Windlass Brake?

[Quandary]

I have stripped the motor down and got it running and I am starting to put the South Pacific windlass together. At the outer end of the motor spindle there is a brake, it is a plastic device just like a tiny version of an old type car drum brake with two semi circular plastic shoes held in with two stainless steel expanding wire springs, the brake I presume is intended to work by centrifugal force if the motor speed is too high, but it seems very crude to be effective. Problem is that it seems to create an awful lot of friction even when turned by hand and it also seems to prevent the motor reversing when the power is changed over. Looking at other windlasses this device seems not to occur generally. Would it be dangerous to omit it?
I also plan to do away with the electrically operated clutch which moves a lever to shift a disc with dogs(?) on it to let the rode free fall, the manual suggests this function should not be used with chain so I can see no advantage in it and its use would seem to just add complication, I can see the benefit of free falling anchors on angling boats etc. but I would be reluctant ever to use it on a yacht.

 

[RichardS]

It sounds like a centrifugal brake or clutch so the key issue is whether it is the spinning of the gypsy or the spinning of the motor drive which activates it.

I would be surprised if it is activated by the drive shaft if the drive is the usual worm drive as the speed of these is set by the specifications of the electric motor. I guess that if the drive is not a worm drive but a simple reduction gear drive, the the device could be a centrifugal clutch rather that a brake?

I wonder therefore, if in the absence of the usual cone clutch for controlling the free-fall speed, whether this is a free-fall descent speed mechanism?

Can you turn the gypsy by hand at all in either direction with the power off. If it just clunks a bit from side to side with no other movement then it sounds like a worm drive and the mechanism is more likely to be a free-fall brake which is coming on too early, perhaps because of weakened return springs?

I would not do anything to render the free-fall option unusable as being able to use free-fall saved our bacon when the windlass solenoid burned out whist on passage.

Richard

 

[rogerthebodger]

I doubt if the brake is a centrifugal its more likely to be an electrically operated off so when the power is applied the brake is disconnected and when the power is removed the brake operated like and electric chain hoist.

is it like these

http://www.southpacific.com.au/in_index/vertical-windlasses-v.html

with a vertical motor. The horizontal motor type have a worm drive that are self locking the vertical motor type do not self lock so need a brake to stop run back as shown on the web page

The clutch could be a centrifugal type to start the drive once the motor has got up to speed to save overloading the motor on startup


If you can give me the modal number and date there are manuals on the download section of their web site.

http://www.southpacific.com.au/in_index/dowmloads.html

Their horizontal windlass also has and electric brake system as their horizontal windlass also uses spur gears and not a self locking worm gear.

 

[prv]

No comment on the plastic mechanism, but I'd consider releasing a clutch and relying on gravity to be the standard method of dropping the anchor. It goes out faster and therefore ends up where you intended, rather than the boat swinging or drifting away while the chain slowly chunters out under power with the anchor still hanging in mid-water. Anchoring is also often a good option (all too frequently forgotten!) in the event of mechanical breakdown, so like Richard I'd be wary of making that option wholly reliant on electrical power.

Pete

 

[Quandary]

The brake is described as a brake on the website it looks exactly like a drum brake but made in plastic with the continuous springs in slots running round the outside of the shoe, it fits on the end of the motor shaft directly beyond the driving splines, the clutch is on the gypsy spindle and it is a simple in/out dog? wheel operated by electrics via a lever, the exposure to water etc would force me not to trust it to work with anything like reliability.
The brake is purely mechanical though later/current models do have an electric brake. The plastic drum is very thin almost worn through. There is no worm drive, this is a surface mounting horizontal windlass with a simple line of straight cut gears, all spindles from the motor to the gypsy are parallel. My theory is that the function of the brake is to control the speed when dropping the anchor when there is a positive load acting on the motor causing the chain to go out too fast? The problem is that it is fairly flimsy and is now very worn. It is not stocked as a spare part (perhaps in Australia). I worry that if I dispense with it the chain will fly out faster than free fall so I will try it in place.
I am happy to dispense with the clutch, the operating switch is a screw driver slot in an inaccessible position so it has never really been an option, as well the windlass maker says it should not be used with an all chain rode. If the windlass fails I am back where I was last summer dragging chain out by hand from behind the gypsy.
A sensible person would bin this windlass but despite its condition it is only seven years old, the gears look fine and run in a bath of grease , my main worry is the motor, when I had it out the soldered connection to two of the brushes had failed and it is difficult to check the durability of my soldering repairs non destructively. I have been seduced by the challenge of making the thing go, but when I get it all together, after giving it a good few runs on the bench with a chain and a weight I will decide whether to reinstall it or to spend around £800 on a Lewmar which is claimed to be all stainless steel and comes with a 5 year warranty, the lifting figures and speed are claimed to be similar but the South Pacific has an 1100w. motor compared to Lewmar's 700 w.
An attraction of the Lewmar is its compact form, I could mount it about 3" higher in the locker substantially improving the chain drop when recovering.

Regarding the safety concerns, I do carry a second anchor with a chain/rope rode which I can deploy fairly rapidly by dumping over the side in an emergency.