Who can help me with a manual of a manual windlass goiot from the 80ties? Created Date: 11:23:26 AM.

If you have foot switches, check for signs of gasket seal deterioration, cracked seal and intrusion of water with resulting rust under the deck. Remove the cover plate to do this, but carefully reassemble. Have spare rubber cover handy.

If it powers up like crazy, then you know the problem lies in the switching circuitry and it’s not an overload problem with the motor itself. Then it’s on to the witch hunt of finding which connection is faulty. • Ken Landis Hi Clark, I recently installed a Maxwell HRC10 (1200 watt motor) on my Beneteau 473. Everything appeared to work at installation however the first real test came this past weekend at Catalina. With the engine running, I pressed the up button and the windlass would raise the chain a few feet and stop. After waiting a few seconds, I would press up again and it would take in another few week before stopping.

Is it risky to bypass the control box to test? Thanks, • Hi Jean-Marie, Try circumventing the control box/solenoid by disconnecting the big cables and touching them directly (carefully) to the leads on the windlass. If it jumps to life you’ve got a problem with the control box/solenoid. If it still performs poorly it points to a problem in the windlass motor. Windlass motors lead hard lives, and the brushes often get corroded, or just stuck. I’m not sure about a Quick, but there can be 2-4 brushes that contact the rotor on the motor. If less than all are contacting the rotor, it will still work, but work poorly.

Before any of that I’d try touching the power leads from the battery directly to the leads/posts on the motor and see what happens. Keep in mind you’ve got a motor that might be locked or have something wrong with it, so expect sparks (wear glasses) and be ready to abandon the effort quickly. • Michael Warlick Hi Clark, I disassembled my solenoid that operates my Seawolf windlass. It was mounted inside at the front of the V-Berth so corrosion does not seem to be an issue here. The contacts are clean.

Fortunately none of the crew members forward were injured. Thus, assessing loads on windlass and cables while using them becomes a vital part of the maintenance procedure. A weekly schedule for windlass should involve lubricating all the plain bearings through the grease nipples and the gear teeth. Monthly or quarterly checks recommended for the condition of brake linings should be carried out depending on the frequency of use.

The windlass is working now, but cannot pull anywhere near the advertised load, we have over 10.5 volts at motor terminals at full load. I will never buy a Lofrans product again We bought in the UK, and are now in Caribbean, a few weeks later than planned due to the Lofrans issues. If I lived in U.K.

• dennis schneider hi clark (hope your july 4 will be a blast. Hey, Im building a46′ cat forca 40k$ from scratch; have ca 6k hrs in her now(started when i was74) so not a lot of $$$ for Lewmar v2 windlass(auction$250) control box/contactor.

Or could there be some related purpose for the additional solenoids, like running a chain counter, anchor washer, or??? • My boss’s windlass solenoids on her 52 ft Irwin ketch are horribly rusted and need replacing. But I’m a little confused.

But I’m a little confused. The windlass is 2 directional. But there are a total of 4 solenoids! I know that the boat is wired to run 24 volts for the bow thruster and (I think) the windlass via 12 volt batteries connected in series.

Weird that the solenoids work at the pedals and not the helm. • Rafael Hi Clark Thank you very much for the reply. When I bring it back to life the windlass runs at partial strenght for 10 seconds.

On retrieval it came up to a hard stop,but did not trip the fuse as it did once in the past.since then it only clicks.we have cleaned the solenoid,cleaned the brushes,filled up with gearbox oil but no luck.Dismantled the clutches only to find 2x broken circlps.There is power to the unit.Any ideas? Cheers Peter • Nimrod Shapir Hi, I have a Lofrans 1200 W. When I lift my anchor the windlass stops every few meters and I have to wait 20-30 seconds before it comes to life again.

There are control boxes as pictured in the blog post, and there are ones that reverse polarity to change direction, rather than having two positive leads to the motor. The latter type would have four connections to big posts on the control box, positive and neg from battery, and the two windlass wires, then multiple smaller connections for control wires. Sounds like this is what you’ve got. Might punt and call Simpson Lawrence, or email them pics of your control box.

