Which winch?

[Matt sachs]

I'm to the point I need to think about installing a windlass and building a chainlocker. I have a 50 ft steel Roberts. This is what I think I know

1) The locker needs to be directly under the Windlass. I need about 2 feet of free hanging chain for the windlass to work properly.

2) strenghten the deck so I don't pull the it off the boat.

3) wire it properly

I would like to build the locker and put a backing plate in but not let go of the cash for the windless yet. Is it feasable to choose the windless get its foot print so I can build the backing plate and buy the winch later?

How do I choose which winch?

[delmarrey]

A few of the winch mfgr's do post the footprint online.
And yes on 1, 2 & 3.

You'll need more then 2' free fall. The chain will pile up under the hosepipe in relation to the lockers base size.

[downunder]

You must not go to small considering your anchor system as a primary safety feature.

Depends wether you want a horizontal or vertical windlass. Assuming electrical.

Horizontal Windlass and Capstan Range

I personally would be looking at the 3500, 2500 minimum considering size/weight of your vessel.

Muir 3500 or 4000.

Pleasure - The World Power In Anchoring Systems - Storm, Atlantic, Compact Winches

Sequitar is a Hunter 49 that left Canada going round the Horn to the Carriabean. Their winch failed and had to be rebuilt on two occasions. Oversize rather than undersize.

Sequitur

Cheers

[Cheechako]

Yes, 2ft above the chain stack would be good. You could live with less but chain has a wierd habit of stacking up vertically really well instead of falling over!
You need to decide if you want Horizontal or Vertical windlass. Surprisingly, the Verticals (Maxwell and one other) I've had have worked super well for all chain rode. The horizontals are trickier to get enough chain to wrap around the wildcat well. The horizontal with the drum and wild cat are easier to use for 2 rodes, or other non anchoring taskes though. I'm pretty sold on the Vertical Maxwell chrome/bronze ones. They catch sheets etc less than the horizontal also and dont take as much above deck space. Plan easy quick access to the anchor rode storage compartment....

[RabidRabbit]

Maxwell vertical, I have a 1500 but you would most likely need the 2500. Great looks, powerfull, the rope capstan has clutch so you can use independantly of chain rode. I'm no good at links but check it out. I think the 2500 is $3000ish. The 1500 was $2k and worth every penny, really the cats ass. I constantly get comments about it. I really dont like the look of most horizonal windlasses, the vert has a classic look.

[RabidRabbit]

The maxwell has a very basic footprint, as long as the general area is pretty strong you could wait to get it and drill the holes. Mine had a 3"ish main hole and 4 surounding 1/2" mounting holes. The studs were 6" long to fit any size deck. The larger winch may be different.

[Finistere]

Had a Sprint 1000 that failed, surprised it did not fail sooner once I disassembled it and saw the puny gearing. Installed a Maxwell 1500 which is a beautiful piece of work with an amazing amount of power.

[roverhi]

Like vertical windlass because you can get a fair lead from almost any direction. Really useful for kedging or pulling the boat into a slip with other than the usual anchor rode. You'll have to find a way to mount a block with a horizontal windlass for any direction of pull other than straight fore and aft.

[Matt sachs]

Thanks for the tips. I'll post some pictures when I get it built.

[Matt sachs]

I'm looking at the maxwell RC-10. It has a wave design chain / rode wheel. Is this a proven design or something new to stay away from?
Any thought on the wave design?

[Bash]

Originally Posted by Matt sachs

I'm looking at the maxwell RC-10. It has a wave design chain / rode wheel. Is this a proven design or something new to stay away from?
Any thought on the wave design?

That's a great windlass. You'll be shocked the first time you pick one up. They must weight at least 50 pounds.

[downunder]

Yours is a heavy vessel. Maxwells are excellent winches.

I would be wanting a winch with a rating over 1000kgs such as the RC12 for your application.

The RC10 may be a bit light. That said I have no experience with that model. Perhaps Bash has. I just don't like repairing winches in out of the way places.

Cheers

[Matt sachs]

Down under, you may have a good point there. I plan on chain only on starboard side and 5/8 rode only on the port side. (unless thats a dumb idea) Thats 650 pounds more or less plus the anchor so thats around 740 pounds or so. Maxwell reccomends a max pull of 3 times the ground tackle weight. Thats a max pull of roughly 2200 pounds. I guess the RC12 may a better choice.
If I go with 100 feet of chain and 200 ft of rode the RC10 would work fine.
BUT I'm thinking about chain only to avoid chaffing and the rode only for the "lunch" anchor. (yea I learned that term today) Is this a crazy idea?

[Nicholson58]

My 2 cents. go for the most free space above the chain pile as possible. Did you ever make sand castles by drooling wet sand through your fingers? Chan behaves just like that. We often get a doodle pile at least 2 feet high and it screws up the wildcat.

[Wainui]

I have the ORCA VE 2000. They make parts for Maxwell
A sturdy piece of kit. Uses a winch handle in the manual mode.
They also make Barlow and Barient winch parts.
HUTTON-ARCO Yacht Winches