windlass mounting and chain fall

i have busted my drum on my powerwench 502 . I was trying to get it apart to to rebuild i should have let it continue to die a slow death. it is mounted in front of my Sampson post .

has anyone used one of these on a elevated pull pit the chain/rode will have to go over a ways to hit the deck hole .
https://www.defender.com/product.jsp?id=599900

found a old picture. there may be a better fit with a different windlass.

Personally, I'd build a proper chain pipe for the windlass, rather than using the one meant for manual retrieval. Basically a tube from the bottom of the pulpit where the windlass sits straight down through the deck into the top of the chain locker.

ok that white raised box is hollow so it would also increase chain rode fall i may have to move it forward a bit to hit the raised area .it has some wire to the plug for the autopilot but it isn't working right anyway.

has anyone got any comments about this brand of style of windlass . should be a chain rode mix . I currently have a fortress fx37 as an anchor .but would like to get a mantis or rocna at some point.

What are you asking about? Repair or replacement? Replacement it would seem.

I think that windlass has a combination rope/chain wildcat, correct?
Is a new drum/wildcat available?

Photos, current ones and from several different angles to show relationships to the other parts would help if you want to replace the windlass. The one you provided is blurred and unclear enough to get less than stellar advice and does not show well.

Does the existing hawse hole drop directly into the chain locker?

The photo makes it appear there is a serious misalignment between the wildcat and the hawse hole deck fitting. Is that the case?

What is the other deck fitting just to the left of the deck fitting the chain enters? The foot switch?

As far as a new anchor is concerned that won't matter much at this point. You appear to have enough plank and bow overhang length to hold any anchor needed.

What ever you use you should look seriously at arranging the windlass to sit directly over the deck hole to drop the chain through vertically, not on an angle or it will likely jam or worse, pop off the chain wheel or wildcat. That could cause an uncontrolled chain runout which could be dangerous and likely do some damage including to you.

The main thing is to get it all lined up so the chain comes into the wildcat straight, that the chain drops off the wildcat vertically into the hawse hole with no angle off vertical to cause it to hang up or pop sideways off the wildcat.

Since you likely won't want to move the hawse hole then changes to the plank, bow roller, and mounting of the windlass itself may need to be contemplated.

THis could be accomplished by moving the bow roller to an angle aimed directly at the new wildcat, a side addition to the plank the windlass resides on so the fall is vertical. The addition to the plank to widen it could be handled with more wood seriously bolted in place and a heavy metal plate below to add additional support. 3/8" or 1/2" aluminum well secured to both the main plank and the side addition.

As far as the windlass you linked to it looks like your boat may be on the upper edge of its limits. I see quite a few of them on smaller boats here and they seem ok but no personal experience.

My own windlass on my 32'er is a Lofrans Tigress. Overkill yes, but the Cayman , smaller had or didn't have a feature I WANTED. The Cayman would have done me well but without that feature I turned it down.

If you do go with that windless then be ABSOLUTELY SURE the wiring is on the heavy side. It may as they say pull 1,000# but it won't do it happily if there too much Voltage drop between the batteries and the windlass. Vdrop causes pulling power loss, motor overheating, slow pulling and eventual motor damage and failure and likely nuisance circuit breaker or fuse tripping.

If the chain doesn’t drop exactly where you want it to, you can take a heavy wall PVC pipe and use it to direct the chain where you need it to go. PVC pipe can be heated and then make a custom bend so the chain goes where you need it to go.

thanks I'm trying to get off work early to make the 3 hour drive .I will try to take some measurements. And pics but I'm running out of vacation and have to focus on half installed bulk head .

I will see if it can be made a straight shot through the pulpit and raised deck area.

timb said:

thanks I'm trying to get off work early to make the 3 hour drive .I will try to take some measurements. And pics but I'm running out of vacation and have to focus on half installed bulk head .

I will see if it can be made a straight shot through the pulpit and raised deck area.

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It sucks still having to work, doesn’t it. Good luck.

The first photo shows the Powerwinch I inherited at purchase. I replaced it with the Lewmar Pro Series (not ProFish freefall) 1000. My combo rode passes through the vertical box under the pulpit directly into the locker. (Yes, I cut off the long bolts on the mount.)

The older the chain gets, the more it seems to pile up. Now I knock down the pile every 60-90 ft retrieved.

I really don’t want all chain I’m a little bow heavy your install looks good I may go with. A different model I was looking at lofrans but they are chain only and we only use our anchor once a month.we try. To anchor in around 7 to 10 feet of water so I’m not sure we need that big of a investment in a top of the line windlass . But I don’t want something that is going to be a headache ether. The power wench was in bad shape and mounted so the chain jammed under the pulley so I usually pulled all but the chain in by hand. We only have 30 feet of chain

When sturgeon fishing, I anchor consistently 15-30 times per month in 30-50 ft of water. I designed, built and installed this one in 2010 with a self-launching anchor roller, helm wired remote, wireless remote and recessed bow washdown hose canister. So far, it's been a good windlass system. No complaints.

