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Old 06-05-2008, 01:59 PM   #16
Marin
Scraping Paint
 
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Join Date: Oct 2007
Posts: 13,745
RE: Windlass & anchoring

Ken---

You're correct in that the bow of a boat is going to be strong. The question is how strong is the pulpit itself, or the pulpit attachment hardware? I have heard and read a number of of "horror" stories over the ten years we've been doing this kind of boating about pulpits snapping off under the high strain from setting an anchor, or more commonly, using the windlass and pulpit to break a deeply set or stuck anchor free. Pulpit strength is going to vary with the design of the boat, the make of the boat, the age of the boat, the quality of the construction, and the quality of the attachment hardware.

Our boat is 35 years old. The spine of the pulpit is a big bronze casting wth teak platforms bolted to each side of it. The bronze pulpit spine is secured to the bow with big bronze bolts or screws and there is an angle brace between the back of the pulpit and the heavy fiberglass stem. But I have no idea how strong it all is, I have no idea what shape the bolts or screws are in, and I have no idea what kind of strains and stresses the pulpit and hardware has been subjected to in the past. Given the cost of repairing a broken or snapped-off pulpit we err on the side of caution and don't put any undue strain on it.

I know and can see how the deck cleats are bolted and backed up, so I know how much of a load they can carry, and it's a lot.

As to putting a load on the windlass, whatever load is put on the windlass is put on the gears, the friction brake parts, and the windlass mounting hardware. We broke some gear teeth on our big, no-name windlass the other year. When they broke (and jammed the windlass) the anchor was on its way up from the bottom so there was minimal strain on the windlass gears. But who knows what sort of strain the teeth that broke might have been subjected to by previous owners.

It's my understanding that the cleat on the top of many windlasses is there for the purpose we use it for--- as an attach point for a chain hold-back line. If one has complete faith in the strength of the relatively small bolts that secure the windlass to the deck, the backing plates, and the strength of the windlass casting itself, I guess the cleat could be used to set the anchor although you'd also be putting the strain on the pulpit.

So I don't believe there is a definitiive "do it this way" answer to your questions. Some boats are probably designed and built so you could suspend the whole damn boat from the pulpit and this, as you say, makes the*strongest point to carry the strain of setting, holding, and*retrieving the*anchor. *Others are built with the minimum strength required to carry the anchor and resist a mild amount of strain.

I will say that every article and book I've read on the subject of mooring and anchoring cautions against putting heavy loads on the pulpit and the windlass. The anchoring procedure I described earlier was taken from the best book I've found on the subject plus the advice and experience of local boaters we've met who do a lot of anchoring and use techniques that have proved very successful in this area. Someone boating in the Carribean will probably use entirely different equipment and techniques.


-- Edited by Marin at 16:12, 2008-06-05
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