How do you drop anchor ?

Ok, my question is a bit more specific than that

We have a manual windlass, with a horizontal capstan and drum (wish I had a picture to describe it better). You lift anchor by using a lever/bar that lifts the anchor on both directions of the stroke and I think there are two gears, depending on which slot you insert the bar into before cranking away.

All is well, except I haven't found any release that would allow the anchor to be freely dropped. I assume there has to be such a release since holding up the chain and letting it out hand over hand seems less than ideal.

Any suggestion for what I should look for when we escape back down on board tomorrow ?

Thanks,


-Sven

Sven,

on our windlass, there a big nut with three stubby "spokes" on it, appearing to attach the chain gypsy to the windlass body on the starboard side. This nut acts like a clutch, allowing the gypsy to spin freely (chain going out) when the "nut" is backed off. I can vary the amount of friction applied to brake the speed of the chain leaving the boat, giving good control. I have a hollow pipe handle that fits over the spokes to allow us to safely vary this friction without having our fingers in there with the chain whizzing about! Perhaps your setup has something similar.

Hi Mike,

Such a clutch would make a lot of sense, I bet that there is something like that. Tomorrow I find out !

Many thanks for the suggestion,



-Sven

Mike,

Mike.Gritten said:

on our windlass, there a big nut with three stubby "spokes" on it, appearing to attach the chain gypsy to the windlass body on the starboard side. This nut acts like a clutch, allowing the gypsy to spin freely (chain going out) when the "nut" is backed off.

Click to expand...

Now that I'm sitting here staring at the picture I wonder if the knob on the left of the picture serves that nut/clutch purpose ? When I messed with it (not under load) I thought it was a 1-to-1 gear ratio hub since it seemed affixed to the axle. The hub might unscrew if I apply force to it with the bar.

I don't want to mess with it under load until I know how it works ... definitely not something I want my fingers close to with 9 tons bopping on the surface and tugging on the chain.



-Sven

Sven,

that looks to be exactly what I am talking about. At the dock, try inserting your "handle" in one of the slots in that "nut". On ours, we just slack it as if unscrewing a nut. Since your anchor should be "locked" some way (unable to go out or in) - NOT relying on the gypsy to lock or hold the boat while at anchor - you should feel some initial reluctance to your action, but it will back off allowing the chain freewheel off the boat. Use the handle to vary the amount of friction applied to the gypsy, thereby controlling the rate at which the chain is paid out. It should be a no-brainer when you try it.
Your photo shows fairly clearly the slots for the handle to go into.

Keep your hands clear of the windlass and chain when actually anchoring. It is all too easy to get your hand/fingers jammed in there when you are not paying as much attention as you should! (i.e. when doing the mandatory yelling/swearing at wife/partner! Followed, of course, by the also mandatory apologizing and grovelling for forgiveness before wife/partner threatens to sell the boat!)