simpson lawrence electric windlass manual

And although there’s plenty of truth in that statement, preventative maintenance along with a dedicated windlass battery (we couldn’t easily run big enough wire through the boat to power the new windlass, it was going to be less expensive in the long run to add the dedicated battery - of course, that added weight in the bow, which wasn’t our favorite. The skeptics said … don’t buy an electric windlass, electric stuff never functions when you really need it. And we have never regretted the decision. Anchored Kuna Yala, Panama: a typical reef surrounded anchorage in paradiseĪfter hearing yet another story about cruisers not re-anchoring because they were physically exhausted from bringing the anchor up with the manual windlass, we decided one month before we were scheduled to leave to go cruising that we should invest in an electric windlass. Luckily both times we were able to reset – once in the dark of night with sideways torrential rain – without kissing coral. The only times we have ever dragged anchor was because we had reset the anchor numerous times and finally just got frustrated and said “good enough” – when we really hadn’t backed down hard. But the consequences of NOT redoing the anchor to set well can be catastrophic. Trying to find that special patch of deep enough sand to bury the anchor can be frustrating. Anchored at Josh Caye, Guanaja, Bay Islands, HondurasĪs we get older, it’s harder and harder to think about re-anchoring over and over to get the anchor to set well in the thin sand over rock in Belize or for that matter, Isla Mujeres. Of course, ever since we added 150 feet of 5/16 high test chain, it’s been a bit more of a struggle to get the chain and 44 lb Spade anchor up than it was when we bought the boat with 30 feet of chain (maybe) connected to nylon rode and a 45 lb CQR. As we’re spending more time talking to “real” cruisers, we keep hearing stories about how important an electric windlass is and how it can save your boat.

Swim Ashore? Anchored Kuna Yala (San Blas Islands), Panamaįast forward 4 years, now we’re ready to leave to go cruising the Northwest Caribbean … Mexico’s Yucatan Coast, Belize and the Rio Dulce, Guatemala. But we were able to get it successfully welded in Canaveral. We tried to get it welded in New Bern, and although promises were made that it would be good as new when we returned the following month, we were without our windlass on the sail from New Bern to Canaveral Florida.

During our first commuter cruise in 2001 - from Annapolis MD to New Bern NC, the manual windlass developed a crack in the cast iron and we couldn’t use it. When we bought Winterlude, our 1985 Passport 37, there was a perfectly functional manual windlass on the bow.

Simpson lawrence electric windlass manual