What Windlass?

[rickryder]

So am thinking of putting a windlass on my 21' Four Winns bow rider.... Would you think a 500 watt will work ? the specs...

Motor power	500 W
Motor supply voltage	12 V	24 V
Maximum pull	660 Kg | 1455 lb
Maximum working load	200 Kg 441 lb	220 Kg 485 lb
Working load	65 Kg 143 lb	70 Kg 154 lb
Current absorbtion @ working load (1)	80 A	40 A
Maximum chain speed (2)	25,2 m/min 82,7 ft/min	25,2 m/min 82,7 ft/min
Maximum chain speed @ working load(2)	18,5 m/min 59,7 ft/min	19,3 m/min 63,3 ft/min
Weight - DP1 - [without drum]	7,4 Kg | 16.3 lb
Weight - DP1 D - [with drum]	8,8 Kg | 19,4 lb

 

[JoLin]

According to Quick's specs, the 500W is recommended for up to 30'. The 300w would probably work well with your boat. It's a bowrider, which means it's relatively light for its length (as opposed to a cuddy, for instance). The 500w should have no issues at all on your boat as long as you've capacitized the electrical installation to support the current draw.

Question- given that it's a bowrider, where is the anchor rode going to 'drop' inside the hull? Windlasses rely n gravity- you need a certain amount of free-fall space in the anchor locker so the rode can fall and pull itself down. A shallow locker will cause you nothing but grief by continually causing the rode to jam up in the gipsy. Have you looked at the difference between a windlass and a winch? The latter might be better suited to your size boat.

My .02

 

[rickryder]

Thanks JoLin I do have a fair amount of room at the bow of the boat... an estimate from the top of the cap to the hull about 30".... I need to confirm this... Do you think that would be enough? On the side of the winch.....most I see only store 100' of line to the anchor. with a 7 to 1 ratio that gives me 14' of water... I do fish in the ocean most of the time..

 

[JoLin]

30" is plenty. Manufacturers recommend a minimum of 12+ inches. You'll start running into issues if the locker area doesn't have enough volume, though- the rode will fill it quickly and your free-fall depth will disappear.

How much rode do you carry now, and how much 'headroom' is left in the storage area when you feed it all in there (don't pack it in, let it 'fall' into the space the way it would coming out of the windlass)? It may seem like I'm nitpicking, but a windlass install is unusual in a boat the size of yours, the reason being that there generally isn't enough room/depth in the anchor locker to support it. They're expensive, too. I'd hate to see you spend all that dough and cut up the boat just to find out that it doesn't work very well.

I replaced mine with a brand-new 'GOOD' rope/chain windlass last spring. It came with 200' of 1/2" rope and 20' of chain. That was too much rope. It filled the locker too quickly and the windlass would jam up. I took off 20' and things improved a bit. I'm going to take off another 20' before I launch in the spring.

 

[rickryder]

Right now I have 200' of 1/2''rode and the area its stored in the bow is maybe 1/2 full if that. Sounds like it may work....I'm looking at a used unit for around $200. so the price tags not too bad

 

[JoLin]

Measure a bunch of times, cut once :joyous:

Good luck!

 

[rickryder]

I'm a union carpenter in NYC so I know that drill LOL Thanks again for the input!

 

[Grandad]

Hi Rick. Out of curiosity, I looked at the electrical specs you posted and something caught my eye. Either the unit is very wasteful of energy or something's wrong with the numbers. At 500 watts and a theoretic 12 volts, the current should be about 500W / 12V = 42 amps. Under load, depending upon the wire gauge, the dividing voltage figure will drop somewhat, but I suspect that the 80 amps they've listed is a little high. - Grandad

 

[rickryder]

Thank you sir I will check into that....might be a typo

 

[JoLin]

Hi Rick. Out of curiosity, I looked at the electrical specs you posted and something caught my eye. Either the unit is very wasteful of energy or something's wrong with the numbers. At 500 watts and a theoretic 12 volts, the current should be about 500W / 12V = 42 amps. Under load, depending upon the wire gauge, the dividing voltage figure will drop somewhat, but I suspect that the 80 amps they've listed is a little high. - Grandad

Good catch. I was actually looking for the current (amperage) draw on that windlass and missed that line. 80A does seem out of line. My GOOD windlass came with 2 solenoids (up/down) with a 40A auto-reset breaker for each, as well as a 60A, manual reset 'master' breaker for the assembly. I think it's a typo, too.

 

[alldodge]

I think the 80amps is correct when looking at it as absobtion rate, It will take all most 80 amps applied to the motor to produce 500watts of power. There is loss through the gearing and over coming friction brake.

As for the windless, if your going to use a vertical type, you need a lot of room below deck for the motor and gearing. If your using a horizontal winless and it's all mounted above deck, then you may have the room. Will also need 8 inch minimum under the below deck motor to top of rode for vertical type.

 

[rickryder]

I am looking at this quick...


I was looking at the bow of the boat and the bow triangle is 24" tip of bow to the drop off for the front seat... I have 28" of depth in the area the rode and chain will fall to store in the bow of the boat...only thing I see that might cause a snag is the 2 ends of the bow hook inside the area....I will just make a cover for that and nothing should get tangled up....or so I hope lol

 

[alldodge]

How will the anchor roller guide be mounted?

 

[rickryder]

I was thinking this would be the closest to what I am trying to achieve...... of course I will back up the bolts through the glass cap with some aluminum flat stock plate below

 

[alldodge]

After further review I would suggest a smaller windless. IMO even with the aluminum flat stock below, I do not believe the bow area will be firm enough to support the load. Also I would suggest a bridle if the weather starts getting rough.

You know your boat way better then I, and this is just my opinion

 

[rickryder]

I appreciate all feedback AllDodge :encouragement: