I'm anchored at Lighthouse Reef in Belize, which is about 30 miles offshore & my Muir VR1000R012E windlass stripped the worm gear. It's pulled up many anchors in it's 21 years, so it owes us nothing. Luckily there's a dive resort here with 10 KBps Internet, so at least I can do a bit of research, albeit very slow.
Unfortunately I've discovered that Muir no longer makes this windlass, but I could have it special made in 12 weeks and for $5600. No thanks! So I've been off trying to find a replacement that will work. At this point in time, the only one that I can find is a Quick Rider R3, which is made in Italy, but appears to be available in the US.
Q1: Does anyone have any experience with this windlass?
To explain my issue, my old windlass was a vertical windlass mounted vertically. The chain comes across the top of the windlass and is stripped off at the bottom. Then you have to push it forward and into the chain locker. Far from ideal, but it works.
All of the other vertical windlasses that I've found pull the chain from the right hand side and strip it at the left, where it falls down a hole into the chain locker. This wouldn't work for me as the chain would pull from the bottom and then when it got stripped off, would fall over the chain being pulled.
Q2: Other than doing major surgery on the anchor locker, which I do not want to do in Belize, does anyone have any suggestions?
The photos below show the whole anchor locker and a closeup of where the gypsy and capstan were mounted.
-- Geoff
Unfortunately I've discovered that Muir no longer makes this windlass, but I could have it special made in 12 weeks and for $5600. No thanks! So I've been off trying to find a replacement that will work. At this point in time, the only one that I can find is a Quick Rider R3, which is made in Italy, but appears to be available in the US.
Q1: Does anyone have any experience with this windlass?
To explain my issue, my old windlass was a vertical windlass mounted vertically. The chain comes across the top of the windlass and is stripped off at the bottom. Then you have to push it forward and into the chain locker. Far from ideal, but it works.
All of the other vertical windlasses that I've found pull the chain from the right hand side and strip it at the left, where it falls down a hole into the chain locker. This wouldn't work for me as the chain would pull from the bottom and then when it got stripped off, would fall over the chain being pulled.
Q2: Other than doing major surgery on the anchor locker, which I do not want to do in Belize, does anyone have any suggestions?
The photos below show the whole anchor locker and a closeup of where the gypsy and capstan were mounted.
-- Geoff