my new anchor

ksanders said:

Alaskan clothing story...

Two seasons ago I see this guy in dirty Careharts stepping off of his boat a few slips away from mine. He looks somehow familiar.

So I say hi, introduce myself and say he looks familiar. He says I look familiar as well. I ask him if he works in the oil field since se see allot of people up there and see them elsewhere and kinda recognize them.

He says no, he's an orthodontist. Then a light turns on in his head as he looks at the name on my boat "lisa's way". He asks if my wife is Lisa, and he smiles and says he did my wifes braces several years before.

So (and back to the clothes thing here) I look at him in dirty Careharts and I laugh, telling him how he doesn't look much like an orthodontist. Then I still laughing tell him how he ruined my impression of orthodontists forever. He asks why...

So I tell him how he's here in dirty Careharts and I thought orthodontists were mostly pussy types who do things like build ships in a bottle.

He responds "yea, I guess I'm different. I just got done rebuilding my marine transmission on my saloon table, I guess I'm an Alaskan orthodontist"

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Amen Brother!

Your new anchor looks great. All you have to do now to finish the buyer assembly part of the purchase is get a big torch heat the anchor up till its cherry red and change the plow to a shovel(concave) shape.

Kevin,

I am sure the halibut will be impressed with your new anchor. It looks good enough to install a big split ring and hook and troll really deep for something really big.

Tom

Kevin,
I love your orthodontist account. My doctor in Craig (one of several (at least)) had the exact same OB as I did. We swapped oil changing stories.

I had the same "dirty Careharts story" as you but w one of the local ministers. One could go on and on as everybody fishes. Alaska is one very big hunting and fishing resort. So everybody male and female is down at the fish cleaning station.

Kevin--- All you need to do to satisfy the yacht crowd is get six or ten feet of stainless chain and when you're not going to actually use your anchor, unshackle the galvanized chain, shackle the stainless length on the end of it, and then attach the stainless chain to the Excel. Then you'll meet all the requirements of the harbor-hop folks.

As I'm sure your research showed you, the Tigres is a great windlass. We replaced the no-name windlass that came with our boat with a Tigres many years ago and it's given flawless service from day one. I may disagree with someone's choice of anchor, but choosing a Tigres is an excellent decision no matter what one hangs on the end of the chain.

I'll second that about the Tigres, it's a good unit.

Good to see everyone playing nicely again.

We get a LOT of rain here in Louisiana, I made this cover to keep it out of the chain locker.

Steve, I have also seen windlass covers.

Steve--- I like the cover you made for the hole in the base of your Tigres. We're not that clever. After we installed our Tigres my wife made this cover for it to protect the windlass but also to keep rainwater and spray out of the anchor locker. It's two layers of fabric. There is Sunbrella on the outside and waterproof vinyl of some sort on the inside.

Nice Cover!

ksanders said:

The anchor is a #7 and weighs 36KG

The old anchor is a bruce clone and weighs 30KG

The anchor is being attached to a all chain rode of 550' and a new Lofrans Tigress windlass.

http://www.trawlerforum.com/forums/attachment.php?attachmentid=37681&d=1424794523

Now I have all the parts and pieces at the house and am waiting for another couple weeks to pass for the weather to warm up a bit, then I can go dewinterize the boat and get it installed.

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That's what I call boat parts porn... me want.

This thread got me looking to update my 35' boat. What does the collective think of this? Any users out there?

http://www.defender.com/product3.jsp?path=-1|2276108|2276145|2276146&id=599900

dhmeissner said:

That's what I call boat parts porn... me want.

This thread got me looking to update my 35' boat. What does the collective think of this? Any users out there?

Lewmar Pro-Fish 1000 Horizontal Windlass Kit

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Yes. Two years ago got a Lewmar Pro H1000 (not the Fish). Works well. Looks good. No complaints. I really wanted a Tigress but the Lewmar was a direct drop in replacement (same holes and wiring) for our old and iffy Simpson Lawrence Horizon and I got a good price on it from Hopcar. The Tigress was more than twice the cost and I couldn't really afford it at the time.

Never had a windlass in my life.
What exactly does "free fall" actually mean? Press a button and anchor chain and line head for the bottom as fast as gravity and friction will allow? I've also heard/read "power down". That sounds like one runs the rode up and down at about the same speed.

