Which windlass

[Seven Spades]

I took the Gypsy of my Simpson Lawrence windlass and to my horror discovered that salt water had eaten away a large part of the body.

I am am considering either a Lofran, Lewmar or Maxwell I would welcome any comments on the reliability of these products. there is a considerable price difference and am not sure if the extra is worth it.

 

[Ex-SolentBoy]

We have had Lewmar on both of our boats. Current model is a V3. Excellent reliability and no greasing. Love it.

 

[vyv_cox]

I have had a Maxwell for many years. It has proved to be trouble free except that I was unable to separate the castellated connector when I wanted to remove it from the boat. This was due to corrosion of the aluminium parts. The windlass has been redesigned since Maxwell were bought out but I think these parts remain the same. It needs to be separated occasionally, in which case a good choice.

 

[Tranona]

Lofrans. Only weak point so far (11 years) is solenoids, but relatively cheap and easy to replace.

 

[Seven Spades]

What is "the castellated connector" I have not heard of this part.

 

[vyv_cox]

What is "the castellated connector" I have not heard of this part.

The above deck and below deck parts connect together by a castellated joint made from aluminium. These corroded together on my windlass.

 

[TQA]

Another vote for a Lofrans Tigres, lots and lots doing sterling service on charter boats as well as mine.

The foot switches are rubbish though!

 

[snooks]

We have a Lewmar V2, only two years old, but was easy enough to fit and still does what it should with no problems

 

[KellysEye]

We have a Lofrans and like it. Bear in mind that they use aluminium and stainless bolts so it's worth stripping it down every year and renewing the paste that isolates the two (can't remember the name).

Having said that it does depend how much water you get over the bow. Our boat had done over 12,000 miles of ocean sailing when we we boght her and we couldn't get the winch off to give it a service pack. Eventually we wanted to take the teak decks off and we had to cut it out, not a problem, steel boat. A 20 ton press was tried hoping to separate it and it didn't work. When we fitted a new Lofrans we made a Sunbrella cover for it which keeps the water out if it's made to fit tightly.

 

[Poignard]

We have a Lofrans and like it. Bear in mind that they use aluminium and stainless bolts so it's worth stripping it down every year and renewing the paste that isolates the two (can't remember the name).

Zinc chromate paste, eg Duralac

 

[wiggy]

Seven Spades, I've sent you a pm.

 

[Seven Spades]

Thanks, I was hoping for something maintenance free but it sounds an impossible wish.