Do you leave your windlass on?

[CarinaPDX]

Windlasses are mechanically powerful and can draw a lot of power, which is to say that they are capable of causing significant damage. Leaving the power on (including controls) is enabling accidental activation and shouldn't be done. Of course turning it on should be a quick operation for emergency situations.

A friend of mine was working on the bow of his boat and accidentally put his knee on the foot switch. The sudden movement of the chain pulled his finger into the gypsy and crushed it like a grape, which aside from the medical care and pain caused him to have to abandon their summer cruising plans. I doubt he leaves the power on anymore. It also highlights just one of the problems with deck switches. Another is that you need both feet to keep upright on a moving deck, and using one foot for both support and activating a switch is unnecessarily risky.

The first (wired) remote I had contained a timer. To use, the "on" button was pressed first and then the up/down switches could be used. After 30 seconds of inactivity the switches went dead until the "on" button was pushed again. It was a mild nuisance but I valued it for preventing accidental activation.

Greg

[NakedCity]

Back in 2014 I anchored late (dark) in the lee of Bimini so we could get a good nights sleep before hooking into the gulf stream we the sail back to Jacksonville. Around 3AM I was awakened by the anchor windless retrieving our chain all by itself caused by a very badly salt water damaged solenoid.
Up until that I never turned the windless off. I get chills thinking about what could have happened if this had happened when we were anchored and away from the boat for the day.

[rslifkin]

Originally Posted by NakedCity

Back in 2014 I anchored late (dark) in the lee of Bimini so we could get a good nights sleep before hooking into the gulf stream we the sail back to Jacksonville. Around 3AM I was awakened by the anchor windless retrieving our chain all by itself caused by a very badly salt water damaged solenoid.
Up until that I never turned the windless off. I get chills thinking about what could have happened if this had happened when we were anchored and away from the boat for the day.

Stuff like this is why it's important to mount the solenoid somewhere dry, rather than in the chain locker. In my case, the windlass cables come down into the locker, have a drip loop over the chain pile, then continue down, through the bulkhead and the solenoid is mounted under the forward berth on the other side of the bulkhead. Nice and dry in that area (and it's a sealed solenoid), so I don't worry about it corroding.

[Clivevon]

I have been known to forget to switch the breaker off after using the (SL Sea Wolf) windlass but our deck switches (1 up, 1 down) have flat hinged covers over them so cant be tripped by accident. I guess we are benefiting from another's bad experience.
I always secure the anchor chain to a cleat before the windlass so if the windlass somehow self activated up it would just trip the breaker.
The anchor is pinned in the bow roller so if the windlass somehow self activated down it could in theory dump the chain over the side - but I think I would notice that.
If the windlass failed altogether its easy to loosen the clutch to drop the anchor - or just lift the chain off the gypsy & lower by hand (20kg Delta & 10mm chain).
The windlass circuit breaker is quick & easy to access but you do have to be inside the boat.
If the windlass failed with the anchor down I guess I would be looking to heave up as much as possible by hand then resort to chain hooks, rolling hitches & ropes led to winches. I do carry some snatchblocks.
No doubt I am missing something, though. What have I forgotten this time?

[SV__Grace]

Hmm... I never shut off the breaker to my windlass and this thread has me questioning that.

I'm fine with "Always do THIS" when appropriate, but when situations vary a blanket guideline isn't needed or even desired. We all need to use our best judgment for our situation and set up.

So it seems that the problem is when connections and/or the solenoid corrode and fail, do I have that correctly?

Are there other reasons to turn off the breaker to the windlass if the control buttons are covered to prevent accidental deployment?

Looking at my setup, the deck buttons are covered and the connections ARE over the anchor locker. They are exposed to the salt water environment.

The solenoid and all connections except for the deck buttons are in the forward stateroom.

I'm not worried about the solenoid corroding as it is not exposed to salt water.

I'm not worried about the connections to the deck buttons corroding and activating the windlass because if a connection fails, the button simply won't work, which has happened before when a connection loosened or the button failed and needed replacement.

So in my situation and others like mine that have posted, I don't see the need to turn off the windlass breaker when not in use.

Am I missing something?

[mitiempo]

After the breaker my wiring goes to a dual circuit switch before going forward to the windlass. This id to prevent any possible corrosion from having the windlass connected to negative.

Off when not actually in use.

The windlass contactor (solenoid box) is installed in the electrical panel so nice and dry.

[svfinlandia]

Originally Posted by Bill O

We never leave the windlass "on" even if we we are on the boat.

It becomes a given part of the anchoring procedure to turn the breaker on to use it then turn it off when done.

+1

I don’t think it’s a good idea to leave the breaker on. Especially if you’re not on the boat.

Al, S/V Finlandia

[Sailmonkey]

We turn our windlass breaker off when not in use. Occasionally if in really snotty weather we’ll leave the control out but still with the breaker off. There’s just too much chance for mayhem with the circuit energized.....however our windlass isn’t wired with a separate breaker for the control voltage.

[sail sfbay]

Originally Posted by Olly75

.............So I'm wondering if people leave their windlass turned on when away from the boat?.............

Off so it does not draw any power and no one can get on the boat, that is berthed, and try to operate it while we are gone.

[philcun50]

We have a Beneteau OC 45, the windlass only operates when the engine is on, not necessarily running. You got me thinking as all the issues you talk of are very real given the environment the controls etc are in. Fact is the anchor could actuate when motoring. What is a great idea is by turning the breaker off I can leave the wash down pump on and as the breaker is easier to access than the wash down pump switch that kills 2 birds, wow.

[chrisr]

we are full time live-aboard and i don't think our windlass circuit breaker has been off in years (this includes when we're off the boat for a day or 2)

no harm has resulted

windlass is remote control and the r/c unit is always switched off before putting away.

cheers,

[Jamme]

Weekend sailors here. Always off when not in use. We switch on a few minutes before anchoring to test the windlass, then off as soon as anchored. Same when retrieving. We have 2 kids on board and I literally dread the possibility of a false contact.

[Jim Cate]

Well, here's another boat with the breaker always on, save when actually working on the windlss. That's been all 18 years we've owned the boat.

BUT... we have deck foot switches directly attached to the motor, no solenoid box or remote, and that drastically reduces the possibility of inadvertent activation. If we had a remote I would definitely rethink this drill.

Jim

[waterman46]

Our windlass has it's own battery and breaker forward and only two small wires aft to a switch at the binnacle are for power to the foot switches at the bow and are fused. With the battery forward, there are no long big gauge cables passing through un-inspectable areas below the floorboards, or otherwise.

The windlass breaker is always ON. But the control circuit which is powered by a labeled switch on the binnacle is in the OFF position.

I don't think it's save to leave any windlass in a condition where an accidental step on the foot switch at any time could activate it. So we normally switch the control circuit off at the binnacle as soon as we are done using the windlass.

Power to the binnacle is supplied by another switch on the main control panel below. After reading the OP's experience we may leave the "binnacle" switch on the main panel ON, and the windlass power switch ON if we expect high winds and have to leave the boat.

[Grattaway]

Reading this thread I understand that people leave their rode or chain on their windlass regardless of power on or off.

I understood that this was not best practice and that you should tie off to a cleat and take the weight off the windlass when not actually being used as a windlass
Or is this not so - and I understand that for some types of windlass you cannot remove the chain but surely can still take the weight on a cleat

Rgds Wayne