SL Hyspeed Windlass failure and rebuild

[swiftibis]

Over the week of President's day I sailed to Pensacola Beach and anchored up happily in little Sabine.  It was nice and peaceful, but Friday night I dragged anchor and ran into a dock and boat.  In the process of cranking in my anchor, the windlass failed and would only crank in one direction.  After returning I had a short list of repairs, and the windlass is a marvelously simple thing.  Internally, it's 2 bicycle chains attached to a rocker arm, and they both go over a ratcheting sprocket like you'd find on a single speed bike.  The chain is attached to the lever with quick links, one of which failed.  One chain leads directly to the sprocket while the other chain goes over 2 rollers to reverse itself, as both sprockets ratchet the same way.  I went to a bike shop and replaced the quick link, and where the chain goes over a roller it had bitten into the mild steel.  The roller was likewise galled against its shaft.  So I made a new shaft and lathed off the ugliness.  I'll use the other roller for the loaded section and put the damaged roller in the return.  The big reason this failed is that there wasn't any lube oil in the casing, something I hadn't even looked at since I bought the boat.  I'll take this as an opportunity to rebed everything with butyl and replace the bolts that hold the inner forestay down.  If anybody has problems with this type of windlass, I can help.  I think it's unnecessarily complicated but at least it's simple and uses common parts.
Mike Sytsma
S/V Tardis
P367 #26

[Della and Dave]

I am curious what type of anchor dragged on you and what bottom you were in?  The reason I ask is that ours is a 35 lb plow,  and I am wondering if it is going to be up to the job,  we have a backup Fortress, but I don't want to have to go to the backup in the middle of the night. 

[Randy]

Dave,

I originally had a 35lb CQR on my boat. Dragged it all over the Chesapeake Bay. We purchased a 35lb Lewmar Delta and it has not let us down once. We have been through some pretty good storms and windy conditions. I think if I had to do it all over again, I would opt for the Rocna. All my friends that have them, like them. But if $$ is a concern, I would go for the Delta. I too have a Fortress 23 backup. It too is a great anchor.
Cheers,
Randy

[Jim S]

We used a 22# Delta as primary anchor in Galveston Bay for years until we got the Delta 35#.  The 22 held us in 44+ clocking winds over a thick mud bottom several times.  The 35 just gives us much better sleep at night.  We also use 50' of 3/8 chain with 5/16 nylon rode.

[Firefly]

I replaced my 35lb CQR after dragging in grass-over-sand in the Abacos. I now have a 55lb Rocna with 125' 3/8" chain and 250' of 5/8" nylon three-strand. I pull it up by hand with help from a Seatiger 555 manual windlass.  A little overkill I guess, but be have slept very well all the way to the USVI and now back in Puerto Rico. Normally a 35-45lb  Delta or Rocna should do nicely.

[swiftibis]

Hello all,
I have a Manson Supreme 35# with 100' of 5/16" chain attached to 250' of 5/8" 3-strand.  I didn't have the 10:1 scope out I would have preferred because that would have put me in danger of hitting another dock on one side and running aground on the other.  I generally trust the Manson supreme quite a bit (It's similar to the Rocna) but in this case it was very thin mud and the anchor tripped due to 180 shift in the wind.  When the anchor tripped it remained clogged with firmer mud as it skipped over the thin mud.  If I would have had a few more boatlengths to drag it probably would have reset but the anchorage was very tight.  I've finally repaired the windlass and all is well once again.
Mike
S/V Tardis P367 #26

[Della and Dave]

My brother in law dragged a 35 lb QCR on a mud bottom that was covered in kelp near Seldovia AK.  Almost ended up on the rocks.  He has a 36 foot Columbia, so it will be sort of similar to a Pearson 365.  He had a length of chain with it, but I don't know how long or what type.  He said when he pulled it up, it was sort of a ball of kelp with an anchor hidden in the middle, which is probably why it didn't reset. 

For the short term, we are probably mostly going to be anchoring in the Seward area in the Kenai Fjords National Park, so mostly deep and rocky bottoms, so getting a 5:1 scope is sometimes a challenge and 10:1 is usually only a dream.  We also have 27 foot tidal swings in the Fjords, so you usually will do a full tide cycle in a night, so we will swing at anchor. 

I'm not thinking I am going to sleep well without an anchor watch with only a 35 lb Delta plow anchor, thus the question.  The ad when we bought the boat says we have 200' of chain and 300 feet of nylon rode, but we haven't measured it.  Della has gone through the ASA class and has practiced anchoring, but never outside of the supervision of the instructor.  As you can tell, I'm a little nervous about doing this for real the first time and trying to learn what I can ahead of time.  Any thoughts would be welcome.