Most Robust Windlass Foot Switch

[cabo_sailor]

I'm in the process of installing a new Maxwell windlass. I really wanted the wireless remote with chain counter. Maxwell wants somewhere around $500 for that. Too rich for my blood. Can someone give me some info on the ATV remotes and how to install one?

Is there a wireless w/chain counter that will work with a more reasonable price?

Rich


Sent from my iPhone using Cruisers Sailing Forum

[zboss]

Originally Posted by cabo_sailor

I'm in the process of installing a new Maxwell windlass. I really wanted the wireless remote with chain counter. Maxwell wants somewhere around $500 for that. Too rich for my blood. Can someone give me some info on the ATV remotes and how to install one?

Is there a wireless w/chain counter that will work with a more reasonable price?

Rich


Sent from my iPhone using Cruisers Sailing Forum

Have you bought the winch yet? They make one without a counter for $150. I got mine free from Defender when I bought the windlass. The boat show">annapolis boat show is coming!

I don't have a protected place to put a wired device at the bow.

[Jon Eisberg]

Originally Posted by Strait Shooter

Lighthouse Windlasses are being offered with a wireless remote. I have two of them in addition to their 50' waterproof whip. The wireless remotes are nice for walking back and forth from the cockpit to the bow while anchoring or retrieving. Locating the receiver took a little time and patience.

I dunno, hanging around sailing forums these days, I'm starting to wonder whether I might be the only one out there who is not routinely retrieving my anchor from the cockpit with a wireless remote, while sipping on a latte' ?

;-)

Just seems to me this is a poor practice, in general... Things can easily go wrong - VERY wrong - when using a windlass. I want to be watching it in action, with such a powerful and critical piece of gear, your chances of averting some real damage being done are far greater if you're right there... And, your operation can be far less abusive when you're in a position to see the catenary of your rode about to become taut, for instance, and can avoid a snatching load being applied to your gear, something that can't be sensed from the cockpit...

Certainly, it can be handy to have a remote capability at the helm for an unusual or emergency situation... One of the few times I can recall ever using mine, was in Lake Tashmoo on Martha's Vineyard last July, during the passage of Hurricane Arthur ;-) But in general, I don't understand the rationale of anything other than wanting to be right there on the foredeck, throughout the entire process...

Would anyone here be comfortable hoisting a crewmember up the rig, using a halyard led to an electric self-tailing winch, by operating it with a wireless remote key fob from 30 feet away? Why should the operation of one of the most critical, most powerful, and most expensive bits of deck gear aboard be any different?

[Pelagic]

Plus 1 :thumbup:

IMO...having a wander lead is to help you watch the forces, not to control them from the cockpit

[zboss]

I don't raise it from the cockpit. I go forward to raise it while using my rinse down! To do otherwise would be foolish!

Lowering it with a counter in the cockpit is fine. I imagine my wife signaling when we have the desired length out.

That being said, paint on our chain works really well except at night.

Anyhow I want a footswitch for backup.

[Sandero]

My Maxwell has been used quite a lot since it was installed in 90. It's also been replaced in 2005 or so. Foot switches seem to work fine. They need to be "service" and cleaned. Corrosion will do them in.

I have a remote switch in the cockpit next to the AP controls and I use it to drop or in the very very rare case when I am single handing and forced to motor to the anchor because the wind is perhaps 20knots. No reason to weigh anchor remotely.. but dropping remotely is not that bad.

[cabo_sailor]

Jon,
The windlass came with a permanent cockpit wired remote. But I agree, for anchor maneuvers I want to be at the bow. Since I couldn't budget for the luxury of Maxwell wireless remotes, I ordered foot switches. Now I see there may be some affordable alternatives. Before installing the switches I want to see other options. I'm not in a hurry, the base plate to the windlass ( to give the chain a fair lead) is being built.

No hurry, still having engine work done.

Rich


Sent from my iPhone using Cruisers Sailing Forum

[zboss]

Originally Posted by cabo_sailor

Jon,
The windlass came with a permanent cockpit wired remote. But I agree, for anchor maneuvers I want to be at the bow. Since I couldn't budget for the luxury of Maxwell wireless remotes, I ordered foot switches. Now I see there may be some affordable alternatives. Before installing the switches I want to see other options. I'm not in a hurry, the base plate to the windlass ( to give the chain a fair lead) is being built.

