Give a Windlass a break

All

I have a Nordlund 62 with a chain and stainless cable rode. How can I tie off the cable when on anchor to ease off pressure on the Windlass? Thanks!

standard item is either a snubber, one nylon line with a chain hook, or a bridle which is two nylon lines with a chain grabber. some use a rubber stretch device which has an eye on each end for a nylon line.

basically some sort of snubber device is almost universal among those who anchor regularly. Otherwise the pressure on the windlass is damaging and the jerking from the waves will crack the windlass' break pin.

Gotcha. I would like to tie a bridle to two very robust cleats. I need help a figuring out how to attach it to the stainless cable Thank you

You can make your own snubber...or buy one of these: https://www.mantusmarine.com/snubber-pendant/

Shouldn't it be tied to a post and not the windlass?

L

I believe the OP is looking for a way to Snub the stainless cable.. not chain
HOLLYWOOD

There is a grabber made for that. Try a rigging store or a lineman supply site. I am assuming you have a reel of stainless cable (stran). Put the grabber on, clamp it with nylon rigged then let off the windlass.

This is what you need.

http://www.linemen-tools.com/Strand_Grips_s/925.htm

If the cable winds onto a drum, is it designed to take the load without a snubber?

twistedtree said:

If the cable winds onto a drum, is it designed to take the load without a snubber?

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The stretch of a nylon snubber reducing shock might also be a factor for both comfort and helping the equipment.

Regarding my verbiage of “grabber” vs “grip” in post 7. Grabber was sometimes used as slang in the field. The proper name is grip.
A call to the company listed with specs of your anchor cable might be in order to be sure you get the right one and one that will not injure or damage your anchor cable.

Mule said:

There is a grabber made for that. Try a rigging store or a lineman supply site. I am assuming you have a reel of stainless cable (stran). Put the grabber on, clamp it with nylon rigged then let off the windlass.

This is what you need.

Strand Grips

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Would those hold in bouncy conditions or do they require a consistent load?

Maybe a Klemheist knot would work without kinking the wire;

cline said:

All

I have a Nordlund 62 with a chain and stainless cable rode. How can I tie off the cable when on anchor to ease off pressure on the Windlass? Thanks!

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Are you certain you have a windlass?
Cable is most often wound on the drum of an actual winch, which is likely operated by hydraulics.
This type of system is normally designed to handle high loading, though it may also have a brake or an anti reverse dog as well to take the load when the power is off.

Thanks all

I apologize I had my wisdom teeth out at 52. Screwed up my sinuses and barely van read the post

Exactly, snub to stainless cable

Its electric it is only one way perhaps a winch The entire rode is on a drum as you mentioned. It has a hand wheel that engages a friction clutch Which is
Can be tough to break loose. Perhaps I am trying to save my arms then the windlass


The klemjiem knot will work on cable?

You have from the final description, I think, a typical Fisherman's winch used in the Washington, British COlumbia, Alaska area.

Link to photos:
http://www.trawlerforum.com/forums/s3/anchor-chain-drum-anchor-winch-13768.html

Is this similar to what you have?

THey are not weak kneed units and do not need the load taken off of them the way our prettier windlasses do.

They are meant to hold the boat on the drum. The drum should have some means of being locked against running out , usually with a toothed wheel and a pawl.

Yours for a pleasure boat may be prettier than the typical Fisherman's unit but it sounds similar in operation.

Now a snubber may be a different matter to take the shock load of surging out of the system. The cable clamps MAY work. Quite commonly used in heavy electrical work. But you would need one that will grip the steel cable.

Check with an electrical wholesaler.


I can think of a couple ways of getting shock absorption without a so called typical snubber but I'll bet it would take some design/engineering which is beyond me without a lot of fooling around.

A photo of YOUR winch/windlass may help avoid a lot of guess work.

If it begins to blow the lack of shock absorbing in cable can give a poor ride aboard.

To let the boat check ,softer a heavy killet (weight) sliding on the cable lowered almost to the water depth will give some spring to the system.

What happens when the load is taken off the drum? Doesn’t the cable on the drum birdsnest? It does for me on any winch I have ever owned.
I would be worried that a cable gripper will nick and weaken the cable.

The drum is very similar to the nes pictured on the link referenced above. I would like to post a picture put I need to find out how to upload a pic to the cloud it appears to post here (any advise on this aspect is greatly appreciated)

No toothed wheel and pawl just the friction wheel. As you mentioned it certainly doesn't look like a weak kneed unit. There is a pin that engages the electric motor I leave open to ensure the motor doesn't receive any shock if the drum would slip, thoughts?

I'll bite.
Why would you want cable, especially stainless?

MurrayM said:

Would those hold in bouncy conditions or do they require a consistent load?