That would last me forever I’ll check on one of those when I get back home

FlyWright said:

... My combo rode passes through the vertical box under the pulpit directly into the locker. (Yes, I cut off the long bolts on the mount.)...

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The metal plates underneath are good. I get that you shortened the bolts. I was once told winding long, longer than needed bolts, thru nyloc nuts, doesn`t do the nyloc any favors.

FlyWright said:

The older the chain gets, the more it seems to pile up. Now I knock down the pile every 60-90 ft retrieved.

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I had this problem when I first purchased. The PO had 350' of chain, 165' of rode, and apparently used it often (he was a diver). When I ran the chain out for the first time to inspect it on the dock, I was surprised at how much "salt" was crystalized on it. Probably not all salt, but minerals and salt. I would have thought that soaking it when anchored would remove any crystal accumulation.

The salty coating made the links grip each other just enough to form a peak and stack up to the deck pipe and interfere with the chain drop. I use Salt Away on my outboard and had it mixed up in a spray bottle. I started soaking down my chain with Salt Away when I knocked down my chain pile and after doing this for about 3 retrievals the links had lost there gripping crystal surface and started falling properly. I can now hear the pile slump over 2 or 3 times by itself when retrieving. I still go to the locker and spray the pile with Salt Away when the anchor is home. Haven't had to knock down the pile since. YEMV.

Good thought. I fish and anchor primarily in fresh waters of the California Delta. I just live with this known peccadillo. It goes along with my theme...Comfortably Imperfect.

Marco Flamingo said:

I had this problem when I first purchased. The PO had 350' of chain, 165' of rode, and apparently used it often (he was a diver). When I ran the chain out for the first time to inspect it on the dock, I was surprised at how much "salt" was crystalized on it. Probably not all salt, but minerals and salt. I would have thought that soaking it when anchored would remove any crystal accumulation.

The salty coating made the links grip each other just enough to form a peak and stack up to the deck pipe and interfere with the chain drop. I use Salt Away on my outboard and had it mixed up in a spray bottle. I started soaking down my chain with Salt Away when I knocked down my chain pile and after doing this for about 3 retrievals the links had lost there gripping crystal surface and started falling properly. I can now hear the pile slump over 2 or 3 times by itself when retrieving. I still go to the locker and spray the pile with Salt Away when the anchor is home. Haven't had to knock down the pile since. YEMV.

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That is a good idea. We used to use Salt Away in our center console outboard when we lived in Arizona and boated off California coast.

Ok I made it to the boat again .no time for measuring last weekend . I had heard some bad things about these windlass .but flyright seems to be having great service from them . It seems I have plenty of room to mount the windlass. The only thing that I don’t like is there is a support kind of in the way. See pics if I run a pipe from the pull pit should I extend it down past the support. How would you set the anchor connect the snubber the test the hold?
The darn pics are on the iPhone not this iPad I’ll post below.

Here are the pics it seems the fisherman is just an option on the same winch

It's hard to tell from the photo where the tube/support interference would come into play. I'd extend the tube...as long as it doesn't require cutting into the support.

How is the sampson post anchored?

The Sampson post is mostly just connected to the deck it is on the list to be replaced the post is in fairly good shape but the cross brace at the bottom is shot

anyone deleted sampson post

has anyone removed there sampson post and braced the pull pit from under the deck ? i have my new windless but need to do some anchor locker work and the bottom of the post and anchor locker (bottom of bulkhead also) anyway the post is in the middle of the excess and is going to make the job much more difficult .maybe a stainless 2x2 inside the raised box and a large timber (same as pull put up the back or across top of the box. one less place to leak. any thoughts ?

also I don't have my chain/ rode yet thinking about all chain. s snubber attachment would be easy . or 90' of chain and some rode.

Comodave said:

If the chain doesn’t drop exactly where you want it to, you can take a heavy wall PVC pipe and use it to direct the chain where you need it to go. PVC pipe can be heated and then make a custom bend so the chain goes where you need it to go.

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I used some of that gray colored PVC pipe to run my chain from the chain locker, to a much bigger compartment under and abaft of the chain locker. The designed locker just wasn't quite big enough for 250 feet of chain (it would hold it but it would pile up all the way to the pipe), but the new chain locker could probably handle another 150 feet without piling up too high.

My Sampson post is connected to the keel and through bolted to the forward bulkhead (which is tabbed to the hull. It isn't going anywhere. The part that I'm a little skeptical about is the connection of the pulpit to the post. I've thought about adding some SS angle brackets there.

My through deck hole for the chain wasn't round and I could see that there was water damage caused by the sloppy unfinished hole. When I fitted a piece of PVC pipe, it didn't take the best advantage of the shape and angle of the hole. So I made a "liner" out of a section of a heavy plastic bottle. Instead of using it as a tube, I sliced it so that it could be rolled tight, put in the hole, and then expanded to fit. I then gooped up the hole with putty made of epoxy and cabosil (with a drop clothe over the chain). I made the tube kind of funnel shaped, stuffed it full of newspaper to help maximize the size, and let it kick off. Since it is hidden by the flush mount windlass, cleanup wasn't too difficult and now I know that everything is sealed up.