The Differences of Manual and Electric Anchor Windlasses

No matter the size of a boat, from the smallest to the largest, an anchor definitely comes in handy. As you can imagine, there are more than enough reasons to stop a boat and stay in one place, and I think you know an anchor is the thing that will hold it there. But do you know what an anchor windlass is? If you do, then you will know that a windlass is a device that drops and raises the anchor.

There are a few different kinds of anchor windlasses. Very large ships use hydraulic windlasses to lower and raise their anchors. In fact, hydraulic anchor windlasses are almost exclusively used on large ships while electric and manual ones are used on yachts and smaller boats.

Manual windlasses are a good workout because you have to crank a handle, but it can get tiring pretty fast. They don’t cost a whole lot of money, which is good, and they don’t require any electrical wiring. Plus, they are super simple, which makes them easy to use and maintain. Most of them have two speeds for raising the anchor. The lower speed makes raising it easier, but it takes a little longer. The higher speed takes less time but more muscle. There is also a danger with manual models. Since it requires you to be in contact with the device and since the anchor rode (the chain and/or rope that holds the anchor) is under great tension, an accident is more likely to happen.

Electric anchor windlasses, on the other hand, don’t require you to be anywhere near the anchor rode. All you need to do is push a button and the anchor is moved up and down. This makes an electric model an ideal one for safety reasons, as well as ease of use. But you must make sure that the rode locker is built properly or you will run into troubles.

You see, when an anchor is raised, the rode must be tailed so that it doesn’t get tangled. This simply means that you shouldn’t let the rope or chain fall into an uncontrolled pile. One of the ways that this problem is fixed is by having the rode go below deck into a locker. If the locker is set up properly, then the rode will become self-tailing. This also helps reduce clutter on deck. However, this works best with a chain rode. A rope rode works fine, but not as well as a chain one.

There are plenty of aspects to consider when buying an anchor windlass, and these are only a small fraction of them. Still though, they are probably the most important aspects to consider. Perhaps in a future blog we’ll go over some things you shouldn’t do with your anchor windlass. But until then, be careful out on the water and have fun.