Date: 27 December 2014.
Windlass is
Necessary (for me)
© janice142
Online recently a discussion came
up about windlasses. Are they a necessity or a frivolous albeit
wonderful-to-have waste of money? From personal experience, having a
windlass from the get-go will enhance your life at anchor. It is not
critical if you are marina hopping. There are some caveats however.
The
difference a windlass made in our life afloat was significant. |
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This is our 40'er, with her manual windlass on the bow:
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The windlass was a blessing. We would move the
boat versus taking the dink to the better diving spots. It
allowed a degree of freedom that we did not realize were
missing
prior to the addition of that piece of equipment.
Ours was a manual. Back
then, manual units were a lot less expensive than the powered
versions. Plus no wiring was required. On a bigger boat the wire runs
will be longer thus you will be required to use larger (read: "more
expensive") wire.
Mini
Lesson on Gauges of Wire: The higher
the number, the smaller the wire diameter. Thus, 00 is big
(about the size of your fore-finger) whereas 16 is very
small. A round toothpick is approximately the size of 16
gauge, in case you wondered.
Nowadays, powered
versions are the least costly. Some come with a handle for
manual operation. Were money no object, I would certainly opt
for that additional feature.
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Initially I had planned to purchase a
windlass in year three of ownership. I had a prioritized list of
course!
Still, for Seaweed, this is a necessity. I am not as young as I once
was nor do I anticipate getting stronger in the coming
years.
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Planned
Upgrades Post Purchase: |
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Seaweed had potential, and
that is why I bought her. She also lacked many items I considered
necessary for long-term happiness afloat. Therefore I made a
list of items to buy/upgrade after ownership.
This is my list to make
Seaweed safer and more livable, in the sequence I
determined to be most logical:
-
100' of G4 1/4" chain (in retrospect,
I should have bought 150') along with a big modern anchor.
This was the first major purchase for my home.
[Seaweed came with 16' of plastic coated chain, 50' of
goodness knows how old 1/2" 3-strand and a rusty
eleven pound
Danforth knock-off.]
-
Solar panels and/or a wind generator
(A girl has to have power; currently I have a good start
on a comfortable off-the-grid life)
-
Windlass for chain and anchor
because I am not getting any younger.
-
Autopilot (still want
one of these, but alas, three engines in one year means the
autopilot will have to wait)
-
Eventually I really
want a tuna-door cut in the transom as climbing into the cockpit
is not always easy.
-
A watermaker (a gal can
dream, right?)
And I still want more solar
and batteries too, plus I've seen a
Fan-tastic Vent fan that goes in
the overhead of RV's. That's a wish, but I do not know enough to
make a wise decision as to which would best meet my needs. If
you know about these, please add a comment below. Thanks. |
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Frankly it is going to be a while before I have the funds to add anything to
Seaweed. The pressing need is propulsion and that is progressing. The
new Kubota from Yanmar Tractor Parts [http://yanmartractorparts.net]
is gorgeous. Here is a sneak-peek at her:
You may be curious as to why a
perfectly nice green paint job on the Kubota was changed to white.
That's because I want to be able to see fluid leaks with ease.
Everything shows on white. I do not know why more engines are not
white.
White paint on motors
makes those minor oozes simple
to spot and rectify before they become major problems.
The motor mounts for the Kubota were
painted white as well.
And yes, I'm thrilled beyond measure to have this gem
for my boat. As installation progresses I will have the details on how
to turn a tractor engine into a motor for a boat, without running
salt water through her innards too. It is genius, and best of all:
not expensive!
Life is great afloat and truly I
am blessed. But I digress...
On Seaweed, I planned a windlass purchase for year three of ownership.
After hauling in the anchor (and chain) in 20+ feet of water twice
in a row plans changed.
I discovered I was not as young as I imagined. I do not know that I could
have raised the anchor a third time by myself. Thus, I opted to pay the bucks
and get a vertical LewmarV700 immediately.
I take my anchoring seriously.
Your boat will probably be much larger and it
is totally worth it to have the
ability to push a button and haul in the chain. In an emergency, the
windlass makes a big difference. I have had to do so
once. A boat (bigger than mine -- yes, they all are!) was dragging
down on me.
It was easy enough to start the
engine, pull up the chain (stopping to remove the snubber) and
voila: Seaweed was safe.
More advice: I like my wired
remote -- it lives on a hook inside my forward hatch for easy
access. For me, I am not comfortable with the wireless ones. I might lose
it. Mine is permanently attached with a cord that resembles the
telephone cords of old.
Additionally I have seen too many
of the deck push ones that have failed. Because I am smaller, I have
been in more than one anchor locker removing the rusted
hulks of what were once a functional deck push switches. This is not fun,
but that is what friends do out here. We help each other.
My wired remote was an inexpensive
purchase from a friend named Doc on Safira. Named after a dragon,
Safira is a Morgan41 pilothouse
sailboat. Another buddy, Ken on Sparrow (40' Rhodes Bounty2) showed me the wiring for the
remote.
This is my friend Ken. He understands wiring.
And as long as I'm spending your money (gosh, this is fun!) you
might as well go with a chain counter too. Because the counters cost
$$, I opted to paint my chain. The
Anchor Up (Painting your chain)
article has details on my paint scheme. It works, but given a choice
a counter is a gizmo that would certainly be nice to have. If I was
in the market for a chain counter I would shop at
Defender.
Whatever you do, mark the last ten feet (paint it) so you
will know
when you are near the bitter end. And have the end of your chain attached to the
inside the anchor locker with a small piece of line so you could
buoy it off if that is ever necessary.
If you are anchoring in 50' of
water, I would have that line at a minimum 75' long, and a fender handy
to snap onto the end of the small line. You want a way to find the
anchor and chain. The fender will make finding the chain easier. And
the weight of the line (unlike chain) will not sink the fender!
DO NOT ask how I know that. It
is
not pretty and suffice
it to say this is my SECOND length of G4 1/4" chain.
In my opinion, of course.
Chain comes out the HAWSEPIPE
on S/V Anja.
I also like a hawsepipe as seen
in the
(Joshua Slocum's) Spray replica Anja
article. There are pictures of that set-up for your perusal. The
idea is worth considering
for your vessel too. I like that the chain comes from the waterline
while the windlass is on deck.
If you know about
Fan-tastic
vent fans, please educate me.
I would like to learn about them.
Does your boat have a windlass?
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