And I assume there aren't chain/line gypsies for unusual sizes ... like 5/8ths line and 1/2" chain .... correct? And the chain/line combinations are fixed.

dwhatty - which simpson lawrence model did you replace? We have an aging SL windlass and I've been unable to find anything that will fill the hole once we remove it. I tore it down last year and have it working well again, but replacement is on my shortlist. The only part I'm not looking forward to is the glass work to fill the hole before installing a new one.

Eric - you are correct. Although the free fall ones I've seen usually require losening the clutch to let it free fall. Power down is just the same as power up. Never had a winlass on the sailboat, but I sure do enjoy having one now (at least when it isn't acting up).

manyboats said:

Never had a windlass in my life.
What exactly does "free fall" actually mean? Press a button and anchor chain and line head for the bottom as fast as gravity and friction will allow? I've also heard/read "power down". That sounds like one runs the rode up and down at about the same speed.

And I assume there aren't chain/line gypsies for unusual sizes ... like 5/8ths line and 1/2" chain .... correct? And the chain/line combinations are fixed.

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Free fall is basically taking the clutch off and letting the weight of the chain take itself to the bottom. Power down means your using the windlass motor to drop the rode.

Eric-- In the photo I put in my post #39 there are two foot switches in the deck next to the block the windlass is mounted on. The outboard switch runs the windlass motor backwards and feeds the chain overboard. The inboard switch runs the windlass motor forward and brings the chain in. The windlass speed is the same either direction, which with a Tigres is very fast.

There is also a manual cone clutch on the wildcat that one can use to let the wildcat turn by the weight of the anchor. The drop speed is adjusted with the clutch wheel and the windlass motor is not used.

We don't use this feature but simply power the chain out. The original windlass to the boat had only power retrieve. So every deployment was via gravity and the manual friction clutch on the wildcat.

Carolena said:

dwhatty - which simpson lawrence model did you replace?

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Horizon 900, IIRC.

And now that I've thought about the installation of the Lewmar some more, I think that one of the bolts did need a new hole drilled but it was still on the same footprint of the SL. No biggie.

I also have the Lewmar ProSeries 1000 5/16 G4 chain with a combo rode. I wanted power down and up, unlike the Pro Fish 1000. I installed the system myself, replacing the 1980's era Power Winch.

No bow controls for me. I have a wired control at the lower helm and a wireless remote for use anywhere on the boat. I like to be able to control the windlass while maneuvering the boat and I often operate single-handed so helm controls are essential to me.

The deploy and retrieve speed is 105 ft per minute which seems plenty fast for my purposes. I anchor regularly and change locations frequently throughout a day of fishing. Mine has given me perfect service in almost 5 years of regular use on my 34 foot/20,000 lb boat so far.

Carolena said:

The only part I'm not looking forward to is the glass work to fill the hole before installing a new one.

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I've seen several installations where a piece of starboard or SS plate is mounted to the deck with the windlass secured on top of it. This provides a level and uniform mounting plate and covers previous holes and blemishes.

I used a piece of SS plate on my existing teak platform to allow the windlass chain discharge and its chain tube to center on the box supporting the pulpit. You can see in the image below that the SS plate extends about an inch or two aft of the aft edge of the pulpit. This positions the windlass perfectly for the chain to fall through the center of the box and into the anchor locker.

Marin said:

Eric-- In the photo I put in my post #39 there are two foot switches in the deck next to the block the windlass is mounted on. The outboard switch runs the windlass motor backwards and feeds the chain overboard. The inboard switch runs the windlass motor forward and brings the chain in. The windlass speed is the same either direction, which with a Tigres is very fast.

There is also a manual cone clutch on the wildcat that one can use to let the wildcat turn by the weight of the anchor. The drop speed is adjusted with the clutch wheel and the windlass motor is not used.

We don't use this feature but simply power the chain out. The original windlass to the boat had only power retrieve. So every deployment was via gravity and the manual friction clutch on the wildcat.

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We "power" our Tigress out as well. It moves chain at a rate of about 25 feet per 15 seconds. We sometimes use a watch to know when the correct amount of chain is out for a 5:1, or what ever rode length the conditions require. We have also marked the chain with colored cable ties to indicate length. However, the "watch" method is surprisingly accurate.

FlyWright said:

I've seen several installations where a piece of starboard or SS plate is mounted to the deck with the windlass secured on top of it. This provides a level and uniform mounting plate and covers previous holes and blemishes.

