Windlass for a 23’

[Glashawk]

Apella/Bill/Mike,
when I first anchored Kaulquappe I was a bit surprised to see it only had 13ft of 3/8 chain and 140ft 5/8 rode. I didn’t sleep at all that night and had an anchor drag alarm set on gps. I now have 80ft of chain on same rode. The setting of the hook is so much easier and I keep my rode mostly dry when possible as I shoot for anchoring in depths of 20. I don’t yet have the several hundred foot shore tie line but have seen many use it in the San Juan’s, places like Jones require it if you want to squeeze in the outer flanks of the north harbor. I’ve been carrying a spare stern tie danforth (20ft 1/4” chain plus 150’ rode) and it has kept me snugged up in some really great spots over the last couple years. Highly recommend one or carrying the stern tie. Erik would be great to see a photo of your stern mount reel on the ladder.

[Appella]

Mike, I agree, everything I have read is if you have the capacity for more chain, you won’t regret it. My windlass on the 28’ struggles with the rope/chain transition, so if I can avoid that most of the times I anchor, yay for me.
Another option, if the 100’ of stainless chain is too much for my 23’, I can swap it with the 50’ on my 28’. Plenty of extra room in that locker.

[Appella]

Brian, I will look for a picture of the stern tie reel.
Basically, it’s just a plastic rope spool, with a handle bolted to it for reeling. Originally it was on a dowel, gear tied to the tops of the ladder rail.
Now I use a pole holder, middle stanchion on the stern rail pointed vertical. Dowel sets in the pole holder, and you crank from the top. I had to put a pin and washer to keep the spool off the railing.
spool mounts where the umbrella is in the pic.
I used a floating poly line, same stuff as ski rope, but I’m not sure of the diameter. Super light and floats for easy retrieval.

Several people in our yacht club use garden hose or electrical cord reels for their stern tie. One guy has a hawse pipe cut into the transom, and a spool in the bilge that is electric!

[Bill V]

Lake Powell it is suggested you should have 300’ of rode when exploring and camping, shore tie is used on Powell as well.

On my 28’, when I travel north, I carry 500 feet of 1/2” floating line, mounted on a crank spool that clips into the stern ladder rails. Retrieval takes me seconds vs minutes.

I probably won’t carry the 3 strand as a stern tie, it was a thought as what to do with the non returnable line. You interested? I bet you have the extra room on joint Venture. 😉

Lived in Page, AZ when it was truly a tourist town in 1979-1985 and at that time Lake Powell was full of water and 200 House Boats available for rent. I owned a half share of a 32' house boat and enjoyed my time in Page. Was a boaters paradise at that time. Stopped by a couple years ago and now all but abandoned, looked pretty depressing. Water level down 30-35' and rocks surfaced everywhere.. Hard place to boat into if the marinas are closed. Tough place to anchor back then, usually ran bow up on beach and shore tied port and starboard sides of stern to the beach.

I now carry 600' of 3/8" floating poly line on a reel I clamp onto my upper helm hand rail above my locker on port side. Only carry it for trips up north. In the San Juans I use a stern anchor because there are too many morons that seem to like running across shore ties and pissing me off when they get all tangled up.

On edit: Was curious about the G4 chain strength. Seems ACCO Grade 43 (G4) 1/4" Chain is 2600# while ACCO BBB (3B) 1/4" Chain is 1300#. I bought my chain and rode from Defender Marine and now looking at replacing the BBB with G4 and go with 100'. Suncor Stainless Steel Grade S4 1/4" Chain strength is 2000#. I will need to find out if I can swap gypsy on my windlass.

I use this presently to secure chain when anchoring in shallow depths and securing it for travel.
https://www.defender.com/product3.js...6136&id=934473

Just realized I don't have the Lewmar Pro Fish model but the Lewmar Pro-Series 700H model and I think mine may already have a dual gypsy. Will check it tomorrow.

[theremikegoes]

Thanks for the tip on the stern anchor Brian. Your setup is what I’ve been calling my spare. However stowed in the anchor locker isn’t convenient to deploy for stern tie though so maybe I’ll put it in a bucket.

[Appella]

Almost finished with the windlass project.
I had to go with an 18lb anchor, the 22lb would force me to mount the roller bracket farther out, as to not have the tip of the anchor hit the bow.
I don’t feel comfortable with those anchor rollers sticking out more than half way.
I ordered a bollard cleat just like the one on Appella, it’s just not here yet. That will go between the windlass and anchor.
Rode and chain fit nicely, with room for more.

Seems to update the look of the boat, but most importantly, I am not risking my bacon tripping out on deck to deploy or retrieve the anchor.

[Bill V]

Nice looking work Erik, I like the looks of it all. How hard was it to get all the wiring run?

[Appella]

Thanks Bill!
Wiring was easy, I put a 50 amp breaker near the starting battery, ran #4 wires to the contactor, mounted behind the DOT heater.
I will have a dash switch, and a wireless controller for remote operation.
These smaller boats are much easier to run wires than our 28's.

I am going to order a battery shutoff switch to mount near the dash so I can cut power to the windlass when not in use.

Also, I'm thinking on hanging a small bucket under the old chain pipe, so I can keep 75' or so of line to attach a tracer ball to the anchor. I do this on Appella, and it makes it nice to know where your anchor is on the bottom, also, if stuck you can pull it backwards.

[noluck]

is there a cleat to tie off the anchor?

[Appella]

is there a cleat to tie off the anchor?

Yep, European Bollard style, mounted port to starboard. just like the one on Appella.
On order, hopefully this week.

[bass_sears]

Stating the obvious here, but don't forget a reasonable length snubber and system to connect to that chain for when you're on chain only, don't ever want to be hanging on the windlass just using it to raise and lower. -- Bass

[Appella]

Stating the obvious here, but don't forget a reasonable length snubber and system to connect to that chain for when you're on chain only, don't ever want to be hanging on the windlass just using it to raise and lower. -- Bass

Yes! Thank you. I am going to purchase a harness from Mantus. That seems to be the only drawback running long chain.

[bass_sears]

Yes! Thank you. I am going to purchase a harness from Mantus. That seems to be the only drawback running long chain.

On our sailboat we went with 100' of chain and in the end I'm rarely on the chain/snubber anyway. I like to sleep at night, so I like to have at least 5:1 scope, with a good tidal range in PNW waters (and 5' draft) that means I'm rarely setting up for being in less than 20' (at high tide) of water anyway, so a lot of time it's quite convenient to just rest the brain as far as the math and run out the 100' of chain and then 10' of rode and there's my snubbing setup and everything.

Don't forget some good chafe protection for the rode too... if you can find some old fire hose that works great.

-- Bass

[Appella]

Yes, great Idea, looking at the harness systems, they seem too large for a small boat.
Weigh 2 Go has one on his 28, he says it seems too large for his boat as well.
I think I’ll keep it simple stupid.

[theremikegoes]

If you still have that extra three strand you can make your own snubber? I used some old 3 strand and bought just the chain hook and made my own. I spliced two ropes to this and spliced eyes in the ends. I think I made them 15 or 20', but hindsight would have just done 8-10'. Would still be plenty of give for our uses.
https://www.defender.com/product.jsp?id=2843069

edit: how do you like the tracer ball on the anchor? do you just tie off the extra line depending depth?

some what related note- we have a similar setup for tying to buoys: a pair of ropes spliced to one of these, makes us look like we know what we're doing! I have even solo tied off to a bouy using this in calm weather/slack tide. Just screw the clip into a chopped off paint roller(for the threaded plastic piece-same threads), and put it on the end of your boat hook.
https://www.suncorstainless.com/mooring-hook-kit