Understanding Your Boats Systems and Choices.

Understanding Your Boats Systems and Choices.

John Champion

Smashwords Edition

Copyright 2013 John Champion

Chapter 1 Selecting a Windlass For Your Boat.

Looks at selecting a windlass and rode. Discusses differences in models; chapter two looks at installations.

Marinas and moorings are very convenient but sooner or later you may wish to venture further afield and then you will need to anchor. This everyday process is made a whole lot more pleasant with a windlass; the trusty machine that pulls up the anchor and rode. If you have ever retrieved a well set anchor and chain by hand you will immediately agree, if not have a go on a boat larger than 30 feet before you call me a pansy. Also consider most anchor related dilemmas occur at night and in bad weather, not really the best time to leisurely hoist the main and coax up the hook by hand. Too stimulating for my taste. So you have a boat or are expecting one and it requires a windlass; what do we choose?

The big question

Windlasses come in numerous varieties so perhaps the first thing to consider is the power we will use to operate it. Electric, both DC (battery), AC and hydraulic units are available. If your boat is large enough to require a hydraulic or AC electric windlass you are probably reading Superyacht Magazine or the like, will not see this article and have a full time engineer on board to make these decisions for you anyway. So DC powered, either 12 or 24 volts, is where we will be spending our money. If you want to be the only power source for the windlass, manual units are available but are generally restricted to smaller boats; gone are the days when manufacturers produced really significant manual models although there could well be some operating antiques around for sale.

Vertical or horizontal

Our next choice is to decide on a vertical or horizontal machine; this refers to the orientation of the chain wheel or gypsy. Imagine a wheel on a car as a horizontal and a wheel laying on its side as a vertical. Each has desirable characteristics but ultimately the decision will depend on our vessel and the chain locker configuration. Vertical units have a better grip on the chain than horizontals as they tend to discharge the chain forward, perhaps an extra couple of links in the gypsy at any time.

Horizontals drop the chain vertically. Some boats, (often catamarans), have a deep locker with plenty of room and good access which may allow a horizontal unit to be installed inside; others will have an integral locker with poor or limited access. In this case the chain will be fed into the cavity via a hawse pipe; (salty term for a hole in the deck that allows chain to be dropped in by the windlass.) The benefit of horizontal units in this instance is they can be entirely mounted above deck and positioned to feed directly into the hawse pipe. The vertical machine will require a large part of it to be below deck and may prove a more difficult or intrusive installation. If your locker is shallow then a hawse pipe model will be frustrating; chain will build up underneath the hole and jams will occur.

In this instance a vertical unit without an integral hawse pipe, (getting harder to find, Maxwell VW or Ideal are the only ones that spring to mind), will allow greater flexibility as you flake the chain into the locker by hand. Consider very carefully the technique here as chain + winch = no future as a concert pianist if you get it wrong. Sometimes the hawse pipe pile up can be alleviated by installing