I used a piece of SS plate on my existing teak platform to allow the windlass chain discharge and its chain tube to center on the box supporting the pulpit. You can see in the image below that the SS plate extends about an inch or two aft of the aft edge of the pulpit. This positions the windlass perfectly for the chain to fall through the center of the box and into the anchor locker.

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Pulpit bling. Love it. What extra is needed to hook up the wireless remote to the windlass?

dwhatty said:

What extra is needed to hook up the wireless remote to the windlass?

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Mine was pretty simple to connect. It's just a small receiver mounted behind the panel near your hard-wired switch. I did it as I was wiring the lower helm switch.

Here's a link to the current Lewmar model. It includes pdf links for the product manual and wiring diagram.

FlyWright said:

...
No bow controls for me. ...

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I've got anchor-control at the bow as well as in the pilothouse. Prefer to use the bow control so I can wash the chain with fresh water while raising anchor.

Thanks all for filling in the blank spaces re the winches.

I always use my gloved hands (as a brake) to deploy my anchors. I like the feeling of the anchor hitting the bottom. I can start backing down, wait a moment for the anchor to start draging along the bottom and gently lay our the rode in a straight line. Several times while laying out I'll stop and pull on the rode a bit to see if it's starting to set. Most of the time the feel on the line tells me something or even a great deal about the bottom. Most of the time I let it get somewhat close to 3-1 before I tie it off and use the boat's inertia to start a set. If it feels good I ususlly pay out enough rode to get to about 5-1 scope. Then I'll back down at an idle for a minute or or two and call it good. If winds of 30 or more seem in the offing I run up to 1400rpm ... or a gale even more.

At any rate I really like my connection to the details during the process. Of course if I had a bigger boat none of this would be possible. Ever since I got into trawlering I've been trying to make a 15lb anchor w very little chain work well enough to hold my boat in a gale. Fifteen pounds and a few feet of chain because that's the weight of a rode that I cal handle very easily .. even if anchoring deep. I'm down to 18lbs but I'm hoping another modified anchor will weigh only 15lbs and give the performance I want. Time will tell ... quite a bit of it actually. My door is definitely open to convential anchoring but my experiments aren't over.

A fishfinder can tell you loads about your anchor position and the bottom environment. I can see my anchor reach the bottom on my FF, but it's just a cross check since I already know my depth and the amount of chain I have released. Same goes for retrieval.

Modern FFs have color gradients for soft and hard bottoms if you're unsure of your bottom makeup. It's pretty simple here, though, as we have to search far and wide to find a rocky bottom in the bay and delta.

You're sure working hard with that anchor setup, Eric. I'd love to see you get a modern windlass and start living the easy life on the hook. Wanna move 200 ft over that way? No problem...just push the button, move the boat and then push the other button.

Piece of cake!!

markpierce said:

I've got anchor-control at the bow as well as in the pilothouse. Prefer to use the bow control so I can wash the chain with fresh water while raising anchor.

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That's where the wireless remote comes in. It works anywhere on the boat...or even on the dock which comes in handy when unloading chain onto the dock.

A comment on Free Fall windlasses. It's a good way to empty to chain locker. Unless you are heading in reverse fast, it will all pile up on the bottom on or near the anchor. Not something I would do will an all chain rode. The only use I found for one was on a 22 C-dory anchoring in 200 feet of water in the Cook Inlet with 40 feet of chain and the rest 1/2inch 3 strand.

Tom

While the original windlass to our PNW boat was power-in only, we never let the anchor or chain rode free-fall to the bottom. We would control it's and the chain's deployment speed with the manual clutch wheel on the wildcat.

FlyWright said:

That's where the wireless remote comes in. It works anywhere on the boat...or even on the dock which comes in handy when unloading chain onto the dock.

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That is a good feature of the remote, I must admit. I only have control at both helms. If I want the anchor moved while I am near it to straighten it or hose it down, I have to have someone else at the helm switch. I don't have the option of remote though.

Marin said:

While the original windlass to our PNW boat was power-in only, we never let the anchor or chain rode free-fall to the bottom. We would control it's and the chain's deployment speed with the manual clutch wheel on the wildcat.

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Mine is free fall only for right now (the OP used it that way for 24 years and me for 4)....hard to keep REAL smooth unless the clutch is perfect...but I never worry about a too big of pile of chain while freefalling.


Never have to worry either about getting the anchor down REAL fast in deep water during an emergency.