No hurry, still having engine work done.

Rich


Sent from my iPhone using Cruisers Sailing Forum

Here is the company that Maxwell uses for their chain counters...

Auto Anchor |

[Cheechako]

I used crane wired remotes purchased from Grainger. Much handier than a foot switch.

[colemj]

Originally Posted by Jon Eisberg

I dunno, hanging around sailing forums these days, I'm starting to wonder whether I might be the only one out there who is not routinely retrieving my anchor from the cockpit with a wireless remote, while sipping on a latte' ?

We have foot switches, a wired wander remote and wireless remotes for our windlass.

The purpose of the wander and wireless remotes are not so that one can raise the anchor from the cockpit. Their purpose is so that one can get a much better view of the anchor retrieval than foot switches alone provide.

Consider that many boats with narrow bows or full bow anchor lockers need to mount foot switches quite far back. Also, catamarans need to mount them back by the bridgedeck - which can be 15' away from the bow - because there IS no deck near the bow.

So foot switches tend to be the LEAST safe way to retrieve an anchor. Let alone the lack of fine control with foot switch design and using one's foot for control - most people do not have fine motor skills with their feet, and a bouncy deck will make that even worse.

The advantage of a wireless remote over a wired remote is the ability to move around without wrapping or catching the wire on stuff, and to be able to use two hands at times while having immediate access to the remote (put the small fob on a lanyard around your neck or tight to your wrist - I've considered putting it on a watchband).

Setting down the wired remote while doing this usually means that it will pull back on its coil. Lots of times I am unwrapping or working on something on the chain during retrieval where I need both hands, then let out or take in a few feet of chain, then both hands, etc.

It is interesting that many windlass manufacturers include a cockpit switch. It is also interesting that you, Jon, have one and have used it. We don't have one of those and have never raised the anchor from the cockpit (there are two of us). Why do you consider a wireless fob in the cockpit differently than a wired switch?

Just like chart plotters do not force people to run aground, wireless remotes do not force people to raise their anchor while sitting in their cockpit drinking lattes.

Mark

[zboss]

You guys are right. Maybe I should just switch to a generic wireless remote (after this one fails or is lost overboard) and order two! I found some as low as $20 with two remotes.

[Strait Shooter]

I never said I was sitting in the cockpit sipping lattes as I raise the anchor.........coffee is fine.......

Again, not a lot of experience here, but how do you operate the engine and steerage controls from the bow? I am a single handed full time........I walk back and forth between the bow and the stern checking stuff and adjusting speed, direction, etc etc..... So yes, I'll take as much control as I can.....including a deck switch as well.

So I guess those just sticking it out at the bow the whole time must be using their windlass to move he boat a few hundred feet......no?

[Rustic Charm]

Originally Posted by zboss

We have a wireless that works very well but when we ran out of batteries it didn't work so well

My windlass and foot switches work really well unless I run out of batteries too

and chain stupid thing stops when I run out of chain..

[Jon Eisberg]

Originally Posted by colemj

It is interesting that many windlass manufacturers include a cockpit switch. It is also interesting that you, Jon, have one and have used it. We don't have one of those and have never raised the anchor from the cockpit (there are two of us). Why do you consider a wireless fob in the cockpit differently than a wired switch?

I simply prefer hard-wired devices to wireless, is all, in my experience they tend to be more reliable...

I'm not saying there can no utility to having the ability to operate a windlass from the helm... Especially when deploying in a very precise spot when singlehanded, in a med-mooring or stern-tying shore lines, for example... And, in more of an emergency situation like I faced last summer during Arthur, I was glad I had that capability...

But retrieval is another matter, that's when the greater forces and higher risks usually come into play, and I simply want to be in the vicinity of the windlass and bow roller during that procedure if at all possible... However, it seems these days not everyone agrees, many seem to speak of using their windlass controls at the helm as a matter of routine, and I've observed other cruisers doing so even in the most benign situations, when there was no need to be at the helm to maintain control, or dragging into another boat, or whatever...

Originally Posted by colemj

Just like chart plotters do not force people to run aground, wireless remotes do not force people to raise their anchor while sitting in their cockpit drinking lattes.

