What does a wife and an anchor windlass have in common? Read on to find out…*
There are many boating locations where boaters hardly every anchor. They go out and cruise around or sail all day and never ever let down the boat anchor. For these people, the boat takes you out and right back to the dock when you’re done. However, there are many locations that require anchoring often. One good example is the Caribbean. Boaters will almost always leave the marina, arrive at one of many cays and anchor there. At the end of the day, anchors come out and you head back to the marina. For these people, and others that use their anchors often there are two ways of going about it… You either lower and hoist it by hand, or you have a machine do it for you. The wives vote… MACHINE!
Frankly, on smaller boats 20 feet and under it’s not so bad to go about it by hand. That is, until your anchor gets really lodged. On boats 25 feet and up it’s a whole other story. By the time you are at 35 feet, well, it becomes almost impossible to yank that anchor out by hand. Needless to say, your wife is likely going to kick you in the ass real hard if you even consider asking her to give it a try. For these situations, gentlemen, we use an electric anchor windlass! Let that sucker do the work for you (and your wife!)
Leave the winch for the trailer and the Jeep and the other stupid land-going vehicles.
An anchor windlass is oftentimes referred to as an anchor winch. But no, it’s a windlass, not a winch. Leave the winch for the trailer and the Jeep and the other stupid land-going vehicles. You’re a sailor or a boater… so it’s windlass. In fact, if you want to be even more technical so all your sailing buddies can see how awesome of a sailor you are, here’s a nice bit for you: A true windlass is in fact horizontal in nature where the vertical ones are really called capstans. The angle we’re referring to is the angle of the gypsy (the drum) where the line wraps around. Basically, the drum either points up vertically or sits horizontally across the machine. We are specifically using electric windlasses as an example because they are very common. However, you can get the wonderful little machines with hydraulic power and also good ol’ elbow-grease-powered. In fact, it’s good to have a windlass that allows for manual operation just in case you ever anchor somewhere that’s 1,000 feet deep and your battery runs out before the anchor is halfway up! Tip: Run the engine while you operate the windlass so you can replenish power to the batteries as the windlass does its job.
How it works…
Windlass installation is done forward of the vessel, on the upper deck, usually right behind the bow roller. A hole (chain pipe) in the deck allows for the rope or chain to be fed into the boat as the windlass pulls it in. Some windlasses, typically the vertical capstan types, have some of the machinery below deck and the top exposed. The horizontal ones tend to be completely on top. The drum of most windlasses is better suited to pull chain, but most also fit rope quite well. Some have a section of the drum specific for chain with a separate smooth section that can be used to winch rope if needed. If you use more rope than chain for your anchor line, you will have to babysit the system quite a bit. Given the low weight of rope, it tends not to stow very well on its own as the windlass pulls down below. This often results in knots and tangles below deck that impede the lowering of the anchor when you urgently need it again – so be careful! The windlass pulls on the anchoring line that passes through the bow roller. When the anchor is all the way up it usually sits nicely on the bow roller and is secured by the tension of the chain that goes into the windlass. It’s a good idea to take the extra time to walk up to the bow and attach a tether or locking hook to the chain just in case the line ever accidentally releases from the windlass while underway. It is not too uncommon for a line to come loose from the windlass and have the anchor fall into the water and straight into the propellers. Yes, it happens, you’ve been warned.
By now you’ve probably figured out how to keep the wife happy with a windlass. If not, we’ll draw you a simple picture with words:
The day at your favorite anchoring spot is winding to an end. The family on the boat is getting ready to get underway by packing the food, stowing the toys and securing lines. You fire up the engine(s) and after a few minutes of warm up, you are ready to get going. Now here comes the good part… Instead of saying, “Honey, can you please go forward and pull out the anchor?” You can say, “Hey honey, you’re looking really good lounging back there babe.” All the while you pull up the anchor with that little button in the control panel. Neither of you break a sweat!
*Ladies, we are joking. We understand that many of you are hard workers and love to do everything the men do on boats. We salute you! Please don’t hate us for making a joke out of the cliché! Have a it! 😉
