[C320-list] Anchor Windlass Capability

[Dennis Harris]

As I understand it, the anchor windlass is not to be used to pull the boat towards the anchor location when taking in the anchor.  If the wind or current is high, doing so would put lots of force on the windlass and probably trip it out.  But if there isn’t much wind, it would seem that there wouldn’t be much force.  The windlass supplied on our boats has a smooth drum and no gypsy for chain, and as I understand it, the chain should not be used on the smooth drum.  My guess is that many, like me, have nylon rode with a relatively small amount of chain at the anchor.   Taking in the nylon rode when there is no strain on it (because boat is being powered forward) is easy to do by hand and power assist is not needed.  Picking up the bitter end with the chain and anchor (assuming we have already broken out the anchor using boat movement instead of anchor windlass pull) can/will be relatively difficult and power assist would be helpful, but the windlass (as delivered on boat) is not setup to handle chain.  So, it seems that we have this nice piece of equipment that really isn’t available when there is some heavy lifting to do. 
What am I missing?   
How do most owners use the windlass?  
And, most importantly, what is the line pull, in pounds, that can be successfully applied to the anchor rode, or other line, using the windlass without damaging windlass or tripping it out electrically?
I don’t anchor out often, as you can tell, and when I do, it is in shallow water, so I have done it by hand without the windlass in the past.  But as 73 approaches, the idea of picking up a 33 lb. Bruce anchor and 20 ft. of chain seems less and less attractive.
Thanks for you guidance.
Dennis Harris  C320  #694