Choosing A Windlass

[Gerry Zagorski]

I'm certainly no expert on this but have done a fair amount research on windlasses recently and thought I would share it here.

First of all your windlass must be the correct size for your boat. Most manufacturers make this easy by suggesting models based on boat length. The other way to size up the correct model is by the weight of your ground tackle to include anchor, rode and chain. If you do a lot of anchoring and or anchor in deeper water regularly, its a good general rule of thumb to go the next size up since they have larger motors which will not strain as much and you'll typically get a faster retrieve.

Next thing to consider is the size and depth of your anchor locker. This is important for 2 reasons. You need to be able to store the amount of line and chain you need and in order for the windless to work correctly, you need a minimum of generally 12 to 18 inches of drop or depth, otherwise the line will back up and jam up when you are retrieving your anchor.

There are several styles of windlasses, the 2 most popular are horizontal or vertical mounts. Horizontal mounts are more flush to the deck since the motor is below deck they do however require an 18 inch drop. Vertical mounts sit higher on the deck since the motor is above deck and require a 12 inch drop. So, depending on the size of your anchor locker/ amount of drop, will lead you to which one is best suited for your boat.

Its important to note that drop is measured with the anchor locker loaded with chain and rode, not empty. So, you need to determine how much chain and rode you need and how much space is left between the pile of rode and your deck to make sure you have enough drop. If you don't have enough drop you are bound to have issues and if you have to run up on the deck to clear jams all the time, you are going to be frustrated and are defeating the purpose of the windlass.

One other thing you need to do to make sure your windlass operates trouble free is to make sure you use the specific type and size of chain and line that is reccomended with your particular windlass. If not, you might be prone to jamming. Point in case, I know someone who got a deal on eBay on some 1/2 inch line. His windlass was constantly jamming until he switched to the line reccomended by the manufacturer.

Most windlasses have similar features and a popular feature for fishermen is free fall. It allows to you to deploy your anchor much faster since it totally disinguages the gear/motor and allows the weight of the anchor to free fall. Non free fall models requires you to push your down button and allow the motor/gears to pay out line, which is much slower.

Lots of different brands out there. Lewmar seems to be the price brand while Good and others tend to be more pricey.

If you have any experiences with the different brands and how they perform or can add any info here, please do.