Simpson Lawrence Seatiger 555 Windlass Value ?

[virginia boy]

I have an opportunity to buy a seatiger 555 manual windlass in good condition but need to know soon how much is it worth? Thanks.

[cburger]

I have been down the SL windlass road before, bought one off Ebay for $200.00. The idea was that th risk was worth the price as I was prepared to rebuild it if required. The owner had represented that the windlass was in good working order, etc, etc. When I opened up the case it was evident that the workings had not seen any lubricants is a long while and upon closer inspection it became very clear that the windlass would need almost a complete rebuild in oder to justify mounting it on my boat. Now the point of all this is that SL is no longer making the Sea Tiger. I found an outfit in England that after pricing my part list wanted $700.00 plus for the parts I needed and had a new one in the box that they would let me have for $750.00. I have come to the conclusion that there are better solutions that are still supported by their companies. If you can get the item for free it might make sense.

[svHyLyte]

When we replaced our SL555 with a Maxwell VWC1200 we sold it for $700 based upon the prices that several marine consignment stores were asking for similar units. Ours was, however, in good shape and we rebuilt it and replaced all of the lubricant (grease) and seals before it went out the door to a couple in the northwest that used it on their cruise to Mexico. (They finally replaced it there for an electric windlass, as I had suggested when they were looking at ours, because the anchorages were so deep and horsing up 3/8" BBB by hand was such a task. I understand they resold it and nearly broke even excluding shipping.)

FWIW...

[virginia boy]

I lost the ebay bid in the final two seconds! Drat!

I prefer to have as few electrical gadgets as is practicle on my Westsail 28, that's why the manual Windlass. I haven't been able to find anything online though. Any ideas? Thanks, Eric

[svHyLyte]

Originally Posted by virginia boy

I prefer to have as few electrical gadgets as is practicle on my Westsail 28, that's why the manual Windlass.

Yep. That's exactly what Adam said when he bought our windlass. See Resources - Useful Information .

[cburger]

Originally Posted by virginia boy

I lost the ebay bid in the final two seconds! Drat!

I prefer to have as few electrical gadgets as is practicle on my Westsail 28, that's why the manual Windlass. I haven't been able to find anything online though. Any ideas? Thanks, Eric

I appreciate not wanting to overload the boat with electrical devices, however a manual windlass requires someone to be on the foredeck of the boat to operate and can make it difficult to anchor if and when sailing alone. There are high quality windlasses available for your Westail that have a manual operation feature as a backup. Depends on your budget.

[roverhi]

I think there is a reason that the 'hyspeed' and 555 are no longer manufactured. Years ago I bought a new one for our W32. We were in a large marina and these windlasses were by far the most common. I talked with owners and none were happy with them. Most had frozen up and rebuild parts were very expensive, even back then. Seem to remember that the internal chain is a really odd size which effectively made SL the only source and they priced it to their advantage. After my informal survey, sold the 555 and bought a Moritz. Unfortunately Moritz has been a casualty of the EPA and OSHA so is no more. Too bad as it was a dead simple ratchet and pawl winch that looked like it was custom made for our W32. With two handles, it did a good job of quickly hauling up our 3/8" chain.

There were a number of bronze manual windlasses out there. ABI is out of business but there windlass would be a good one for your boat. The problem is finding them used. Suggest you keep looking in Craig's List in all the major port/yaching areas. Believe this is a search program for Craig's List so you don't have to search individually crazedlist.org : search craigslist like a madman#. Also check the various consignment/used gear stores. Blue Pelican in Alameda, CA <bluepelicanmarine.com> often has something.

The Lofrans Royal Windlass was the only manual that turned up on a Google search. A bit pricey at a boat unit plus.

On my new, to me, boat that I mostly single hand, went with a vertical chain gypsy/rope capstan electric winch. It has made getting the anchor up a no pain affair. Can raise and lower the anchor from the cockpit. It does take a bit of juice to run but usually have the engine running and alternator charging when I use it. Bought it new off of Ebay for about a boat unit by the time I bought the solenoid controller, 100 amp circuit breaker, remote windlass control and 2 gauge wire. When I was looking, they came up fairly regularly.