferably with a pre made jumper wire with ring terminals, or large jaw clamps) There will be no sparks because there is no current.
Now you can use the CB to power the winch.

Turning the CB on will cause the winch to immediately pull up the chain.

Not ideal, but workable.

 

[Phoenix of Hamble]

and onto your other original question.... the switch/control.... its just a low current supply to the solenoid that switches the main power leads one way or the other.... a small wire to the correct terminal on the solenoid, from the +ve will bypass the switch.

FWIW, I am planning on fitting a second set of switches (in the cockpit) which always gives you an alternative if the control at the bow fails.

 

[Angele]

Regarding cranking the winch. in my quick there is a drum on top with two holes in it one in centre one off centre, the centre is for the brake the other for manual.... instructions in the quick manual are quite simple for hand winching.

Then that is one hole better than my Quick windlass. Mine only has the one in the centre for the brake. No hope of raising it manually using the windlass, which I think is pretty unsatisfactory.

 

[maby]

Then that is one hole better than my Quick windlass. Mine only has the one in the centre for the brake. No hope of raising it manually using the windlass, which I think is pretty unsatisfactory.

You surprise me - we had an entry-level Quick in our previous boat, but it still had the manual cranking function.

 

[pathfinderstu]

I think the whole thing is pretty unsatisfactory, considering the mount of trouble people have with these winches and what an important piece of safety equipment it is.

In this day and age of health and safety you would think that there would be a simple to use hand cranking system, easily to engage when you need it, also an electrical back up system when handheld controls etc. go wrong which I understand frequently do.

Thanks for the electrical answers by the way, has given me food for thought.

 

[Babylon]

I think the whole thing is pretty unsatisfactory, considering the mount of trouble people have with these winches and what an important piece of safety equipment it is.

In this day and age of health and safety you would think that there would be a simple to use hand cranking system, easily to engage when you need it, also an electrical back up system when handheld controls etc. go wrong which I understand frequently do.

Absolutely. That's why when choosing an electrically-powered windlass to fit to my boat (never had any windlass previously), I went for the new vertical Quick Aleph - precisely because it incorporates full-manual recovery.

 

[noelex]

I think the whole thing is pretty unsatisfactory, considering the mount of trouble people have with these winches and what an important piece of safety equipment it is.

In this day and age of health and safety you would think that there would be a simple to use hand cranking system, easily to engage when you need it, also an electrical back up system when handheld controls.

If you actually use them most of the manual systems on electric winches are pretty unsatisfactory. If you can use the sheet/halyard winches you can generally do much better.

They could engineer something more sophisticated effectively combining a manual and electric anchor winch, but I think it would add considerably to the cost.

I think its always worth installing 2 separate up buttons say one deck mounted and one remote control.

As the solenoids are often the components that fail a prepaid wire to bypass the solenoid is worth making up and keeping next to the solenoid. For an extended trip a spare solenoid is a good idea.

If you have a spare switch and can bypass the solenoid you can fix 80-90% of the problems with the anchor winch

 

[noelex]

I think the whole thing is pretty unsatisfactory, considering the mount of trouble people have with these winches and what an important piece of safety equipment it is.

In this day and age of health and safety you would think that there would be a simple to use hand cranking system, easily to engage when you need it, also an electrical back up system when handheld controls.

If you actually use them most of the manual systems on electric winches are pretty unsatisfactory. If you can use the sheet/halyard winches you can generally do much better.

They could engineer something more sophisticated effectively combining a manual and electric anchor winch, but I think it would add considerably to the cost, weight and size.

I think its always worth installing 2 separate up buttons say one deck mounted and one remote control.

As the solenoids are often the components that fail a premade wire to bypass the solenoid is worth making up and keeping next to the solenoid. For an extended trip a spare solenoid is a good idea.

If you have a spare switch and can bypass the solenoid you can fix 80-90% of the problems with the anchor winch