Powerboating - Part Sixteen

Another month gone by already, and we still have a lot to discuss regarding anchor winches.

Much of the information about this subject was given to me by Muir Engineering of Tasmania, one of the world's major manufacturers of windlasses and anchoring systems. For anyone contemplating the purchase of a new winch, I can only recommend that you get hold of a copy of Muir's new catalogue - it's stuffed full of good, commonsense information.

WHAT SIZE?
You may remember this rhetorical question from last month's article: how do I work out what size winch to fit to my boat?

This is a difficult question to answer, as a lot depends on how a manufacturer rates winches. However, a good rule of thumb is that the combined weight of the ground tackle should not exceed the working load of the winch. Let's look at this a bit closer - and for the moment, we'll only consider an all-chain system.

Firstly, what is the weight of the ground tackle? Say the anchor is 40kg and the boat is equipped with 70m of 3/8in chain. The chain weighs approximately 150kg, so the total weight of the ground tackle is 190kg. Any winch that has a working load around this figure and fits on the foredeck comfortably would almost certainly do the job.

My advice is to fit as big as you can afford and be guided by the person representing the product range, because an undersized unit is next to useless and will probably burn out through overwork.

Installation is generally straightforward, but that doesn't mean it's always easy. An important thing to note is the fall of the chain into the anchor locker - the deeper the fall (vertical falls are best), the better the system works, particularly with chain.

Remember that last month we discovered that the minimum fall from the centreline of the gypsy to the top of the anchor rode when it's all in the locker is 300mm. Should you have an arrangement that has the chain running through a spurling pipe at an angle to reach the locker (heaven forbid!), then the maximum angle this will work at is 45°. Believe me.

FOREDECK
You must ensure the foredeck is strong enough to take the load imposed on it when the winch is recovering the chain and when the boat is at anchor.

These loads are difficult to calculate, but they can be alarmingly high, especially if the boat is anchored in a heavy swell. As an illustration, there was the case of a trawler riding out a bad blow in a poor anchorage in North Queensland for over 24 hours. When the storm finally abated and the anchor was recovered, it was found that the strain on the chain had been so severe that some of the links were stretched to a point where they no longer fitted the gypsy!

Therefore, if the foredeck is a bit weak, spread the load on the underside with a large pad of thick plywood or even stainless steel plate. If this can be tied back to a bulkhead, then so much the better.

I'm not suggesting every boat should be equipped to ride out a cyclone at anchor. What I am saying is that there will be times when the weather will turn nasty when at anchor and, for a variety of reasons, it may not be possible to move. When this happens, it's nice to know the winch won't be torn off the foredeck in the surge.

The wiring should be as heavy as possible to minimise voltage drop, as this is by far the biggest single factor in poor winch performance. If the existing cables are undersized, and sadly they often are, then there is no alternative but to run new ones - an expensive and often difficult job.

Over the years I have seen some dreadful winch wiring, and unfortunately, even experienced boatbuilders get it wrong. A cable rating chart is included here to assist in correct cable selection.

A heavy duty isolation switch should be incorporated, along with a circuit breaker of the correct rating, as this helps prevent motor destruction in the event of an overload.

Most of these items are available from the winch manufacturer, and it's always a good idea to source from them where possible, as this ensures properly designed equipment for the task.

For example, solenoids are often made with a very limited duty cycle, sometimes as low as 30sec, because they were originally intended for use in the starter motor circuit of an automobile. Therefore, when used to operate a winch, they will simply burn out because they are being asked to operate for a lot longer than the manufacturer intended.

BEWARE
Operating a winch is simple, as it's just a matter of using a switch to turn it on or off. This switch should always be springloaded, so that the instant it's released, the winch stops. This also means that the switch cannot be inadvertently knocked on.

Quite often this switch is mounted in the foredeck alongside the winch and is operated by foot. Most are completely waterproof and nowadays come with a safety cover that prevents inadvertent operation.

However, it's still good practice to fit in the line an isolator that kills power to the winch. This isolator is almost always the protective circuit breaker. It must be the manual reset type, which means if the winch is overloaded and the breaker trips, it must be reset by hand. Isolators that automatically reset themselves when they cool down could restart the winch at a dangerous time.

It's hard to believe, but I have seen winches fitted with these isolators over the years. An electric winch can be dangerous because rotational parts are uncovered, and clothing, hands, hair, etc, can all be dragged into them.

For this reason I always recommend a winch isolator that kills the power to the winch. If there are children onboard, this is a must.

It's best to operate the winch as remotely as possible, and it's here that the advantage of a reversing motor comes to the fore. When an ideal anchoring position is located, the anchor can be lowered to the seabed from the helmstation. This means the foredeck can be free of people during the operation of the winch.

If the motor isn't reversing, then the cone clutch must be released and the anchor allowed to run out. Keep well clear of all moving parts during this operation.

SELF-STOWING BOWROLLER
Over the years winch manufacturers have put a lot of thought into the business of anchoring and have designed a range of accessories to make this task easier and a lot safer. The accessory at the top of my list would be the self-stowing bowroller - mainly because I haven't got one.

As the name suggests, this piece of equipment is installed on the bow of the boat and the anchor is cradled into it. An axle is located in the centre and this allows the device to tilt forward due to the weight of the anchor. The operation is simplicity itself and permits completely remote anchoring of the boat.

On vessels that are not fortunate enough to be equipped with this device (one day I'll get one), the anchor generally sits in the bowroller and has to be assisted over the bow when it's time to drop the pick. This is because on most boats the angle of the bow tilts up, so that gravity prevents the anchor from sliding over the bow, even though the tension on the anchor chain is released.

This means that when approaching an anchorage I must leave the helm, go to the foredeck and ease some chain slack to allow me to lift the anchor free of the roller and hang it partially over the bow. The anchor is heavy, my back is old and if there is any sort of sea running, there is a fair chance of a couple of mashed fingers. Definitely a system that could be improved.

The self-stowing roller solves all this quite neatly by hinging in the centre. The anchor at all times is in position to fall over the bow and is only prevented from doing so due to the tension on the chain around the gypsy. Thus, as the winch is powered in the down position, the roller tilts forward and the anchor and chain disappear over the side, which is the object of the exercise. All this has been accomplished without leaving the helm, nobody has had to go to the foredeck and fingers and old backs are no longer in danger.

As I said, I must get around to fitting one because they aren't expensive.

CHAIN COUNTER
Another extremely useful accessory becoming more and more common is the electronic chain counter, which allows the skipper to know exactly how much chain has been let out over the side. A good rule of thumb here is three times the depth of the water, so if anchoring in 6m of water, then 20m of chain out would be about right for good conditions.

But judging that 20m isn't all that easy. I dragged all my chain out of the locker and painted a few links every 10m with different coloured paint. Thus, red was 10m, yellow 20m and so on. But this has its limitations, as the paint wears off quite quickly. Also, as the chain is rattling over the side at a fair speed, it's difficult to spot the painted links, and as a consequence, more than once I have put out the whole rode when I only wanted 15m.

A much better solution to this problem is to fit an electronic chain counter. Basically, this means fitting a small magnet to the gypsy of the winch and an inductor coil to the body. Every time the gypsy rotates, the magnet induces an electric pulse into the coil as it passes. Fitted to the helmstation is a digital readout device that counts these pulses and converts them into metres of chain and displays this figure on the screen.

Because the coil is polarised, the device can determine if the chain is being lowered over the side or recovered. So if you decide that too much chain has been let out, it's an easy matter to adjust this until the exact amount is achieved. Far better than my painted links!

Other features of this device allow you to program the amount of chain you want out and hit the button, so that when this figure is reached, the winch will stop. The same goes for retrieval. Nonetheless, I don't have enough faith in electronics to completely trust these things - nothing will substitute for visual confirmation and vigilance.

Knowing how much chain is out when at anchor is important. If too little, there is every chance that the boat will drag, which is a nuisance at best and dangerous if there is a lee shore in the offing.

The other side of the coin is too much chain out. Everything looks fine until the tide or wind changes, then as the boat shifts, particularly in a crowded anchorage, coming together with another boat is often the result. If the wind change is sudden and unexpected - as is often the case - then absolute pandemonium can result as people try to fend off other boats, recover chain, reset anchors and in general try to extricate themselves from an uncomfortable situation.

If it happens to be night time, then the confusion factor is multiplied a thousandfold. If it ever happens to you, it can make farming in Central Australia look like a pretty attractive proposition!

If things go wrong, and unfortunately they will from time to time, then good ground tackle and a good winch system will go a long way to relieving the situation. If the anchor starts to drag and there is the correct amount of chain out, then letting out more will only be a bandaid solution. Better to recover the tackle and reset in a slightly different position.

Sometimes something may have fouled the anchor (abandoned crab-pots are notorious), so it's always a good idea to pull the anchor up and have a look at it if you are dragging for no apparent reason. Sometimes the bottom is just rotten, with poor holding properties, in which case go somewhere else.

None of this is any problem if getting the anchor up and down is easy, but if it's a hassle, then often we stay and hope. This always leads to trouble.

The final accessory, and this is almost a must, is a deckwash pump. If the bottom is mud and you have been at anchor for a while, then when you recover the anchor, a good percentage of the bottom will come up with it - at times it will seem like 100%.

For those who have yet to experience this, let me tell you that the mud on the ocean's bottom differs from any mud you may have seen on land. This is weapons-grade mud! This is mud that, once released from the murky depths, will spread over your boat like a scene from the movie The Blob. It's a revolting shade of grey, will stain everything it touches and has a consistency similar to a product I'm too polite to mention.

So buy the biggest pump you can afford, one that will deliver the highest pressure possible, and plumb it into the foredeck. Really top-class installations have two small pipes directed at the chain as it comes in over the rollers, but to do a good job of cleaning the ground tackle as it comes aboard, you really need to be there yourself with a hose and spray the filthy stuff off. Yes, a good anchor wash system is an essential!

Finally, if you look after the winch, it will look after you. Use it as a chain recovery system, don't overload it and, every so often, give it a service.

On a dark night with the wind howling and your boat on a lee shore, you'll be glad you did...