Installed a Lewmar windlass on a Sealine F-44

[Roy M]

I'm hoping someone out there has an answer to a question regarding the upgrade of a windlass on a 1998 Sealine F-44. The boat came with a Simpson Lawrence v1000, which eventually decomposed (the gear box turned into grey mush). I just replaced the unit with a new Lewmar V-3, a distinct improvement. The issue is with the thermal breaker on the windlass- it has one, the S/L did not. Normally, this breaker conducts the power to the up/down switches at the two helms and the foredeck, on boats OTHER than this one. The Sealine uses a completely different circuit to power the directional switches to the windlass solenoid. That means that there is separate switching to energize the switches than the main circuit breaker.

While it is possible to rewire, it is an arduous job, meaning it costs a bundle to do it. Technically it's a snap. The option is to simply not use the thermal breaker, making it like the Simpson Lawrence. I will be contacting Sealine, in the UK, for advice, but I'm hoping someone here has had a similar experience and better solution.

[estarzinger]

I have a V4.

I just ignored the thermal wires, at lewmar's engineer's (unofficial) recommendation. They said it was a standard industrial electrical motor, and that the thermal cut off was used/needed for other (continuous) industrial applications but not for the windless use.