If it doesn’t jump to life, your problem lies somewhere else. Remove the screws that hold the lid on the the control box: Inside, you will see something like this: On both sides, down in the box, are the solenoids.

Thanks • Clark Beek Jean-Marie, No, not too risky, assuming the high amperage connection comes through a fuse or breaker, usually somewhere aft, closer to the batteries. Since it’s a high amperage connection you should be careful when you touch the leads together as it is sure to spark, and if there is some kind of short or seizing in the motor, it will really spark, so probably prudent to wear glasses and gloves. • JEAN-MARIE BRUNET Hi Clark, Thanks for your prompt answer. I opened the control box earlier.

Check the windlass control box and remote control for signs of corrosion before returning the windlass to service. Oh, and don’t forget to fill the windlass with lubricating oil. Most windlasses use heavy gear oil, SAE 80 or SAE 90. Mark your calendar to do all of this again in four years. Harry Hungate and his wife Jane Lothrop are long-time liveaboards having voyaged since 1997. They are currently cruising in the Mediterranean.

• JEAN-MARIE BRUNET Hi Clark, My Quick windlass operates very slowly since one week. I cleaned the corroded connectors and changed the bolts at the motor posts. User guide. In operating slowly, the 100A breaker trip many times. The voltage at the motor when operating was around 9.3 volts. On the wires at the bow coming from the batteries the voltage was around 13 volts when testing. Do you think it is something wrong in the control/solenoid box. It is slow either going up or down.

The first time that I serviced our windlass, I found that the shaft key that fits in the chain gypsy drive cones had almost torn out of the keyway in the relatively soft stainless steel shaft. (I admit to overloading the anchor windlass when we fouled our anchor in coral in the Tuamotus in the South Pacific.) The local machine shop agreed to machine the shaft for the next largest key, and also to cut a second keyway in the shaft and gypsy drive cones on the opposite side of the shaft from the original keyway. This modification has proved to be trouble-free for 10 years, and is certainly worth considering for your windlass. Ball bearing supports The shaft is supported by two ball bearings that should last forever, unless salt water has reached them. Gently clean them with a solvent such as WD-40 or clean diesel fuel, and rotate them slowly while feeling and listening for rough spots. NEVER spin a ball bearing with compressed air!

Brakes are provided with foundation plate welded to the deck. Often windlass shaft is coupled with mooring winch and it is important to put the mooring winch brake ‘on’ and the clutch in disengage position for the winch before operating the windlass. When anchoring speed is high the anchor runs away and the brake lining might get damaged due to heat. Thus dropping the anchor and repeating the drop and stoppage at every ½ shackle is advisable to prevent damages to brake liner due to temperature rise. In rough weather it is necessary to loosen the anchor chain tension while heaving up by using engines to avoid excessive load on the windlass. In case excessive load is applied on the windlass while heaving, bring the operating lever to neutral position then pay out the cable little bit, increase engine revolutions and heave the chain again once the load reduces. Speed change for windlass from high to low will cause large speed change and thus they are constructed with utmost safety features.

I’m In Bahamas with the following situation: My windlass is a Horizon Express (Simpsom Lawrence) with a remote control on the anchor lock. The motor was replaced one year ago. The solenoid (control box) looks new and it’s located inside the boat so it does not get salty. When I push the up / down button it clicks the solenoid but the windlass does not turn. When I use a wrench to move the drum manualy it makes the windlass return to life.

• Eric Lecavalier I’m a recent boat owner and over the weekend the windlass stopped working to raise the anchor. But it works to drop it. Only going up won’t do anything. It was working fine, then after a few attempts it started to stop responding. The control box is a simpson lawrence reverse solenoid. If I try to raise the anchor from the foot switch or helm switch it does nothing.

• Hi Trevor, I’d circumvent the solenoid and touch the power lead from the windlass directly to the power cable coming from the battery (carefully, and ready to abort quickly, as there may be sparks), with the anchor down so there is some load on it. If it makes the same noises and complaints this eliminates the solenoid.

