Manual windlass recomendations?

[msrcal36]

I am looking at Vetus Ursus vs. Lofrans Royal or.... a used S-L Sea Tiger 555. to install on my Cal Cruising 35 (15,000 lbs). Can anyone give me opinions on either of the new ones or do you know of a used S-L 555 for sale??. Which is the more reliable? What experiences have you had with either?
Any info would be helpful.
Many Thanks

[Mike OReilly]

No experience with Vetus or Lofrans, although I did look hard at the Royal in the past. As I recall, it had a rather limited max. pulling force. Probably enough, but I'm sure the Seatiger is much more robust.

I have a seatiger 555, and a Plath bronze. I picked up the used 555 to replace my plath. It seems stronger built, but my plath keeps going strong.

If you can find a maintained 555 I'd pick it up.

[IdoraKeeper]

I am looking at getting a real big cordless drill and making an adapter to recover the rode right up to the dead lift. Could be a real assist when single handed. I think my windlass is a sea tiger but there are many coats of paint obscuring the cast in name. In any case it's serving well so far.

[captd44]

I have a S/L 555, yes it's very strong with large gears but it has a very poor design in the tiny ratchet springs that will break making it completely inoperable.

[DefinitelyMe]

I have a Sea Tiger 555. It's abused horribly and keeps on trucking. Took it apart a few years ago and was impressed by the ruggedness of the whole thing. Very reliable. Highly recommended. No experience of the other ones you mentioned though.

[JMK]

I wanted to jump in and ask about the Royal Lofrans as well. My old SL Hyspeed 510 is deceased, and not really worth the expense to try and rebuild. The specs on the Lofrans website says max load 400 kg and max lift 200 kg. I don't have the specs on the SL Hyspeed, but they are very close to the same size so I'm assuming they are about the same in terms of capacity???

The boat currently has a 45# CQR, but I was looking at a Rocna since I have used them before and like their versatility for a variety of bottom conditions. The recommended size for our boat in the WM catalog (44' LOA at 26,000# disp) is a 44#, although the Rocna size chart recommends 55#.

Is a Lofrans manual windlass going to work for this application? Oh yeah, the anchor would have 5/16" HT chain at 1#/ft. I really don't want an electric windlass. That was the last boat, and I am trying to go simple this time around re: systems and maintenance that are within my (limited) know-how.

Thanks,
J.M.