New Windlass: Lewmar, Maxwell, Lofrans Or?

[sck5]

I had a Lofrans on my old boat and used it all the time island hopping in the Caribbean and Bahamas. Worked great, never a hiccup.

[Lars_L]

Here is an example of a calculation over what the windlass can lift.

Max input power to the motor 700 W.
Normal operating speed 14 m/min = 0.23 m/s.
Estimated efficiency in a worm gear box 50%.
Power at the gipsy 700 W * 50% = 350 W = 350 Nm/s.
Max pull force at operating speed 350 Nm/s / 0.23 m/s = 1500 N.
That corresponds with a total mass of the all the things that is in the water and should be lift together.
1500 N / 9.81 m/s² = 153 kg.

[Mithril Bham]

My Ideal is 35 years old and still runs like new. When I need help I call them and speak directly to the founder's son (grandson?). Great company. Still made in USA.
I would recommend going one level heavier than you think you need.
Do like the idea of manual backup but, so far, I've never needed it pulling routine maintenance.
Also like remote operation. Handy when single handed.

[spiv]

I had Lofran on my previous boat for 8y using nearly every second day and never had a problem, so I bought a Lofran Tigress for this boat and used it 6y without a hitch.
If you buy one that is larger than the recommended one for your boat size, it will live a lot longer....

[Crew of Turning]

Often it depends on how well owners maintain their equipment. We have a Lofrans Progress 1 Vertical unit on our boat. It is handling 5/16 chain but, can easily take a chain rode mix.
It is an older unit and has spent a bit of time in the south (Bahamas one season). We have toe pedals on the deck at the anchor locker and a single up/down switch in the cockpit. There have not been any technical failure since 2005.

[GMac]

Buy the product not the brand.

Lewmars bigger winches are good, the smaller ones are built to a price and the most common found on the marina seabeds.

Lofrans horizontals are great, verticals good but not as great.

The Maxwell RC range it kicking butt worldwide. Their newish HRCs not quite so much so but they are working very well.

Being in the game I tell our punters
- DO NOT pick a winch based on the motor wattage, the grunt is in the gearbox not the motor.
- DO NOT believe most of the published load numbers, most are only achievable in ideal conditions and hardly ever are those found on the bow of a boat. In testing Maxwells numbers are easily the closest to 'most likely to be seen ion a boat' i.e. life like, but they still have a small element of hard to get on a boat.

- Look closely to find the number that is the 'day in day out max working load'. Many manufacturers publish load numbers that look impressive but hunt and find the Max working load only to see it's tiny. What many claim as 'max pull' is snatch loads i.e. what the winch can do for 2-3 seconds before tapering back hard.... or blowing up.
- What ever you get if you do a half arsed wiring job it will perform like pooh. DO NOT shortcut on the wiring, that's a game only for fools.

If looking for a vertical Rope to chain which for 8mm (5/16") chain I'd go for Maxwell RC8 first. Seeing what's going on out there each day that RC range does currently have a edge over the others. If I wanted a Horizontal for 8mm I'd probably be tossing up between a Maxwell HRC8 and a Lofrans Cayman (the 1000W model). The HRC is newer but the Cayman has a huge fan based built over a long time and it's hard to ignore things like that.

As an other input worth a small thought. Maxwell has cracked the multifit gypsy thing nicely on their smaller end (up to 12/13mm 1/2" chain area) so if you have a say Maxwell RC8 running 8mm metric chain and lose that chain in US territory you can drop imperial 5/16" in, or vice a versa, without having to change the gypsy. That can save big bucks sometimes. But then Maxwell and Lewmar replacement gypsy prices are far far lower than all the others.

[GMac]

Originally Posted by Crew of Turning

Often it depends on how well owners maintain their equipment.

Listen to this person, they are indeed very wise.

Lack of maintenance we see a lot and much of that does cost the boater performance, longevity and lots more money than needs to be spend.

A top work service can be done by anyone half handy in less than 30mins, 10 if all is good. How to do it is in the manuals and you only need to do it once a year....maybe twice a year if you anchor in lots of silt.

[elbib]

I've been buying and selling windlass's for 14 years, I rebuild them if needed and price them right. In my opinion nothing compares to an Ideal; there windlass's are rugged, simple and good looking. 99% of the repairs I've had to do on the Ideal windlass is to replace the shaft seals. They last a long time and Ideal has parts for every one they ever made. Unlike most of the brand name companies. They started business prior to WWll and I think I probably have had a few that old. Like another poster said, get the wiring right; bigger is better.
Lew

[Scout 30]

I've just removed my Simpson Lawrence Anchorman 700 & it looks like it's time to replace it. Don's Salvage, a local store, has several new in the box Anchorman B912C windlasses for sale & a pretty reasonable price. Is anyone familiar with this brand?

[elbib]

Simpson Laurance was sold to Lewmar who sold the Anchorman windlass for a short time and discontinued it. I have never been able to get parts for them. SL made some great manual windlasses, but I don't think the Anchorman was one of them, it was first sold as a manual than an electric. As a manual you would have to be on your knees to use it and that made no sense to me. How old is your SL windlass?
Lew

[Scout 30]

Originally Posted by elbib

Simpson Laurance was sold to Lewmar who sold the Anchorman windlass for a short time and discontinued it. I have never been able to get parts for them. SL made some great manual windlasses, but I don't think the Anchorman was one of them, it was first sold as a manual than an electric. As a manual you would have to be on your knees to use it and that made no sense to me. How old is your SL windlass?
Lew

I looked back through my records & the previous owner had it installed in 1992. They charged him $1,992 for the windlass & about $1,500 more for the other parts & installation. Don's Salvage has the Anchlift windlass for about $600.

[Scout 30]

Originally Posted by elbib

Simpson Laurance was sold to Lewmar who sold the Anchorman windlass for a short time and discontinued it. I have never been able to get parts for them. SL made some great manual windlasses, but I don't think the Anchorman was one of them, it was first sold as a manual than an electric. As a manual you would have to be on your knees to use it and that made no sense to me. How old is your SL windlass?
Lew

I've been able to source part on the internet but they are quite expensive.

[Starblossom]

I have a Ideal for 32 years with a bruce 66 and 110lb anchors.
No problems
Rebuilt the motor twice
Boat in charter for over 20 years
They are a pleasure to work with.
No reservations in recommending them to anyone

[Scout 30]

Originally Posted by Scout 30

I've just removed my Simpson Lawrence Anchorman 700 & it looks like it's time to replace it. Don's Salvage, a local store, has several new in the box Anchorman B912C windlasses for sale & a pretty reasonable price. Is anyone familiar with this brand?

Correction: the units for sale at Don's Salvage are Anchorlifts, not the Anchorman made by Simpson Lawrence. IT looks like they bought a bunch of discontinued windlasses in several sizes. I've never heard of the brand but they look pretty in the pictures.

[SailRedemption]

Does anyone know if the Maxwell RC series vertical windlasses can be used as a capstan (when fitted with capstan on top) separately from the gypsy? I read that the VWC series has a independent control of each, but unclear of the RC..

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