Windlass woes

[nimbusgb]

Rather than hijack the other anchor chain thread ........

The result of our recent cruising holiday has been a total mutiny from the crew on the scale of HMS bounty. Said crew has refused all further contact with the demon winch buried in the anchor locker.

We have 11.5m benneteau with a 1500 watt winch mounted on a platform in the locker. Currently electrical retrieve only. Lowering is a manual cone clutch affair and the chain will jump off the gypsey at the slightest temptation resulting in crew ducking and rnning for cover ( rather wreck boat than kids fingers! )

The fall from the gypsey to the sloped aft face of the locker is only 400mm which with the old chain run was insufficient; the chain pile quickly reduced this to about 300mm and then the blockages and kinks between gypsey and hawse pipe ( actually a hole in the shelf ) started.

Solution 1 was to run the chain 180 deg round the gypsey and forward 250mm over a roller. this increased the fall to about 600mm. still not a great success. Retrieval now requires crew to sit and keep tension on the fall of chain with a length of pipe.

I fitted a reversing solenoid to the winch this trip which succesfully reverses the polarity of the two cables going in to the winch. winch still only runs one way!

So the current thinking is as follows.

1 - see if the winch can be reversed simply ( contact goiot - their docs say yes but I'm not sure if I have the correct reference ) if so build a steel structure to move the winch forward 250mm and up 200mm to become a deck mounted winch. The hawse pipe from this new position will angle forward and down 45 degrees which will give the chain a clear fall of around 800mm and 600mm with the whole 100m of 10mm chain in the locker.

2 - If the winch can't be reversed electrically then aquire a new winch and build a suitable platform to get the winch deck mounted and forward as much as possible.

questions are -

1 -will idea solve the problem?
2 - if I have to buy a new winch which shoiuld I go for. Vertical or horizontal. and who makes a good 1200 - 1500watt forward, reverse (and possibly even free fall ) remote controlled unit?

 

[Silent Lady]

Anchor Windlass

You should be able to run it in either direction . Take off black and red leads and reverse them . Try it . It should go the other way . The control unit for windlasses just seems to reverse the polarity of the leads to the motor . Just fitted a sidepower bow thruster and that works the same way . Worth a try . If it does nothing ie. Motor does not turn don't continue .... Put the cables back the correct way and look for one that does. If the manufacturer says it will work then try it . Nothing to loose. If it does work then you need a control box and remote . We used a windlass in Turkey the other year and they said it took to long to let out the chain so we just undid the clutch and let it run. Kept the fingers well clear .

 

[pvb]

I fitted a reversing solenoid to the winch this trip which succesfully reverses the polarity of the two cables going in to the winch. winch still only runs one way!

I thought that most Goiot windlasses had a 3-wire system - one positive which makes it go up, one positive which makes it go down, and a common negative. Which model do you have?

 

[TradewindSailor]

Before you try playing with your winch, it will be worth :

1 checking that the chain isn't worn ..... i.e. still fits the gypsy over the chains entire length.

2 checking that the gypsy is not worn.

3 checking that the chain matched the gypsy. The gypsy size is often stamped on the wall by the link indentations.


If you are having fall problems a vertical axis windlass would cope better, and it reduces clutter if deck mounted.

 

[nimbusgb]

I'll pick up all 3 replies.

Reversing 2 leads - yup thats what my reversing solenoid does. It still runs in one direction only - wierd huh! I've been tinkering with electronics for about 35 years and I can tell you I was baffled by that one until ...

I discovered its a goiot 308 ( I think ) or a 312 and yes it should have 3 wires but there are only two coming out the bottom of the housing. ( by feel only ) Perhaps I will have to demount the unit to investigate further. It woiuld explain the one way operation


And the chain and gypsy although rather old do not seem to be overly worn. The kinks and knots are off the gypsey but the jumping could well be through wear. I'll buy a new gypsey as a next step.

 

[Ubergeekian]

I'll pick up all 3 replies.

Reversing 2 leads - yup thats what my reversing solenoid does. It still runs in one direction only - wierd huh! I've been tinkering with electronics for about 35 years and I can tell you I was baffled by that one until ...

That would be expected from a motor with a wound (as opposed to permanent magnet) field. It's why the same starter motor will work on positive and negative earth cars, for example.

 

[nimbusgb]

Yup finally figured that out. now all I need to do is find the second armature winding connection to run it backwards.

 

[Leonidas]

Yup finally figured that out. now all I need to do is find the second armature winding connection to run it backwards.

This solves one of the problems. However, the problem with the shallow locker will remain unless you reinforce the deck and fit the windlass on the deck forward so that the vertical drop increases. This means that apart from a backing plate, you may need to glass in a beam and beam end brackets . Whilst this will make the laying of the chain more manageable, you will most probably need to stop hoisting from time to time and assist the laying by hand or by means of a hook (like a walking stick). You will also be introducing another minor problem which is the occassional fouling of the genoa sheets when tacking if you allow too much slack on the windward side. Another option may be to leave things as they are and if possible, sacrifice the forward locker in the cabin and convert it to chain locker by leading the chain through a spurling pipe into it. Again one must make sure that there will be a substantial gap between the end of the spurling pipe and the bottom of the locker.

 

[nimbusgb]

The steel structure ( 6mm 316 stainless plate welded up ) will move the winch to being 'deck mounted'. The structure will be bolted to the old mounting points so will simply relocate the winch. Strength should not be a problem

I think the occasional fouling with a genoa sheet is going to be much less of a problem than the current hassles with the anchor. My genoa sheets tend to be kept taught in the tacks ( crew way too slow )