If you can't easily drain oil or check it for grit, a small diameter flexible metal coat hanger with plastic coating can probably be carefully inserted into the box from the oil adding port and down into the oil. This will serve as a dipstick, bringing up some oil for you inspection. — Published: December 2016.

This idea, or some variation of it, may serve you well on your next windlass installation. After reconnecting the power cables, coat the terminals with silicone grease to prevent corrosion. Seal the power cable opening in the windlass housing with RTV silicone sealant.

• Hi Jane, You’ve got me. Sometimes you can get faulty readings with a digital voltmeter.

I believe all the motor brushes are used for either up or down, so your troubleshooting rules out a stuck/fouled/damaged brush, and also shows that the guts of the motor are working fine, since it works in one direction. But it sounds like something along the down circuit has high resistance. Check what you can, like the terminal where the down lead attaches to the motor, but if there’s nothing obvious on the outside of the motor you’re probably looking at pulling the motor and taking it to a shop, since if it’s in the guts of the motor it probably involves replacing some components and doing some soldering. The repair will probably be fairly cheap, but extracting the motor from the windlass, which probably means removing the windlass from the deck, can suck up lots of time. • Kerry Moser My name is Kerry, I have an Ideal windlass on the boat. It has power foot pedals up and down.

But I think in the Simpson Lawrence box the contacts cannot be accessible so I might need to replace the Solenoid completely. Can I apply power directly to the windlass, bypassing the control box switch to see if it works and raise the anchor? • Clark Beek Hi Eric, I’d suspect the solenoid, just like in the blog post, or the connection from your foot switch to the control box. • Eric Lecavalier I’m a recent boat owner and over the weekend the windlass stopped working to raise the anchor. But it works to drop it.

How do I know how use are the carbon box? Technic list would be good to have for spare part Thanks • PESTANA GOOD WORK, I WOULD LIKE TO KNOW IF THE INSIDE MAY BE REPLACED IN STAINLESS STEEL. • thanks Clark, yeh thats what i was thinking, just never had an anchor motor before. There is a 50 amp breaker associated with the system as well.

Windlass Maintenance By Tom Neale Take good care of it, keep it tuned up, and this workhorse will take good care of your back. Photo: Mark Corke There are many different types of anchor windlasses. Mine has a 12-volt motor, a clutch for free-wheeling, a brake, and a manual-operation override. Yours may have just one or more of these features. No matter what kind you have, the info in this article will be helpful. My Lofrans Falcon windlass has seen more than 18 years of hard duty and has been used almost every night in many conditions, including hurricanes, tropical storms, 'storms of the century,' and even a tornado.

Having just bust my excellent manual 2 speed Goiot 309 windlass, I have found that not only do Goiot no longer make this windlass, they do not make windlasses at all despite all the pretty pictures on their website. So I am on the hunt for a horizontal axis replacement (my back won't allow me to work a vertical axis one). The prime candidates are the similar looking Lofrans Royal and the Vetus Ursus with 10mm gypsys (gypsies?).

I have had an electrician look at and replaced the AMP in stereo but can not find the problem. Ever heard of this? What could it be?

Trace it all the way back to the batteries. Once you get juice to the big wires up to the bow you can touch them directly to the windlass motor cables to see if the windlass is alivethen it’s back to troubleshooting switches, solenoids, connections, et al. • Mike Crouse I have an older windlass electric anchor and it is now dead. The foot pedal nor the switch in the cabin make it work.

Apply anti-corrosion grease or dielectric grease as appropriate. Check oil in sight glass. Add standard 90-weight gear oil or one recommended by the manufacturer to the level recommended in the manual. If there is leakage around the shaft seals on either side or the worm gear shaft for the motor, consider replacing seals, but this is beyond the scope of this article. Normally these seals should last a long time and a slight amount of seepage isn't necessarily a problem as long as you check the sight glass periodically. If the oil is gooey or milky, as from intrusion of water, it should be drained and replaced. If you feel tiny particulate in it as you rub a sample between your thumb and forefinger, there is likely a problem inside with the gear alignment or other issues, which again would be unusual and beyond the scope of this article, but which should be addressed.