Windlass Power

[Parfait's Provider]

Woody and I have been having a discussion about the benefits of a separate battery mounted in the forepeak to power a windlass. The sole advantage seems to be the short run of expensive cable, but in thinking about the downside for a few minutes I came up with the following which are presented in no particular order and a bit modified from my comments on the back channel to Woody:

a. The windlass battery is even more likely to be ignored, so one will be tempted to use a gel cell up forward, but if you have flooded batteries for starting and house as we do on Parfait, and that will complicate charging.

b. If the windlass battery is the same as the starting battery, then you have saved a battery. The engine is likely to be running when you operate the windlass, so that is not a big deal in terms of depleting the starting battery and the alternator can give you a major assist.

c. If you use light wires to the forepeak battery, the breaker will have to be sized to protect the wires and you won't be able to take advantage of the full capacity of the alternator and other batteries. With a discharged forepeak battery, it will be a major pain unless you can size the wires to the maximum load the windlass might provide.

I used to think that a forepeak battery made a lot of sense. After reconsideration, I think not.

Your insight and comments are most welcome.

[fenixrises]

Hi,

One thing you might consider to help reduce the cost of installation.

2/0 wire is rated for 150 amps load, this should be about the correct size for most electrical windlass or capstan use. Don't forget voltage drop in 12v DC systems is pretty high.

I just checked West Marine and an online electrical distributer.

West Marine 2/0 Anchor brand battery cable $9.50/ft
Commercial Grade THHN copper wire 2/0 $1.50/ft

In this size commercial grade wire is normally of stranded construction, just like rigging wire it is 1X19. It is stiff but far from impossible to work with. The insulation (THHN) is rated for gasoline and oil resistence and a high ambient temperature, 90 degrees C if memory serves and 600 volts.

With soldered end connections it would be very suitable.

Happy sails,
Fred B.

[Parfait's Provider]

I gather it is not tinned?

I don't know whether soldering will help against corrosion, but in a salt environment, having seen what 20+ years has done to some of the more exposed wiring on Parfait, I'd say that if it isn't tinned it ought not to be on the boat. Maybe it can be sealed after soldering? I'd also worry about 1X19 unless it is very securely tied down to the hull so it cannot flex and fracture. If it isn't satisfactory for automobiles, I wouldn't use it even on fresh water.

[bottomscraper]

Hamilton Marine has Anchor 2/0 at $4.59 ft, actual price may be a bit higher since this is the 2004 catalog price. The 2005 catalog isn't online yet.

http://www.hamiltonmarine.com/CatIndex3.html

[Dalton]

I've been thinking of a windlass for our RH36.
I am considering a manual one. Am I crazy?
And when I looked in the new West catalog that just arrived I didn't even see one.

GD

[Ron Turner]

Ken,

I have workred on a couple of forepeak windlass/ thruster battery installations. My approach would be to oversize the forepeak battery, put it on a selector switch so I could charge it seperate from the others and forget about it being another engine battery. Size of charging wires is much smaller than operating wire and should carry some house functions if necessary. A proper windlass should have a manual drop and raise feature.

[Todd Dunn]

To GD - I installed a manual Lofrans Royal windlass last year on my Allied 36. I use it to haul up my 35 lb CQR on all chain rode. It works just fine and is adequate to break the anchor out without a major strain. The price (~$600 from Rigging Only - www.riggingonly.com ) was very right. In addition, the install consisted of drilling 4 holes, filling them with epoxy, redrilling and then bolting the windlass on. It took about an hour (not counting the overnight cure for the epoxy).

You can see the install at: http://todddunnmicroyachts.com/temp_files/windlass2.jpg

TD

[Parfait's Provider]

Ron - I agree with the manual backup for the electric winch and if that is satisfactory and the cables will NEVER be expected to carry more than background charging current, then the forepeak battery would suffice. I didn't mean to imply that the windlass battery could be used for starting so much as the starting battery could be used for the windlass, eliminating the windlass battery altogether.

TD - We have a manual SL windlass onboard Parfait and if there is someone at the helm to drive up over the anchor, then that is sufficient. If you have to drag the boat to the anchor in a 5 Kt. current, then you will soon be wishing you had another option. I am more than ready to hear from anyone who has a singlehand answer to raising the anchor. The windlass needs tending, the chain locker needs tending, and the helm generally needs some attention as well. An electric windlass might get the personnel needs down to two without sacrificing too much control.