Maybe a Klemheist knot would work without kinking the wire;

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Hey that Klemheist knot looks pretty handy, i havent seen that one before. Would the Klemheist work better than a rolling hitch...? (sorry about heisting the thread

Simi 60 said:

I'll bite.
Why would you want cable, especially stainless?

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I’ll guess that wire on a reel for less volume over chain but what’s wrong with stainless?

Larry M said:

I’ll guess that wire on a reel for less volume over chain but what’s wrong with stainless?

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Stainless has a working load below that of the same size and configuration galvanized.

A cable grip is designed to take the load on cable.


https://www.liftingequipmentstore.com/product/yale-lmg-cable-grip

Do you really mean "cable," as in wire rope? That would be VERY unusual as an anchor rode.
Oldersalt

AusCan said:

A cable grip is designed to take the load on cable.


https://www.liftingequipmentstore.com/product/yale-lmg-cable-grip

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I think we have a winner,

The LMG is a device for pulling, gripping and tensioning unsheathed wire ropes, cables, and metal rods in all forms. The parallel jaws provide a firm, non-slip grip without causing damage to the wire. A special spring-loaded guide prevents the grip from dropping off the wire and affords instand release without jamming.

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Larry M said:

I’ll guess that wire on a reel for less volume over chain but what’s wrong with stainless?

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Same reason s/s is not the best idea for many things.
Work hardens,micro cracks
S/S rigging wire on my cat had strands breaking after a season or two of boisterous sailing.

WESTERLY has a winch, 40' of 5/16" HT chain, and 300' of 1/4" stainless steel cable.

It's what the boat came with when I bought it 20 years ago.

I have found the winch to be very serviceable, and the rode works well, although it is more like a line/chain combo in the swinging area needed. It has a pawl that keeps the drum from moving, if the winch were to fail holding the rode, the bow would probably be gone along with the winch.

In my towing days, we had a carpenter's clamp for emergency purposes (tow machine brake band failure, etc) that clamped around the wire rope. But I've seen one of these explode when exposed to dynamic pressure. We had special precautions to keep the crew safe when one of these was in service.

The best answer for increasing the ability of the rode to safely weather high strains, is to increase scope. As FF mentioned, a kellet can be helpful, as long as the winch is strong enough to handle retreival. If you are rigged appropriately, kellets can be retrieved separately.

WESTERLY's solution for extreme weather conditions is to replace the SS cable rode with a 3/4" nylon line (435') that is available at the winch. Just takes a minute or two to change out the shackles, this almost doubles the available safe working load of the assembly, and provides much needed dynamic surge capacity. When deployed, it is still made fast to the winch. Done this twice in the last 20 years, may have been un-needed both times.

Simi 60 said:

Same reason s/s is not the best idea for many things.
Work hardens,micro cracks
S/S rigging wire on my cat had strands breaking after a season or two of boisterous sailing.

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Interestingly, I've seen broken strands on the wear areas of my SS anchor cable, but only when I used 316 SS. This last time, I purchased 304 SS and over 3 years have yet to see any broken strands. SWL is almost identical, but service life is 2-3 times that of 316 SS.

Almost all of the cable reel windlasses I have seen are on fish boats that are fully manned.

This means weather anchored for an hour or a day , a watch was able to observe the vessel.

Perhaps the wire could be removed and nylon used , to gain the stretch ability that makes nylon such a delight.

If I designed this winch, it would have a spring loaded drum. So, at some preset torque, it would turn a little, then return back.
Hard fastened steel all the way to the seafloor is not for yachts, I submit.

My two centavos worth ---

Jay N has drum setups figured out, has for a very long time it would seem. The Nordlund in question (call Nordlund if an OEM install) likely has a pretty robust cable drum system but knowing how robustly it is affixed to the deck structure is a question for us in the dark. Thus one of the many commercial cable grippers can be considered. Just keep it clean and oiled as salt water will destroy it in short order.

Thousands of drum setups like it in use worldwide. Stainless rode cable is a dream for the commercial guys due to cost. As Simi notes, strength less than non SS cable but an extra 1/16" makes up for it. And no rust!

FF, deck watch overnight on a lightly or single manned (peopled if in Canada) fishing boat not common. Those that I'm familiar with just drop the hook, affix the drum holder and go to sleep. I doubt they know an anchor dragging video can be found on TF.

As mentioned, cable drums normally have a cog or other braking device. The OP states he needs to determine how to set and release this braking device with less effort. A visit to the commercial dock will yield results, at worst share a cup of coffee or beer with a fish boat guy who knows the ropes!

diver dave said:

If I designed this winch, it would have a spring loaded drum. So, at some preset torque, it would turn a little, then return back.
Hard fastened steel all the way to the seafloor is not for yachts, I submit.

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Humm, some big yacht owners do just fine with all steel, especially those with metal boats.