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.