Windlass Problem

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pgilbert

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I have a 2005 Chaparral 310 Express Cruiser with a Horizon 600/900 windlass. About a year ago, we were out and getting ready to hoist the anchor. I got the boat up over the anchor to remove most of the wind caused tension. My wife pushed the "up" button. Thw windlass took up about 6 inches of line and froze. I checked the circuit breaker and it had not been tripped. When I brought it back to the delaer they replaced the windlass.

Now it's almost a year later and the same thing happend. When I push the "up" or "down" button, all I hear is a click at a point in the enine room where the wiring comes into a small (3" X 5") box. This is on the starboard side. My batteries are on the port side.

It's still under warranty so I'm sure they'll replace it but I'm curious what could be casung this.

I boat on a lake and both time the conditions were quire calm (winds 5-10MPH).

Thanks for your help.
 
Do you tie it off to a cleat when you are anchored?

There is a reduction gear inside that can freeze if it is put under heavy pressure like the boat tugging on it.
 
I do tie off to the cleat when there is any kind of significant pressure. We were in a cove with little wind or pressure.
 
The modern windlasses are designed to take up the slack and bring the anchor which has been broken out, up--not to break out anchors. So you power up to the anchor, take up the slack with the windlass, and then tie off the chain or rode, and use the boat to break out the anchor.

There are some very stout windlasses which will break out an anchor--but there are not a Horizon 600. You will pay considerably more for a windlass which will really pull 3000 lbs.
 
as much as i agree with the benefit of cleating off, not doing so isn't going to break a new windlass...

the click you hear are the relays... you need to check them out. open the box and see if you have voltage on the wires going to the windlass when the switch is pressed. if you dont' have any voltage, then it's a relay issue. if you have power on the wire going to the WL whne pressing either switch, then the problem is likely to be the motor itself.

also, check to see if you have a circuit breaker that may have popped up. depends on the wiring, but there could be a CB on the main feed, separate from the circuits that activates the solenoid.
 
1) Motor toward the anchor and take up slack with the windlass until you are up-and-down.
2) Cleat off the rode.
3) Back away until the anchor has broken loose.
4) Uncleat the rode, and haul the anchor in, with the windlass.

Then, learn how to weigh anchor without the windlass, so you'll know what to do when it breaks.
 
I weighed anchor without the windlass today and yesterday. Not an issue.

PascalG - thanks. I'll check out what you suggested.
 
Problem resolved. Relay was fine and were circuit breakers. Problem was faulty wiring. It looks like the connectors used on a splice were too small and were not heat shrunk so the splice was not making a good connection. Re-did the splice on both ends with the proper connectors and heat shrunk it all. Works fine now. Thanks for all your input.
 
That'll do it! Wiring seems to be the cause of half the problems we see on boats.

IMO though if the windlass can only take in slack and pick up a broken-out anchor, it's either way undersized or poorly designed. I'm gonna be really ticked if that's all the one I just bought can do.
 
I believe windlass' are designed to merely haul a broken out anchor. They tell you not to use them to bring the boat up to the anchor. You should use your engines to move the boat up and haul in your rode concurrently. They're not designed to pick up tress from the lake bottom. Just bring in the anchor
 
The problem with using the engines in many cases (with ours anyway) is that if there too much slack on the rode, it loses it's bite. Then you have to back down to eliminate the slack and start again. When the winds are light your windlass should be strong enough to pull the boat up to the break point. It would help to give a bump with the engines to get the forward motion started but motoring up to the anchor then engaging the windlass doesn't work for us. This all changes as the winds/current pick of course.

I mean, if it's hauling 30' of chain and a decent size anchor (heavy stuff even in the water) then it should be able to pull the boat in effortlessly... with fair conditions.
 
Agree in most fair conditions. But as stated before, when powering up or a bump of the engines, you can bring up the rode concurrently to eliminate the slack.
 
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