Poor man's anchor winch?

[Pete the Cat]

Maybe it's just me, but about the only time I wish I had a windless is when breaking the anchor loose off the bottom.

On those (rare) occasions when pulling the boat up and shortening the rode to vertical requires some help, I've run the rode through a snatch block on the midships rail and led it back to one of the cockpit primary winches. So far, has done the trick, and once the anchor is off the bottom it has been easy enough to bring it on board at the bow as normal.

$.02

Just a comment on the comment. Most recreational windlasses are not strong enough to withstand the breakout or backdown of anchoring. I am sure that you, like me have done this and managed to get away with it. Once or twice or more. Breakout or backdown should be done with the chain or rode secured in a stopper or on a cleat with most recreational windlasses. The bearings are simply not designed for this kind of pressure. Don't ask how I learned this. After rebuilding my windlass, I read the manual. Yup. It advises against it. Since then, I have read several of them. Most of them say that the windlass' purpose is the deployment and retrieval of the anchor and rode--not the break out or backdown process to set it. When you take the gear box apart to rebuild it (many brands have the same Italian gear drives) will see why. I have pictures of the damage and the rebuild process.

 

[David Vaughn]

I have also admired that unit for a while. I like that it is open, so you can haul line ride in manually, and then when more pull is needed, drop the rode on the windlass and grind away. When finished, take the rode off and drop into the chain locker. I saw one at Newport boat show a couple years ago. Was told that it is suitable for chain only. Would love to hear from actual users.

We have the bronze version of that. Ours is the metric version (very difficult to get bronze in the US version) that came from a German distributor. It handles our 8mm chain and 5/8 (16mm) rope just fine. The manual for the metric version specifically says it can handle chain and or rope. That may not be the case with the US version but the gypsy looks basically the same. We use a chain to rope splice and the windlass has no problem handling the transition. It was more expensive than the chrome version but all of Kotona’s other hardware is bronze. So far no regrets.

 

[G Kiba]

 

[Christian Williams]

Not a bad video on basics of power windlass-but more than that, an insight into the nightmare of renting a windlass-equipped boat to strangers

 

[Spiny Norman]

I have an old sea tiger anchor windless I pulled off my 35. You’re more than welcome to have it. Let me know.

 

[Bolo]

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I looked into this windlass before deciding on a Lofrans Manual. What I didn’t like is that you need to grind it like a sheet winch that IMO would be awkward to do on foredeck because of its low profile. The Lofrans on the other hand is operated with a longer lever (longer than a winch handle) that you push forward and aft.

 

[wayneking]

I am considering the Lofrans Manual. My E-38 has the original shallow locker, maybe 6" tops, so there would be a lot of manual moving the chain in the locker in addition to manual cranking of the windlass. How do you like the retrieval rate of the manual? I think the manual is attractive because an electric would never work without installing a new locker with sufficient fall.

 

[Bolo]

I am considering the Lofrans Manual. My E-38 has the original shallow locker, maybe 6" tops, so there would be a lot of manual moving the chain in the locker in addition to manual cranking of the windlass. How do you like the retrieval rate of the manual? I think the manual is attractive because an electric would never work without installing a new locker with sufficient fall.

This might help answer some questions. A video from my YouTube page, which has had over 11k views, showing me deploy and retrieve the anchor.

I shot this while in my slip so it's not a true representation of real life but I've been using the Lofrans Manual for a few years now and haven't regretted it. I too didn't want to do a major refit of the anchor locker to accommodate an electric windless because I didn't see real benefit in spending the time and money required to do it properly. I anchor but not that often so the occasional use of a manual windlass is not big deal. I've pulled my anchor out last week after it was deeply embedded in Chesapeake mud and it was no problem. I also have a wash down hose in my anchor locker, that sucks up bay water, and it works well with the manual windlass in that I can really take my time in washing off the mud. It's not as fast as an electric, of course, but it's very reliable. My E32-3 has a very deep anchor locker which is really more of an anchor "bucket" because its a formed insert that does OK with holding the chain but wouldn't accommodate an electric because it's to flimsy. To help the chain feed into the locker I also installed a small anchor roller in the well and a thick block of teak under the windlass to raise the chain up so it clears the edge of the anchor locker.

Here the link to my blog on how I installed the Lofrans Manual Windlass: https://ericsonyachts.org/ie/ubs/installing-a-manual-windlass-on-a-e32-3.982/

MORE INFO:
I looked back into my archives and retrieved part of a video about an anchorage I visited on the bay last year and it shows a more real world view of the Lofrans Windlass being used.