Windlass recomendations?

[kdf]

Looking for recomendations on a horizontal electic windlass for a 8000 kg, 39' sailing boat. Needs to handle both chain and rope.

Any input on make, models and sizes greatly appreciated.
thanks

<P ID="edit"><FONT SIZE=-1>Edited by kdf on Mon Jan 28 13:57:30 2002 (server time).</FONT></P>

 

[Goldie]

I recently fitted a Lofrans Tigres 1200W (also available at 1000W) windlass to my Biscay 36 (approx 8500kg in cruising trim). No problems at all so far, and has revolutionised hauling in 60m of 10mm chain! An added bonus is that by leading the fall of the main halyard to the rope drum, my wife can get me to the top of the mast, with no physical effort, in seconds.

We chose the Lofrans because:

It came well recommended by several chandlers with experience of different manufacturers, the price was very competitive and the product knowledge of the supplier we finally chose was very good indeed. (try YachtParts, at Queen Anne's Battery Marina in Plymouth and ask for Andy). The ancilleries (solenoids, switchgear etc) were half the price of a certain British manufacturer. On the debit side, you will probably have to change your chain if it's not specifically Lofrans calibrated. The savings we made by choosing Lofrans more than paid for the new chain, with a lot of change! The gear appears well made and spares should be readily available worldwide. Hope this helps.

 

[mica]

We too have a Lofrans Tigress and agree it is a very good windlass. However, beware, 10 years down the line we are having problems with galvanic corrosion.

Don't know how yours is fitted, but ours sat on a steel sheaved shelf in the anchor locker, bolted down with steel nuts and bolts, with no insolation between the different metals. We now have quite bad corrosion on the windlass, so are having to refit, with a rubber insolation mat under the windlass and bind the bolts with insulation tape. You can check if the two metals are in contact by running a continuity check with a test meter. This meant several attempts at fitting it, as the insolation tape gets damaged when pushing the bolts through. Hopefully now we have stopped the rot.

With electrical contact and being exposed to salt water, we have found the motor casing has been eaten away underneath and the bolt holes enlarged by corrosion, which went unnoticed till we removed the windlass, to enable us to do another job. Although it has been quite a pain to rectify, we are lucky we discovered it before the bolt holes were so large that the strain on the anchor pulled the windlass off its mounting plate.

Just thought you might like to know, and anyone else fitting anything with two different metals on a boat.

Would be interested to hear if anyone knows of a better method of isolating the fixing bolts.

Good Luck and regards,

MICA

 

[kdf]

thanks for the info. Can you explain about the chain calibration. Why would the Lofrans unit require this and also how does it handle the mix of chain and rope?

thanks

 

[Goldie]

Calibrated chain is manufactured to much tighter tolerances than uncalibrated chain to ensure that it will run over a gypsy without jumping or jamming. This of course, makes it more expensive. Each chain gypsy will normally fit a specific manufacturer's chain, i.e. A Simpson Lawrence (SL) windlass will need chain manufactured to fit a SL gypsy, likewise the Lofrans. To the naked eye, the difference is miniscule. When we swopped to Lofrans (from a SL Sea Tiger manual windlass), we tried using the original chain. It started off OK, but would jump every 20 links or so due to the cumulative build up of the different link size. Some chandlers actually said that swopping SL to Lofrans would be OK, but not the other way round - it wasn't! I suggest borrowing (against a deposit if necessary) a gypsy from any windlass that you are considering purchasing. Take it to the boat, lift out a length of chain, and run it over the gypsy using a boat hook or similar as an axle. The gypsy should spin freely with the chain running off smoothly. You don't want a chain jumping of under load; aprt from the inconvenience, it could be extremely dangerous. As regards handling warp and chain, some gypsys claim to handle both although I haven't tried one. According to an old catalogue, Lofrans offer a choice of chain or rope/chain gypsys to fit 6mm, 8mm,10 and 12mm chain. Not sure what rope sizes would be compatible. Our Tigres has a separate warping drum which can, if necessary, be operated with the chain gupsy de-clutched. Finally, some form of emergency manual back up should be considered. The Lofrans is slow in manual mode, but would get there in the end. I suspect a warp with a chain hook led back to a primary winch might be quicker, although each "pull" is dictated by how far down you can place the chain hook! Incidentally, we had no problem selling our old chain through the local newspaper, although 10 years old, it paid for half the new chain! Best of luck.