Shopping for Windlass (and chain)

[oak_box]

My boat: 1983 Ocean Alexander 40
Displacement: 38000 pounds
Length: 40'
Beam: 13.5'
All the windage of a clipper ship, without the fuel economy...

I removed my old windlass. It was a vertical Nilsson windlass. I need a new windlass. What's the best windlass to get (and where)??

Three that I'm looking at include:
1) Lewmar CPX vertical windlass - from West Marine.
2) Lofrans Tigress horizontal windlass from West Marine.
3) Mako 1500 vertical windlass - from Anchoring.com

The windlass is mounted on a wooden box in the bow of the boat. Part of the pain of taking the old windlass out was that while the motor of the vertical windlass fits easily in the box - there is NO ROOM to swing a wrench in there, and no space for a socket - a royal pain to get it out.

The temptation of the Lofrans horizontal is that it all mounts on the top of the box, and I just need to tighten the bolts inside the box without the motor of the windlass being in the way. However - the Lofrans from West Marine ships directly from the manufacturer (in France?). So I'm concerned about how long long it might take to get one. And they're damn pricey.

What other options are there for Windlasses?
What's the best one to get? If I get a vertical windlass that has a motor inside the box, mounting it might be a pain in the ass.

And finally - once I settle on a windlass, where's the best place to get chain?

 

[BruceK]

The Muir HR 2500 is popular in Australia, all 3 boats I`ve owned came with a Muir. Current boat has this model, it`s smooth running and powerful. But, it won`t be cheap.
https://www.bosunslocker.com.au/products/muir-compact-hr-2500-cheetah-winch-12-volts-10mm-chain?currency=AUD&utm_medium=cpc&utm_source=google&utm_campaign=Google%20Shopping&gclid=EAIaIQobChMIq4r-mOm-_QIV9ZpmAh2zEwV0EAQYBiABEgJ5E_D_BwE

 

[kchace]

I had a tigress on a previous boat, the Lofrans Tigress is a great windlass. Shop around and you can find a much better price than West. I have a Nilsson now and when it comes time to change will also get a Tigress.

Ken

Edit - The Binnacle has the tigress in stock with free shipping for $2100.

 

[ksanders]

I have the Lofrans Tigress bought from Derfender and run 5/16 HT G4 all chain rode.

Super happy with many years of service

 

[ranger58sb]

Three that I'm looking at include:
1) Lewmar CPX vertical windlass - from West Marine.
2) Lofrans Tigress horizontal windlass from West Marine.
3) Mako 1500 vertical windlass - from Anchoring.com

The windlass is mounted on a wooden box in the bow of the boat. Part of the pain of taking the old windlass out was that while the motor of the vertical windlass fits easily in the box - there is NO ROOM to swing a wrench in there, and no space for a socket - a royal pain to get it out.

The temptation of the Lofrans horizontal is that it all mounts on the top of the box, and I just need to tighten the bolts inside the box without the motor of the windlass being in the way. However - the Lofrans from West Marine ships directly from the manufacturer (in France?). So I'm concerned about how long long it might take to get one. And they're damn pricey.

We have a Lofrans Project 1500 vertical windlass. The original worked fine electrically, but I couldn't budge it manually... turns out to have been beat up by previous owners, not maintained... so I'm in the process of replacing. Imtra is the US distributor, and the best price I found was from CitiMarine.

Imtra customer service has been excellent when we were still in the "trying to fix it" stage for the original windlass.

I'm not really aware of pros/cons for vertical versus horizontal.

If you were nearby, I could offer a deal on the salvageable bits from our original.

Defender has always had decent prices for stuff like chain, but it turns out a local chandlery here was able to better the "delivered" price.

-Chris

 

[JohnP]

The Muir HR 2500 is popular in Australia, all 3 boats I`ve owned came with a Muir. Current boat has this model, it`s smooth running and powerful. But, it won`t be cheap.
Our IG 36 came with a Muir Cheetah windless, It has been excellent and is very powerful.

 

[Newtrawlerowner]

Shopping for Windlass

My boat: 1983 Ocean Alexander 40
Displacement: 38000 pounds
Length: 40'
Beam: 13.5'
All the windage of a clipper ship, without the fuel economy...

I removed my old windlass. It was a vertical Nilsson windlass. I need a new windlass. What's the best windlass to get (and where)??

Three that I'm looking at include:
1) Lewmar CPX vertical windlass - from West Marine.
2) Lofrans Tigress horizontal windlass from West Marine.
3) Mako 1500 vertical windlass - from Anchoring.com

The windlass is mounted on a wooden box in the bow of the boat. Part of the pain of taking the old windlass out was that while the motor of the vertical windlass fits easily in the box - there is NO ROOM to swing a wrench in there, and no space for a socket - a royal pain to get it out.

The temptation of the Lofrans horizontal is that it all mounts on the top of the box, and I just need to tighten the bolts inside the box without the motor of the windlass being in the way. However - the Lofrans from West Marine ships directly from the manufacturer (in France?). So I'm concerned about how long long it might take to get one. And they're damn pricey.

What other options are there for Windlasses?
What's the best one to get? If I get a vertical windlass that has a motor inside the box, mounting it might be a pain in the ass.

And finally - once I settle on a windlass, where's the best place to get chain?

I have a Lewmar V3 on my Mainship 400 (36') using 3/8" chain. The gypsy can pull nylon rode and/or chain. I bought mine online from Carid. I initially purchased one that had a few pieces missing and had to return it. Both units looked like they came directly from Lewmar. The price I paid was about $300 less than West Marine. BTW West Marine had price match guarantee for the same item, or they used to. But to get that you'll need to visit a store. I found that out after I purchased the one I got.

 

[SIBERNUT]

Be careful to buy chain to match the gypsy on the windlass. There ARE several, size links, spacing etc

 

[oak_box]

Update:
At this point, I'm closing in on the Maxwell HRC 10-8.
Compared to the Lofrans Tigres - the HRC10-8 will handle both rope and chain (the Tigress has a rope drum, but does not support rope on the main gypsy). The motor is rated at 1000W on the HRC, 1500W on the Tigres. The lower power rating will be more battery and wiring friendly.

It also appears that the chain I have is 5/16 BBB, not the 3/8 that I thought. My chain is about 0.344 diameter, with about .5 inside the links on the short side, about 1" inside the links on the long side.

I have traded emails with JohnS from this site (Thank you John!!) who has a very similar boat, and has been very happy with 5/16" chain on the HRC - so this sounds like a great candidate.

Surprisingly, the HRC 10-8 is also available on Amazon (they have everything!) - and not surprising - Amazon beat all the other prices I could find by a pretty good margin.

I just wish there were more youtube videos and a slightly better manual for the HRC 10-8.

 

[Mac2]

I had the tigres on my last boat. A big factor for me was that it could be manually operated and came with the handle to do so. I bought mine from Defender-best price I could find.