Why do we have electric anchor winches when they clearly do not work. Anchor winches

[chrisr]

Originally Posted by Simi 60

Engine running and amps running in aren't they?

yep...unless you are the guy with the electric motors !

cheers,

[Fortytwo]

We drove to the anchor in the Navy... That’s a sign...

November-Mike-Tango-Zulu

[Palarran]

Originally Posted by LoudMusic

I often use the windless on our Orana to take the slack out of the chain, then let the weight of the chain pull the boat forward, then repeat until we're on top of the anchor. It's a fairly quick process and keeps the stress on the windless to a minimum. If the wind has been blowing, the anchor is going to be BURRIED. I let the boat work the anchor loose while I take up slack on the chain with the windless.

In some hurried situations I've just laid on the "UP" button and hauled 150'+ of chain and anchor straight up. But as you're probably aware in a cat, the boat can get sideways and then you're rubbing chain against one of the hulls. Sometimes it's good to let it settle and center and just work the slack. A little bit of throttle can straighten that out pretty quick too, but then you're motoring forward and not pulling the boat forward with the windless, which is what this whole topic is about

Pretty much the same. Once the boat is moving forward though I usually keep the windlass running. As an FYI my cat's anchor roller is routed forward to the crossbeam so we really never track anywhere except straight to the anchor. What also helps in retrieval is that once the boat is moving forward and you have taken in all the slack, I clip a short snubber onto the chain as the boat moves over the anchor. It pulls it out easily.

[BlackHeron]

Originally Posted by anotherT34C

99% of the time it goes like this; windlass pulls in slack chain for 10 seconds then shut down. Boat then drifts forward for 5 seconds as the chain pulls us forward as it slacks. windlass then runs 10 seconds to pull in slack chain... repeat as necessary. If winds are high enough that the chain isn’t slack, drive forward until it is. Communicate via walkie talkies

This.

Also, if your windlass is actually oversized and can't pull the slack out then the wires are not sized for the load and voltage drop.

As to why so few people install hydraulic windlass systems...go price them out. Then you will maybe better understand.

[BlackHeron]

Also, it is a good idea to get in the habit of accurately marking a waypoint on the plotter for exactly where the anchor is relative to the boat.

If your plotter does a realitively decent job of showing a heading this takes all of the guesswork out of the helmsman's job, and allows them to assist when retrieving the anchor with a minimal amount of communication necessary.

[sailing_gal]

As a single hander, I installed a slightly larger than required Lofrans Falkon on my boat. To retrieve, I just give it a slight tug with the switch, which is enough for the boat to start moving toward the anchor, pull up the slack as it goes. When the boat stops, I give it another tug, repeat, etc., until the anchor is brought up. If in a strong wind, I can set the engine in forward very slow and basically do the same with the engine pulling the anchor forward. OTOH, since the windlass is quite large for a 20 ton boat, I can use it to pull the boat also. I just opt not to if not necessary.

[AndyEss]

Have you ever been around equipment with a hydraulic oil leak? Worse - a blown hydraulic line?

Gallons of hydraulic oil sprayed around a confine space is a mess to clean up, smells for almost forever, and will turn any porous material into a far greater fire hazard.

While you can store hydraulic energy in an accumulator, I doubt many boats will accommodate a larger enough accumulator to retrieve anchor chain and the anchor without a source of power. If you belt your pressure pump off of your engine, you have to have a running engine to develop pressure.

A hydraulic anchor winch may make sense if your boat already has a fairly powerful hydraulic system already installed

[Moontide]

If the windlass started burning it means the person operating the switch was not listening to it. You can hear when the windlass is getting overloaded and you need to let go of the button until you can get the load off.


As far as hydraulic winches, they are great but do come with their own problems.

[Alec H]

Your windlass should be protected by a circuit breaker; the motor should never heat to the point of you smelling it burn. My 1400 watt lifts a 65 lb anchor without incident. Also picked up a 200 lb coral head without getting hot enough to trip the breaker.

[NewportGuy]

Properly sized, properly maintained, and properly used electric anchor winches work reliably and well, in my experience. Manual winches are ok until you have to operate one from the foredeck during those conditions you imagine.

