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Can a windlass work with a shallow anchor locker?

6K views 18 replies 11 participants last post by  Brent Swain 
#1 ·
I don't mind hard work, I'm in decent shape for an old man, and I rarely curse the anchor as I haul it up. But, occasionally, it occurs to me that it'd be nice to have a windlass.

The anchor locker on my Bristol 29.9 is fairly shallow and wide. Seems a windlass would be happier with a deep locker. so that the chain could pile up. In my locker if it piled up the locker door would not close.

I imagine I could modify the locker to have a deep section up at the bow, but failing that is a windlass simply not practical on my boat.
 
#2 ·
On our CR 34 we have both a deep and shallow anchor well. We prefer the shallow one as all the debris is collected and is easier clean. Where as the deeper well will accumulate debris and result in eventual oder. Side note..our on-deck shallow anchor well is just deep enough when plugged to be used as a bath tub :)
 
#3 ·
The chain should have one foot of free fall for the windlass to work properly. As the chsin piles up it will get stuck. You can use your foot or hands to change the position of the piled chain to keep the free falling to one foot. Otherwise increase the depth of the locker.
 
#4 ·
Here is an idea I have seen before. Make a hause pipe or hole under the windless where the chain drops into the bilge at the front of your boat instead of the anchor locker. Plenty of fall that way.
 
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#5 ·
My drop from the hawse pipe for my windlass is about 1 foot. I thought about going to all chain, but for the Northeast, that isn't necessary and would be problemmatic with my windlass installation. So, we went with 30' of chain spliced to plaited braid as a compromise.

My windlass switches are mounted next to the opening to the anchor locker on deck, which allows me to tend the anchor chain as it falls. Invariably, I need to knock the chain pile down as it piles up, but that is not a problem. The plaited braid pretty much behaves itself, but needs to be watched in case there is a backup into the windlass that would cause a jam.

The windlass came with a remote switch, but that will never be installed. With the short anchor locker drop you absolutely need to tend things when you are retrieving your anchor. Even when deploying your anchor, you might still have an occasional snag, so we just babysit the anchor deployment/retrieval business. It really isn't any big deal as you need to be up there anyway to cleat/uncleat the anchor rode and deal with any weed that comes up on retrieval.

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#6 ·
Good ideas above.

However, if you drop a hawse pipe into the bilge and that's not accessible from above, you could have trouble clearing a jam. From time to time, the chain will castle and fall over on itself, preventing deployment the next time. Easy fix, if you can reach it.

While a bit dangerous, you can always use the windlass to haul the chain, but flake it in the shallow locker as it comes off the backside, like you would if you were doing it all manually. Just be very sure you can keep your fingers clear!
 
#7 ·
Good ideas above.

However, if you drop a hawse pipe into the bilge and that's not accessible from above, you could have trouble clearing a jam. From time to time, the chain will castle and fall over on itself, preventing deployment the next time. Easy fix, if you can reach it.

!
I guess that would always be a risk when chain goes through a hawse pipe down under the deck.
 
#11 ·
Any cone shape in the bottom of the locker will stop the chain from piling up in a cone shape. Put a traffic cone in your locker pointy end up, point directly under the hawse pipe . If the chain tends to flatten the cone ,beef it up with fibreglass inside the cone.
 
#13 ·
Knock the chain pile down every 25 feet or so and you won't end up getting "short chained" the next time you deploy your anchor.
 
#15 ·
A cone eliminates the need to flake or knock anything down, as it flakes itself. It's that simple. Other options are impossible to do when dragging anchor onto a lee shore, while single handing.
The space taken up by a cone is far less than the remaining unused space around a conic pile of s chain.
 
#14 ·
We never had a problem with 300' of 3/8" chain, but since we switched to 1/2", we must flake the chain or it will pile up and jam on retrieval. This could be a problem if we were picking up in extreme conditions where we'd need to pick up using the engine to help, but so far the extra security of the larger chain is worth it. We can pick up the last 75' feet or so if the rest is well flaked, so we should be OK.
However, the problems described above about being unable to DROP your anchor because of the chain being fouled, is one that could cost you your boat and the lives of those aboard. Your anchor MUST run out incident free, in an emergency.
I certainly wouldn't want to be anchoring without a windlass, especially in a bad situation, so I'd make every effort to figure out a system that makes a windlass installation possible, into the deepest well you can manage. I do not agree that 1' foot is sufficient for chain fall in a locker. More like three, to allow the chain to pile up without jamming, before the pile falls over, if you have no one to flake it.
 
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