Freefall or power down anchoring?

Thoughts and opinions on windlass types?

I have a Cougar Muir and I always power down. I want to be in control and see the depth marker.

Makes sense.

I do wonder about freefall potential to ball up the chain all over the anchor. But like speed if needed.

you can do either with some windlasses.

if you had to anchor deep a lot or for an emergency, free fall may be the ticket.

you can do both as I said with some, free fall till the anchor hits bottom or a set amout is out, then tighten the clutch to power out more controlled.

Cool
Just took off so cant reply for a bit

We free fall even though we can power down. Our windlass is a Lighthouse 1501 and has the power down option. The retrieval rate is 37 fpm and the power down not being much faster. By free falling, it’s esaier to drop the anchor where we want it, particularly if it’s windy.

At first we missed free fall, now we don't even think about it. I personally don't think there is much difference for our shallow water (less than 40', usually a lot less) use.
Might even be able to argue less chance of fouling the anchor with it's own chain in power down.??

I would only freefall if it was the only option. It's not like it saves battery power (much). When we are anchoring (meaning as powerboats), our engines are running and there is power generated from the alternator(s). I can see it from sailors that sail onto anchor (which is really rare), or has a very small alternator and DC system.

I have a free-fall only windlass and hate it. I much prefer powering down for "normal" anchoring. To me, free-fall is for when you're fishing well off shore. You don't care so much about getting a good set, you're probably going to be anchoring several times in a trip , you're in deep water and time is of the essence.

Thak you all for the feedback.
Seems like i might want both options...$$$
Dangit.

How many windlasses don't hsve a free fall option?

Till you do it with one that does it nicely...hard to say that freefall is bad, or something you wouldn't do some of the time.

Free fall with a brake to control the chain weight.

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.

twistedtree said:

Having hundreds of pounds of steel flying around on the boat gives me the willies, so I always power down.

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My decision to power down is more primal than even this... I didn't even know it was a thing until I saw a YouTube cruiser do it about 2 years ago. That said, Neither of our windlasses had the feature without some fumbling.

tbtapper said:

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.

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Same here. The Lewmar ProSeries 1000 powers down smoothly without incident. I prefer a controlled power down to a gravity-fed freefall. I seldom anchor in depths greater than 50 ft.

twistedtree said:

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.

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Good points. I've tried a method similar to yours with success a couple of times when precise anchor placement was required. I find it helpful to watch my anchor position on the fishfinder when deploying and retrieving.

I have a Maxwell VCW 3500. It does both. I tend to free fall initially and I control the speed if I am in 60+ feet of water. My chain is marked, so when I hit the bottom I know it and we start backing down. Once I get about an additional 60 feet of rode out we set the anchor. Then once I get the rest of the rode out (electrical) we set again. So I use both options on my windlass.

I haven't figured out a safe but easy way to pull the chain off the gypsy, which on my unit is the only way to free fall. So we power down by necessity, but I am never in too much of a hurry to really want to free fall anyway.

Xsbank said:

Free fall with a brake to control the chain weight.

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This last year was the first that I have ever tried using the free fall with a clutch. My windlass on the sailboat had that feature, but I never used it. I found this year that I did like the option. It was particularly nice when I needed to put out all 300’ of chain to anchor for a stern tie with 10-15 knots of cross wind. The speed was nice to have.

Maxwell hwc3500
Power drown till anchor hits bottom then free spool chain using clutch to control speed.

Muir VRC

I power down in most situations but occasionally free fall when deepwater fishing. If needed, I'd possibly use free fall in an emergency situation as well.

To avoid piling chain on top of the anchor, I partly tighten the clutch when the anchor is nearing the bottom.

"Having hundreds of pounds of steel flying around on the boat gives me the willies"
Free fall does not necessarily mean uncontrolled release of the anchor and rode. I have a hydraulic Maxwell 2500 windlass that has a well designed clutch. I can easily modulate the rate of release by tightening or loosening the clutch with my hands.


I "free fall" the anchor and chain, controlling the rate, while my wife backs down the boat. When sufficient scope is out I tighten the clutch and we go through our anchor set routine.


Maybe saves a little wear and tear on the windlass. But not a big deal, and not right or wrong. Just the way I prefer to do it.

I found it pretty easy to tell when the anchor had hit bottom in a free fall with just a little tension on the clutch. The chain would stop paying out or slow down dramatically. The depth wire ties on the chain gave a clue too. Then power payout as the boat drifts back. Fan of freefall here after hundreds of anchorings, especially when things are a little sporty.

arent most things in boating supposed to be flexible?

like those that always profess to go only as fast as you want to hit something...till they realize if they dont add power...worse things will happen?

same as freefall...its a trick in tbe toolbag....understanding and feeling comfy with it could be important someday.

psneeld said:

How many windlasses don't hsve a free fall option?
.

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Mine doesn't. Free fall is a $100 option, something I didn't (and still don't) think is necessary or useful for where and how I anchor.

One thing I find my self doing from time to time is lowering the anchor back down to clean off mud and weeds. I don't want to lower it to the bottom again, just to below the surface of the water. I can go up and down as needed.

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.

aboatman said:

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.

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We anchored in 40-60 feet on average on our cruise up the Inside Passage. There were a few 90-100ft anchorages....

Last summer I had to have my windlass rewound. While it was down, I anchored less than I would have otherwise, but did anchor. I learned a new skill during this time, that of setting the anchor by free fall, with the brake keeping the speed of the free fall limited to about 1/2 what a true free fall would have been. At that speed, the weight difference against the brake once the anchor arrived at the bottom was sufficient to stop the fast payout, then I would continue paying out as I would have with power down, by controlling the brake, while backing down on the anchor.
I haven't anchored much since the rewind, but may well adopt this technique for more of my anchoring.

Alaskan Sea-Duction said:

We anchored in 40-60 feet on average on our cruise up the Inside Passage. There were a few 90-100ft anchorages....

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That's why we sometimes buy different things. We have different needs.

I have only 180' of rode so I wouldn't do well where you are boating. I do fine where I boat and have never used the entire length.

I only have freefall... Can I wire up a reverse polarity circuit to power down?