Milwaukee Right Angle Drill as anchor winch?

[Franziska]

Hi,

for years we do not have an anchor winch and I have never felt the need up to now.

Still, we also get older and the back starts aching :-)

As we are always on a very tight budget I am looking into a mechanical anchor windlass. Their prices are a lot less than electrical ones and so they are appealing for the next few years.
There are a number of big items we need to get this year so it would reduce the financial burden for now.

As we are also thinking of getting the famous 28V Milwaukee angle drill to drive the winches, I was wondering if we could not use the angle drill as well to drive the windlass.
Of course we drive up towards the anchor and do not intend to pull the boat towards it with the windlass.

I guess the procedure would be to drive towards the anchor taking slack out of the chain with the Milwaukee, if the anchor is kind of hard to get out after driving over it, try to free it with operating the windlass manually and then pull chain and anchor up with the Milwaukee.

It's a little less convenient than an electric windlass but it's more versatile too.

The boat is a 35ft catamaran, anchor is 16kg Cobra, usually we use 20m chain and than rope, but we will change to 50m chain and rode.

Anyone know if the Milwaukee would be up to this procedure?

Thanks.

[Jim Cate]

Anyone know if the Milwaukee would be up to this procedure?

In general, if you can turn a winch/windlass by hand (without heroics) with a 10 inch winch handle, the Millie will do it for you, and faster.

Whether this will work with a windlass depends upon how the device is driven. The windlass shown upthread, with it's offset winch handle socket would not work, but one with the winch handle socket at the center of the gypsy would.

Jim

[Franziska]

Thanks Jim, good advice regarding the windlass with the center socket. Makes sense.
Guess we go down that route than :-)

Originally Posted by Jim Cate

In general, if you can turn a winch/windlass by hand (without heroics) with a 10 inch winch handle, the Millie will do it for you, and faster.

Whether this will work with a windlass depends upon how the device is driven. The windlass shown upthread, with it's offset winch handle socket would not work, but one with the winch handle socket at the center of the gypsy would.

Jim

[W.T.Gross]

Originally Posted by Franziska

Hi,

for years we do not have an anchor winch and I have never felt the need up to now.

Still, we also get older and the back starts aching :-)

As we are always on a very tight budget I am looking into a mechanical anchor windlass. Their prices are a lot less than electrical ones and so they are appealing for the next few years.
There are a number of big items we need to get this year so it would reduce the financial burden for now.

As we are also thinking of getting the famous 28V Milwaukee angle drill to drive the winches, I was wondering if we could not use the angle drill as well to drive the windlass.
Of course we drive up towards the anchor and do not intend to pull the boat towards it with the windlass.

I guess the procedure would be to drive towards the anchor taking slack out of the chain with the Milwaukee, if the anchor is kind of hard to get out after driving over it, try to free it with operating the windlass manually and then pull chain and anchor up with the Milwaukee.

It's a little less convenient than an electric windlass but it's more versatile too.

The boat is a 35ft catamaran, anchor is 16kg Cobra, usually we use 20m chain and than rope, but we will change to 50m chain and rode.

Anyone know if the Milwaukee would be up to this procedure?

Thanks.

If your plan is to use the model 721-21, just keep it set at low speed 400 rpm. That will give you plenty of torque(about 90 ft lbs). It should handle 16kg just fine. Just keep your word and don't use to pull the boat up to the anchor. I watched a YouTube video not too long ago and the guy was using an off brand pistol grip battery drill to drive his winches. It worked, but I wouldn't expect much of a life expectancy out of it. And it would be hell to hold on to with any load on the winch. The 721 will give you nice leverage.

[markcouz]

I have the Milwaukee 28v angle drill and it flies my 60kg daughter up the 15m mast with no problem, this on a small mast mounted winch which had me gasping for breath doing by hand.

I don't see that a 16kg anchor and chain (lifting only, not breaking out) would be a problem. If you are able to do it by hand the angle drill will do it better and faster (use low speed setting as mentioned above to produce max torque).

[Franziska]

Hey great replies guys, thank you.

There is just one problem, looks like they do not sell the 721-21 with 28V in Europe ;-(
I did write to them to see if there is not a way to get one anyway.

I tried to look up the spec to see if any of their European models matches, but the spec on the US site is giving near to zero info and the Euro spec is not much better.
Pretty appauling for a big company selling technical stuff.

Any of you have an idea which one matches the 721-21 best (see below)?
I'd guess the M18 FRAD 2 with 122 Nm but, thats really heavy so I wonder if the 25Nm would not suffice? Any idea of the max torque of the 28V US model?
The US site says this model runs twice as long as the 18V model but they do not specify how many amp the battery pack has.
Giving info like it can drill so many holes of this size with a battery pack is kind of a joke.

