Anchor Winch

Wood working continues in other parts of the boat, but I thought Id blog a bit about the anchor winch.

Id always intended on using a chain windlass to handle my anchor, but this used winch was available, so I made the switch to a deck winch. This type of winch is a pretty simple piece of equipment with very few working parts which should provide me with a reliable tool to handle the ground tackle. As you can tell, this is a used winch, but given the simple nature of the beast, it will not take much to go through it. Once Im done with the wood working, Ill do a re build on this winch.

The valving on this winch lets me power down, free spool, and power up. The line pull on the unit is 1500 lbs, which is adequate to handle my ground tackle.

I like the commercial, fish boat look of this winch, and I think it will look sharp on pulpit of my trawler. The winch is on the fence in terms of being just large enough for our boat. I spoke with the manufacturer, and they felt as if it would do the job. The line pull on the next two larger size models is the same, but the thickness of the metal base is more on the larger units, along with being able to handle more rode. This unit is cast aluminum, and the base plate ( the area where the winch bolts to my deck) thickness is 3/4". The manufacturer was concerned that a boat of my displacement might risk cracking the base plate if I were to get caught in a strong blow. He suggested that I use rope vs wire rope, and snub the anchor rode to a bit. The winch can handle 275 of 5/8" rope along with 40 of 3/8 chain leaving a 1" gap below the housing. I like to use a 5:1 scope when anchoring, and the amount of rode is at my minimum comfort level. Ive never anchored in more than 40 of water, but you never know.

Its nice to be able to check another item off the list.

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Anchor roller

From the start of the boat build, I had intended on handling the anchor with a vertical windlass. Specifically, chain on one side of the windlass, and rope on the other side. For that purpose, I fabricated two anchor rollers welded to my pulpit. After that fact, I came across a good deal on a commercial deck winch which caused me a basic change in how the anchors would be retrieved. I want to center the winch on the pulpit which meant the off centered rollers for the windlass possibly could be less than ideal for how the winch was going to work.

Because I had enough room between the two existing anchor rollers, I decide to cut in a third anchor roller more in line with the position of the new anchor winch. My reasons for centering the anchor roller was to allow the rode ( either rope or galvanized cable) to be square with the winch drum. Im not familiar with how a winch will work, but it seemed to me that having the rode square with the drum was a good thing. I also did not want to scrap the windlass purpose rollers I had fabricated in case I wanted to go back to the hydraulic windlass set up. The new center anchor roller is more self launching than the first two I fabricated so that is one plus I got out of this little bit of re work I just finished.

I used 1/4" 316 SS plate to fabricate the new roller frame. The frame is pretty robust as it is not a stand alone deal, rather it is welded in to the pulpit so its supported and reinforced by the pulpit. I added some 1/2" round stock to the area where the anchor flukes will jamb against the roller frame. The actual roller is a composite material turning on a 1/2" SS pin, and is tucked up out of harms way in the frame. I plan on snubbing off the anchor to bits, so these rollers, while fairly stout, will not be taking the loads of anchoring.

I had a large Danforth type anchor in the shop, and that is actually going to be one of my back up anchors. I used the Danforth for a test run on how the geometry of the rollers worked, and I was pleased on how the anchor landed in the roller frame. I will need to add some SS round stock to the under side of the two side roller frames as the center anchor is going to beat these up as it is locked home. Its hard to tell scale from these pictures, but that Danforth is a pretty large anchor. Id guess the weight of the anchor at 60 lbs with the overall length of the being more than 3. My buddy Andy Moran gave me the anchor as a boat warming present.

Ive had good luck using Danforths to anchor in the river, and I intend on having two aboard. I think my primary anchor is going to be a Manson, and that will reside in the center roller. The large Danforth will reside in the starboard roller, and the port roller will be empty. I will also have an aft anchor which will be another Danforth.

I getting a little tired of re work, but I do think Im at the end of having to fix changes of design. Re doing this part of the pulpit was not a huge job, but it was a pain. All the metal work is completed on the fore deck, and I can now proceed with getting that area prepped for paint. I have to do some body work on some seams, and a little bit of fairing, but not a huge amount of work. I have decide to paint my 1 1/2" SS rails I welded to the bulwark cap vs polishing them, so that will require a little bit of sand blasting. Polishing the SS pipe rails would probably work for life on the Ohio River, but since I intend on ocean cruising, I fear my polishing skills will leave my rails rusting in the salt water environment.

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