[TBW]

vetus maxwell

[waterman46]

Originally Posted by seandepagnier

First raise the mainsail. This allows the boat to sail over the anchor and you can easily pull it in and lock it as the boat tacks back and forth. Using this method the sail is doing the work, not the windlass.

I don't know how you do this. It is impossible to tack a boat upwind with the anchor pulling the bow to weather. Especially using the mainsail. If there is enough breeze to sail, then anchor chain pulling bow to weather will not allow boat to bear off enough to get forward motion.



For breaking the anchor loose and there are 5 or 6 different techniques to deal with this that I know of depending on the circumstances each one is suited differently and I have never lost an anchor. Using an engine is not one of them.


Get boat directly over anchor with chain tight and let wave motion or just wait and pull on windlass slowly. Sometimes it takes a few minutes.


As for burning out the windlass. This is not any difference from hydraulic. It will also burn out if stalled. Maybe your non-hydraulic windlass is not a fair comparison. Maybe it needs a fuse, it should have a temperature sensor as well but probably doesn't.


Temp sensor is a good idea but I don't have that. Two rules to follow with electric windlasses: 1) Don't run them long time, speeding up under no load. 2) Don't run them under high load continuously. Give 'em a break. Obey sensible rules and your windlass will not burn out. Mine has a clutch which slips if there is too much load. Even if I tighten it as much as I can, it will still slip if there is a total stoppage, such as a jammed chain stripper.


hydraulic windlass will use twice as much power to do the same thing which probably doesn't matter since it doesn't run for very long.

I do use the 40 year old electric windlass to pull the boat to the anchor in light winds, with motor assist used in strong winds. If boat motor not working and winds are strong, windlass can still be used, just have to take your time.

[Scorpius]

Originally Posted by seandepagnier

First raise the mainsail. This allows the boat to sail over the anchor and you can easily pull it in and lock it as the boat tacks back and forth. Using this method the sail is doing the work, not the windlass.

For breaking the anchor loose and there are 5 or 6 different techniques to deal with this that I know of depending on the circumstances each one is suited differently and I have never lost an anchor. Using an engine is not one of them.


As for burning out the windlass. This is not any difference from hydraulic. It will also burn out if stalled. Maybe your non-hydraulic windlass is not a fair comparison. Maybe it needs a fuse, it should have a temperature sensor as well but probably doesn't.


hydraulic windlass will use twice as much power to do the same thing which probably doesn't matter since it doesn't run for very long.

You must be talking about a hydraulic system driven by an electric motor. That's the worst of both worlds! An engine-driven hydraulic pump provides TONS (literally) of power and is virtually indestructible. Mine is over 30 years old, has pulled my oversized anchor thousands of times, and still works flawlessly (and it was built from stock parts in a local hydraulic shop for $1600).

In one deep (90') anchorage I pulled up the anchors for three other boats that had burned out or otherwise destroyed their electric anchor winches trying to do it. A hydraulic motor will run forever without damage.

[capn_billl]

Well, here is my experience anchoring.

My first boat had no windless, and i quickly learned that driving the boat to the anchor took a lot less work than dragging a 30,000 lb boat upwind by hand.

i used to tie a trip line to the anchor to make it easier to pull up, but quickly found that it often tangled with the main rode causing many problems.

And it was not any easier to pull up the anchor by the tiny trip line than a big fistfull of the main rode.

Then i tried using an anchor buoy to mark my anchor location, and i could use the float to retrieve it.

This didn't work either, and other boaters seemed to think it was a race marker, and tended to circle it often coming quite close to the big rope dangling from my bow roller to the water.

Several thought it was a mooring ball, and tried to tie up to it, dislodging my anchor, which they pulled up, looked at it, and the big rope from the anchor (MINE), in their hands to the bow of MY boat, then threw the entire tangled mess back in the water leaving me to re anchor after untangling it.

So my next boat, I made sure had a windless, one rode, long chain, and no fancy stuff.

I just drive up to the anchor, and pull it straight up, no problems.

[nepal]

A windlass must protected by a fuse. By overloading my windlass, the fuse jumps off.