Anchor Winch

Wood working continues in other parts of the boat, but I thought I'd blog a bit about the anchor winch.

I'd always intended on using a chain windlass to handle my anchor, but this used winch was available, so I made the switch to a deck winch. This type of winch is a pretty simple piece of equipment with very few working parts which should provide me with a reliable tool to handle the ground tackle. As you can tell, this is a used winch, but given the simple nature of the beast, it will not take much to go through it. Once I'm done with the wood working, I'll do a re build on this winch.

The valving on this winch lets me power down, free spool, and power up. The line pull on the unit is 1500 lbs, which is adequate to handle my ground tackle.

I like the commercial, fish boat look of this winch, and I think it will look sharp on pulpit of my trawler. The winch is on the fence in terms of being just large enough for our boat. I spoke with the manufacturer, and they felt as if it would do the job. The line pull on the next two larger size models is the same, but the thickness of the metal base is more on the larger units, along with being able to handle more rode. This unit is cast aluminum, and the base plate ( the area where the winch bolts to my deck) thickness is 3/4". The manufacturer was concerned that a boat of my displacement might risk cracking the base plate if I were to get caught in a strong blow. He suggested that I use rope vs wire rope, and snub the anchor rode to a bit. The winch can handle 275' of 5/8" rope along with 40' of 3/8 chain leaving a 1" gap below the housing. I like to use a 5:1 scope when anchoring, and the amount of rode is at my minimum comfort level. I've never anchored in more than 40' of water, but you never know.

It's nice to be able to check another item off the list.