Hi Kenneth. We too used a Bruce 7.5 Kg and liked it a lot. Rarely did we drag and easily fixed by increasing the scope. Only once did we fail to set and that was in a very weedy bottom. Our backups were 2 Fortress FX11s. Wanted an FX11 and a FX7 but the chandlery was out of the 7s and we didn't want to wait. We also carried 200 feet of 1/4 inch hi-test chain and two 200 ft lengths of 1/2 inch nylon. The Bruce and one of the FX11s were on bowrollers, chain on the Bruce and nylon on the FX11. We used an Ankorliner for the stern hook. Liked the Ankorliner alot!
Just a quick mention on the FX11. When I first got it I was motoring against an out going tide with wind on the bow. The old Albin quit on me and the boat got rather confused. Tide pushing one way and wind pushing the other. I threw out the anchor and nothing happened. The boat continued all over the place. I noticed a disturbance on the water about 30 feet away and found it was my anchor hydroplaning on the surface. Fixed the floating anchor problem by adding a longer length of chain.
Another brief mention. A while back there were questions on solar panels. We had a couple of 75 watt panels on the the stern. one mounted on each side and on 7/8 inch steel tubing. We had our canvas shop put a couple of 90 degree bends in the tubes and sleeved them into 1 inch tubes. The 1 inch tubes formed the uprights of our stern pulpit.We could swing the 7/8 inch to point the panels towards the sun and follow the suns arc by swinging the panels on the 90 degree bends. Using the stern hook as well as the bow anchor kept us from swinging and we went 19 days on the solar panels in the one anchorage in Mexico. Those two panels ran our fridge, played the CD player, let us talk with others on the VHF, ran our water maker and allowed us to watch a movie on the VCR every night. After we lost our battery charger by plugging into a Mexican dock outlet (reversed polarity) we used the panels for everything. Alot to be said for stern hooks and pointable panels.
We used a Simpson-Lawrence hi-speed manual windlass. It was okay but parts are expensive. It uses a bicycle chain and works on both the forward and the backwards swing on the handle. New handle was $75.00! and was a piece of galvanized steel about 3 feet long and 1 inch wide. We dropped one overboard and found a suitable replacement in a scrap yard. The chain is also expensive and can be found much cheaper in a bike shop. 200 feet of chain was heavy and we never used more than 70 feet of it. I've since shortened it to 100 feet and have an extra 100 feet if any one is interested. Walt S/V Lyric #120
P.S. Dont know if any one is using Switlik liferafts but if so there is a recall on the inflation valves. Contact Switlik or a repack station for more info.
To:
AlbinVega@yahoogroups.comFrom: prjacobs@...: Wed, 8 Oct 2008 16:18:33 +0000Subject: [AlbinVega] Re: Windlass
Hi Kenneth,Haven't made the 'big trip' yet, but Tony Skidmore circumnavigated and said "Bruce anchor (7.5 kg) used in conjunction with 200' of BBB chain and once again, it was perfectly matched to the Vega and good in mud, sand, coral and rock"I agree with his choice of anchors. I have a 10 kg (22 lb) and a 7.5 kg (16 lb) Bruce. The main anchor is connected to 100' of high strength 1/4" chain and 300' of rode. My choice for an alternate anchor would be a 25lb CQR.I use a Windline BRM-4 bow roller setup. It's described, with links to photos, here:
Yahoo! Groups winch yet, and I have zero experience with them, but the Muir VFF600 would be a possible candidate for a power winch, and the Muir VM500 for a manual model. I like the vertical shaft ones as they take up less room on deck, with the motor under the deck out of the weather, but you need to kneel down if you crank them by hand.Some of Tony Skidmore's other gear choices can be found in the Vega Yahoo files section under "History of (Vega) Lorna Doone.txt"His full articles, with some photos, are posted on the VAGB "Downlods" page in Newsletters #14, #15, #16, #17, #18, and #19.A link to the downloads page at VAGB is
http://www.albinvega.co.uk/downloads.htmlHope this helps,Peter#1331 'Sin Tacha'