Flaking the Chain
Bob,When retreiving the anchor, I would open the anchor locker and set with my feet in the locker. Every 2 or 3 of turns of the winch I would flake the chain into the locker.Paul,70 Feet in 30 seconds. I probably made that much speed if the boat was in gear and moving toward the anchor. My present electric windlass also has to have very little load on it while retreiving or it will trip a breaker.The manual windlass was installed before ebay, but back when Defender Marine was cheap. I wanted to go electric, but the cost and problems of running heavy cables to the bow and the $500 or so extra, kept it simple.My first windlass had the rope capstan. The gypsy was damaged in a heavy storm. The cost of a new gypsy was within $50 of a new winch. I replaced with a new one that didn't have the rope capstan which was never used.Bill