Here is the original 721-21 with 28V
https://www.milwaukeetool.com/Produc...21-21#sp-specs
Unfortunately it does not say how many amp the battery pack has. Neither gives it an indication on torque. Or weight and dimensions of the complete tool.

In Europe there seem two versions available:

The M18 FRAD2-0 with 18V
https://de.milwaukeetool.eu/de-de/m1...ine/m18-frad2/
The info it has on the site is:
18V
5.5Amp
6.4Kg
Max torque 122Nm
Dual Speed
Outside dimensions???
No idea if brushless either.


The M18 CRAD with 18V
https://de.milwaukeetool.eu/de-de/m1...hine/m18-crad/
The info it has on the site is:
18V
??Amp
4.1Kg
Max torque 25Nm
Outside dimensions???
No idea if brushless either.

THANKS

[pcmm]

By the time you add up the cost of a manual windlass AND the milwaukee drill ( that drill alone is close to $800) you'll find that this exceeds the cost of just buying an electric windlass and the cable required to install. I fact a manual windlasses doesn't cost much less than an electric windlass for a 35ft sailboat.

[Franziska]

Originally Posted by pcmm

By the time you add up the cost of a manual windlass AND the milwaukee drill ( that drill alone is close to $800) you'll find that this exceeds the cost of just buying an electric windlass and the cable required to install. I fact a manual windlasses doesn't cost much less than an electric windlass for a 35ft sailboat.

Thats right, but the windlass can only serve one specific purpose while the drill has a lot of uses.

-winching me up in the mast
-lifting the anchor
-pulling up the dinghy
-pulling up the mainsail
-helping with the winch

While I can still handle this by hand my boyfriend is in his 60ties now and the drill gains in appeal with getting older over the next few years.

Apart from this, we can install a manual winch much easier than en electric winch, because it mounts completly on deck (its a cat and we have some issues mounting a windlass with motor)

The best offer on the bigger of the two Euro Versions of the Milwaukee I could find is 354,99 € + 100€ for the battery pack.
(https://www.toolnation.de/milwaukee-...gaAr0REALw_wcB)

The tricky part I find right now though seems to be to find a manual windlass which can be operated by a winch handle. All of them I found so far are either operated by a stick moving back and forth or are electric only.
Maybe one can operate the latter also without motor. I need to find out about this.
Maybe someone knows of a suitable manual model?

[markcouz]

Here is a used on Ebay, $300 including 2 batteries - you will require 220v/110v converter which is pretty cheap.


Check shipping cost to your address to compare value.



https://www.ebay.com/itm/Milwaukee-0...IAAOSwnidgDvFZ

[Franziska]

Hey Marcouz,

thanks for that.

Need to source a suitable windlass too before comitting.
Looks like there is one from Muir VMC650 or VMC 500, great product, but more expensive than an electric one over here ;-(

We might end up with an electric windlass after all even though we would have preferred a manual one and a "Millie". I did not think that it would be hard to find a reasonably priced and suitable manual windlass.

[Kyoko]

Hi Franziska.
I can recommend this site.
https://www.thecranker.com/the%20ult...web%20page.htm
They can supply you with a 230v charger.
I bought mine 3 yars ago and have never rergetit it

[Franziska]

Originally Posted by Jim Cate

In general, if you can turn a winch/windlass by hand (without heroics) with a 10 inch winch handle, the Millie will do it for you, and faster.

Whether this will work with a windlass depends upon how the device is driven. The windlass shown upthread, with it's offset winch handle socket would not work, but one with the winch handle socket at the center of the gypsy would.

Jim

Jim, as you are a very experienced old salt ;-) I have a question for you.
There are quite a few windlass heads without motor available for a reasonably low price. Guess those are the remains of burned out windlasses.

One example:
https://www.ebay.de/itm/402549932804...oaAthFEALw_wcB

Do you any reason why these should not work without the motor and using a whinchhandle or the "Millie" instead of a motor? Of course I'd need to find a suitably sized one.
Looking at this, it should be working. Thoughts?

Thats, in essence, not much different to a Muir 500VMC, is it?
https://winch-center.de/produkt-kategorie/muir-ankerwinden/handankerwinden/

[caffel]

Well said.
Can anybody provide a reference to the adaptor required for a right angle drill to fit into the square hole and act as a Winch handle? Tx

[FabioC]

Originally Posted by caffel

Well said.
Can anybody provide a reference to the adaptor required for a right angle drill to fit into the square hole and act as a Winch handle? Tx

+1

Very interested in this as well.
Can somebody explain how this works exactly? Is there a special bit for the drill that fits on the winch handle slot?

[ShinyHappy]

Milwaukee are great tools and I use them and recommend them just as a DIYer. But I would be surprised if you couldn't find something EU-made that is comparable and easier for you to source locally. There are some excellent European tool makers. Maybe you've already looked or know that and haven't found what you're looking for. Just a thought.