Electric Anchor winching ? how to operate ?

[Big Pete]

Hi My 200 Cuddy that fingers crossed i get next week has one of them power winched Anchors that sit at the front.

Now how do you use them ?

Do you just release anchor and unwind 5 times water depth , and then use the power winch to pull all the line back and the boat back and sit back and watch ?

or do you drop anchor drift 5 times depth , when time to recover use slow forward with the winch to recover ?

I have not got a clue so whats the routine ?

 

[Fireman431]

Re: Electric Anchor winching ? how to operate ?

It all depends on what type of windless the boat is equipped with. There are free fall winches and power driven winches. If it's a free fall winch, just hitting the switch should release the lock and the anchor/pulley will free spool to the bottom. If it is a free fall windless, don't reverse the switch while the line is still falling. this will cause the gears inside to unscrew themselves from the shaft, rendering your windless useless.

Where you drop anchor/deploy the rode depends on your enviroment. Still waters with minimal wind really doesn't require a scope of 5:1. Determine where your anchoring, the conditions, tides, and other vessels in the immediate area. This should help you decide how much line to play out. I have always found that idling beyond my choice of spot, dropping the hook, and allowing the vessel to drift back works very well.

When hauling the anchor, there are a couple different ways to do it.

1) Bump the engine into gear, allowing the vessel to move forward up to the slack anchor line. back to neutral. Haul up any slack. Bump back into gear for a few seconds. Haul up slack. Once the anchor rode in tight and directly under the boat, activate the windlass again to see if it pulls up freely from the bottom.

2) Use an anchor ball if you are in deep water. A windless is made to pull anchore rode and chain with minimal tension. Dragging up 100' of chain and anchor makes tham unhappy. Read online on using an anchor ball. It's very easy.

Note: When anchoring with a windless, there should always be a bow cleat or relief hook somewhere close. Tie off to the cleat and release the tension on the windlass. They're not meant to be used as an anchoring point. The clutches/gears inside will strip.

 

[Big Pete]

Re: Electric Anchor winching ? how to operate ?

It all depends on what type of windless the boat is equipped with. There are free fall winches and power driven winches. If it's a free fall winch, just hitting the switch should release the lock and the anchor/pulley will free spool to the bottom. If it is a free fall windless, don't reverse the switch while the line is still falling. this will cause the gears inside to unscrew themselves from the shaft, rendering your windless useless.

Where you drop anchor/deploy the rode depends on your enviroment. Still waters with minimal wind really doesn't require a scope of 5:1. Determine where your anchoring, the conditions, tides, and other vessels in the immediate area. This should help you decide how much line to play out. I have always found that idling beyond my choice of spot, dropping the hook, and allowing the vessel to drift back works very well.

When hauling the anchor, there are a couple different ways to do it.

1) Bump the engine into gear, allowing the vessel to move forward up to the slack anchor line. back to neutral. Haul up any slack. Bump back into gear for a few seconds. Haul up slack. Once the anchor rode in tight and directly under the boat, activate the windlass again to see if it pulls up freely from the bottom.

2) Use an anchor ball if you are in deep water. A windless is made to pull anchore rode and chain with minimal tension. Dragging up 100' of chain and anchor makes tham unhappy. Read online on using an anchor ball. It's very easy.

Note: When anchoring with a windless, there should always be a bow cleat or relief hook somewhere close. Tie off to the cleat and release the tension on the windlass. They're not meant to be used as an anchoring point. The clutches/gears inside will strip.

Ok i appreciate your reply..

Surely if you still have to clamber on the deck and tie it off seems somewhat to defeat the object ?

Its all sea work i do , tidal obviously ..

Its a full winding type its a pretty big unit ,not a small thing ,looks quite a chunky unit .

 

[26aftcab454]

Re: Electric Anchor winching ? how to operate ?

