Not sure why we're finally adding a windlass. Maybe it was spraining my back clam digging in the Broken Islands? Whatever, we just installed a windlass (Lewmar V1) with the help of a marine electrician. He recommended I use my secondary battery bank which I only use when at anchor. This bank is located under the sink in the head. This is my older battery bank so I always run my engine when using the windlass, as it gets a nice trickle charge/amp boost from the alternator.
All I had to do was run 50' of #4 awg back and forth to my windlass. Both banks contain 2-80Ahr deep cells I purchased from Costco/Interstate. I charge my secondary battery bank with 2-120 watt solar cells and a separate charge controller when on shore power.
The windlass draws 80 amps, so it's best to run the engine and send a few extra amps to the backup battery bank which then provides plenty of power.
We also installed foot switches on the bow. Last piece was to run 14/3 wire to high up inside the companionway where I installed a helm switch. This way I can run the windlass solo from the cockpit for a quick drop in a crowded harbor.
I spray painted the chain at 30 foot intervals all the way up to 120ft. This wears off every year and requires repainting.
The anchor roller was destroyed in 2019 in a anchoring mishap in Deer Harbor when I hooked a derelict vessel. Long story but I'm happy and far better off with the repairs which included a new anchor roller, 1/2" stainless plate under the roller and headstay, navigation lights and pulpit.
We now have three sets of ground tackle in the anchor locker. The primary tackle now has 150ft of 5/16in G4 chain and 200ft spliced to 5/8" 3-strand rope with a 35# Delta anchor.
I can't overstate that the chain and windlass has required a completely different anchoring technique. It's taken me a fair bit of time to master. The main difference is the time it takes to drop the anchor. Mine drops about a foot per second. So if you're in 20 feet off water, that's 80 seconds to drop to a 4:1. I finally learned that I need patience, so adopted this technique.
I didn't like the original rode system, which came with 60 feet of chain spliced to 200 feet of nylon rode. The splice would continually get hung up no matter what I tried, and pushing the splice down the gypsy even with gloved hands was a recipe for disaster. After a couple less than pleasant experiences, I replaced the chain with a longer 150 ft length. I've not had to drop more that that (yet) so I'm happy now.
Previous to the windlass, I used 10 feet of chain and 3 strand anchor rode running through a hawsepipe. This in addition to a kellet which is incredibly effective and entails running a 20# lead ball on a line down the rope to the chain. This really holds the chain to the bottom and severely limits swinging in tight anchorages. Worked great for 20 years... but now I'm lazy! Other benefits of the short chain/kellet approach:
- They can contain and minimize swing radii in light conditions
- They can help dampen "sailing" at anchor
- They can keep a boat stationary when using bow and stern anchors
- They can help ensure that rode is kept down and away from the boat’s keel, rudder, and propeller.
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