Knot Salted
Senior Member
- Joined
- Mar 16, 2015
- Messages
- 322
- Location
- USA
- Vessel Name
- Knot Salted
- Vessel Make
- 1981 Californian 34 LRC
Thoughts and opinions on windlass types?
Having hundreds of pounds of steel flying around on the boat gives me the willies, so I always power down.
I just installed a Lewmar Pro1000, not the Profish version that has freefall. The Lewmar lets you unlock the clutch and then it will free fall. You can lock it up any time and then do power down as desired. Only draw back is you have to be at the windlass to unlock the clutch but I have a wireless remote so that is not much of a problem.
Having hundreds of pounds of steel flying around on the boat gives me the willies, so I always power down. Free-fall is an option if required, but i would only use it under duress.
To get the anchor where we want it, which gets harder the deeper you anchor and the more wind you are fighting, I pre-deploy to about 10' above the bottom while I'm getting into position. Then we I get to my desired spot, I only have to drop another 10' until the anchor is on the bottom. Once you get the hang of it, it works really well.
Free fall with a brake to control the chain weight.
How many windlasses don't hsve a free fall option?
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If I were anchoring in 100' of water, free fall might be nice. Typically, I'm in 20' or less so powering down works well for me.
We anchored in 40-60 feet on average on our cruise up the Inside Passage. There were a few 90-100ft anchorages....