It all depends on what type of windless the boat is equipped with. There are free fall winches and power driven winches. If it's a free fall winch, just hitting the switch should release the lock and the anchor/pulley will free spool to the bottom. If it is a free fall windless, don't reverse the switch while the line is still falling. this will cause the gears inside to unscrew themselves from the shaft, rendering your windless useless.

Where you drop anchor/deploy the rode depends on your enviroment. Still waters with minimal wind really doesn't require a scope of 5:1. Determine where your anchoring, the conditions, tides, and other vessels in the immediate area. This should help you decide how much line to play out. I have always found that idling beyond my choice of spot, dropping the hook, and allowing the vessel to drift back works very well.

When hauling the anchor, there are a couple different ways to do it.

1) Bump the engine into gear, allowing the vessel to move forward up to the slack anchor line. back to neutral. Haul up any slack. Bump back into gear for a few seconds. Haul up slack. Once the anchor rode in tight and directly under the boat, activate the windlass again to see if it pulls up freely from the bottom.

2) Use an anchor ball if you are in deep water. A windless is made to pull anchore rode and chain with minimal tension. Dragging up 100' of chain and anchor makes tham unhappy. Read online on using an anchor ball. It's very easy.

Note: When anchoring with a windless, there should always be a bow cleat or relief hook somewhere close. Tie off to the cleat and release the tension on the windlass. They're not meant to be used as an anchoring point. The clutches/gears inside will strip.

Mine is power down & up- -I do all of the above^^^ but have never tied off to a cleat-my owners manual does not say any thing about it.

 

[commander315]

Re: Electric Anchor winching ? how to operate ?

most windlass either have a power deploy method or a free spool drop method (Yes, since otherwise, you would end up on the bow anyway, which defeats the purpose) Mine, I just hit a switch from the bridge and release the anchor. It drops while telling me how much line is being let out .When Im almost to the length I wanna be, I bump the boat in reverse and lock the windlass again. When your done, you should be able to just crank it right up

 

[Bob's Garage]

Re: Electric Anchor winching ? how to operate ?

I agree with everything posted above except the part about not being able to pull 100' of rode.

No point in having a winch if it wont pull 100' or more. That's the whole reason for the winch. And very few boats actually use the anchor ball method as there is a limit on storage available.

If the winch can't pull the distance, then it is either too small, or the wiring/installation is incorrect. They require a lot of current as they work hard.

I had one on one of they boats I owned, didn't like it at 1st, until I got use to it. Now that my present boat doesn't have one, I miss it. Makes it much easier for 1 person to operate a lg. boat single handed.

One thing though, it does put a strain on the winch to have it pull the boat when raising the anchor, so use the "bump" method as previously described. Just don't over run your rode as it could get in your running gear.

Once you are over your anchor, start lifting, but if it is fouled, and that will become obvious quickly, do not try to force the anchor free by using the winch.

If it is really and truly fouled, you could do all kinds of interesting damage to your bow area, from breaking the pulpit (as happened to me) to damaging the bow/deck attachment area.

Try circling the anchor, pulling from different directions. Use care and your head to figure out what to do, more force is not a good choice.

Also look into the emergency release system, there are a couple, that will release the chain from the front attachment point, to the head of the anchor, and enables it to be pulled out backwards.

One last thing, the "retrieve ball" method does reduce the effort required to pull an anchor, and is a good idea for really long retrieves.

 

[Fireman431]

Re: Electric Anchor winching ? how to operate ?

Maybe I should have been a little more clear. My bad.

I didn't mean that retreiving 100' of anchor rode is bad on a windless, I meant that there are people who play out an excessive amount of line while anchored. Their boat may be held bow into the wind AND in a head current and they will allow the windless to pull the boat against the current and wind to retrieve the anchor without any assistance from the engines. This is what they don't like. I wouldn't buy a windless if it couldn't haul back my line.

I would routinely drop 200+ feet of line, but using the mention "bump" technique (or anchor ball), retreiving the line was no hassel at all.