Mark

Certainly, remote devices do not "force" anyone to use them from the cockpit...

But, they definitely "enable" one to do so, no?

;-)

Originally Posted by Strait Shooter

Again, not a lot of experience here, but how do you operate the engine and steerage controls from the bow? I am a single handed full time........I walk back and forth between the bow and the stern checking stuff and adjusting speed, direction, etc etc..... So yes, I'll take as much control as I can.....including a deck switch as well.

In my experience, there just aren't that many times where one needs to do all that... You maneuver the boat into position, head up to the foredeck, and drop the hook ;-)

Of course, there are times where you want to be able to do that in a jiffy, and that will require some advance preparation... Last year about this time, for example, I arrived in Newport at the beginning of the weekend of the Boat Show. Needless to say, the anchorage was pretty crowded, and I needed to get the hook on the bottom as quickly as possible, and in the precise spot of my choosing...

The water depth was around 15-18 feet, so after I had decided upon my spot, I lowered the anchor to perhaps the depth of my keel, then inched my way into the spot. There was a fair bit of breeze, so I was definitely gonna have to act pretty quickly... Having the hook already dangling half the distance to the bottom certainly helped ;-)

One of the keys to anchoring for me, is to be able to 'feel' that initial response to the boat's falling back upon the anchor, in trying to gauge the beginning of the set... Your foot resting lightly on the chain is the safest way to do this, and those first brief moments will often tell you all you need to know, about your chances of ultimate success in that particular spot... I think one really needs to be at the bow at the moment the anchor hits the bottom, getting that same sense is impossible from the helm...

As always, all boats are different, and many will not 'behave' very well in that same situation if the helm if left unattended for even the briefest moment... Definitely a downside of many of today's production offerings, with their negligible forefoot, and high freeboard, their bows might take off like a kite before you've even made it to the shrouds... In that case, one might need a second key fob for the bow thruster, as well... ;-)

Originally Posted by Strait Shooter

So I guess those just sticking it out at the bow the whole time must be using their windlass to move he boat a few hundred feet......no?

No... In anything less than a rather extreme wind event, the windlass should only be used to lift the chain towards the boat... The catenary weight of the chain is what 'pulls' the boat forward, usually aided by whatever forward momentum has been established by the procedure...

[colemj]

Originally Posted by Jon Eisberg

But retrieval is another matter, that's when the greater forces and higher risks usually come into play, and I simply want to be in the vicinity of the windlass and bow roller during that procedure if at all possible... However, it seems these days not everyone agrees, many seem to speak of using their windlass controls at the helm as a matter of routine, and I've observed other cruisers doing so even in the most benign situations, when there was no need to be at the helm to maintain control, or dragging into another boat, or whatever...

As I pointed out, foot switches can be MORE dangerous in this regard than a remote. On our boat, the foot switches are mounted 10' back from the bow because we have no deck further forward. Many narrow-bowed boats have a similar issue. The only way to get forward is with a remote.

Strangely, in all our cruising, I have only ever noticed a few power boats raising anchor from the helm - and they were up high on a flybridge with good visibility. Even all the single handers we know raise the anchor from the bow. I also have not run across anyone on the forums talking about routine helm raising of anchors.

I guess we run in different circles.

Originally Posted by Jon Eisberg

Certainly, remote devices do not "force" anyone to use them from the cockpit...

But, they definitely "enable" one to do so, no?

;-)

You lost me here. Doesn't a fixed cockpit switch also enable this? Even require it? How does a remote matter in this regard? To me, your boat sounds more dangerous - if your foot switch fails, you are forced into the cockpit for control.

If our foot switch fails, I can grab the wired remote or any of the 2 wireless fobs without even leaving the deck (actually, I haven't used the foot switches since we bought the boat 12yrs ago). If those failed, I'd have to have Michele toss me the two other fobs from the cockpit.

A bit general on this topic, but touching on all of the sentiments about automation, integration, etc - I have a full bottle of rum on board. While it "enables" me to drink it all down at once, it doesn't "force" or "require" me to do so. I'll bet there are many similar analogies on the boats of all the people who are always getting twisted up about these types of things.

Mark