[C320-list] Anchor Windlass Capability

[JJ Morrison]

A 40lb anchor and 50ft of chain (5/16"?) sounds like overkill and a lot of work to me; I have a 15KG Bruce and 1/4" chain rode and the Maxwell 500 was upgraded with a gypsy which I understand Maxwell no longer supplies. We anchor out a lot and this combination works very well for the 320 and we have never dragged the anchor in some pretty stiff breezes. I think that the 1/4" chain would work OK on the Maxwell rode drum but have never tried it. If I were doing it again I'd get a new windlass as the new ones draw considerably less power and with remote control are safer to operate.
Cheers
JohnM
1999 #574
 

> To: C320-List at Catalina320.com
> From: jpmesa at aol.com
> Date: Thu, 12 Jul 2012 13:21:04 -0400
> Subject: Re: [C320-list] Anchor Windlass Capability
> 
> 
> Over the years and on several boats we have regularly used chain on a smooth drum . We would put some gaffers tape over the drum to keep it from slipping. JOHN
> 
> 
> 
> -----Original Message-----
> From: Gene Helfman <genehelfman at gmail.com>
> To: C320-List <C320-List at catalina320.com>
> Sent: Thu, Jul 12, 2012 9:26 am
> Subject: Re: [C320-list] Anchor Windlass Capability
> 
> 
> Thanks for bringing this up. We're in final negotiations on a 1997 320
> with "upgraded" ground tackle: 40 lb plow and 50 ft of larger chain than
> standard. So we will need to replace the Maxwell 500 with a larger, more
> powerful windlass that has both rope and chain capability (granted, as
> Dennis noted, we could power up to the chain and get away with a chain
> donkey only). Has anyone upgraded to something along these lines?
> 
> thanks,
> 
> gene
> 
> On Thu, Jul 12, 2012 at 8:50 AM, Dennis Harris <dharris02 at suddenlink.net>wrote:
> 
> > 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
> >
> 
> 
> 
> -- 
> Gene Helfman, Professor Emeritus
> Odum School of Ecology, University of Georgia
> PERMANENT address:
> 498 Shoreland Dr., Lopez Is., WA 98261
> (360) 468-2136
> genehelfman at gmail.com
> 
> "Give a man a fish and he'll eat for a day,
> Teach a man to fish and he'll deplete the
> oceans."
> 
> The Book of Bob, Ironies 24:7
> 
>