ORCA anchor windlass - HELP!

[skipjack27]

Hi Guys

Have never owned a boat with an anchor windlass until now, and am stumped as to how the darned thing works.

See the attached pic. It has power for UP only, and the footswitch you can see in the pic activates the up-anchor bit. This works fine, as I found in my initial exploration.

But I got no further. See the little stopper on the left hand side of the winch (don't know what its proper name is). I think I pushed that in experimentally when trying to find out how the windlass worked. But now, the mechanism is utterly stuck. That stopper is REALLY stopping anything from happening (at least, that is my current presumption).

The windlass will NOT go forwards or backwards. If I step on the footswitch, it tries to go clockwise - but can't and trips the circuit breaker. And nothing I can do will make it go anti-clockwise, as would be necessary to drop the anchor. I have used the windlass handle to unlock that central bit, but that changes nothing.

What's going on here? A close inspection of the "stopper" suggests that it has been hit pretty hard in the past with a hammer of some sort - that is, BEFORE I hit it pretty hard myself, with no result. Is that an indication that this thing sticks routinely? I don't want to really lay into it, for fear of damaging the whole mechanism.

Never having seen one of these things in operation before, I really don't know where to go in sorting this problem out. Needless to say, I've not inherited a user manual, and can find nothing useful on the Web.

I would deeply appreciate a few kind words of advice on:

(a) how these darned things are supposed to operate

(b) what is currently the problem

Jeff

 

[Bob_VT]

Re: ORCA anchor windlass - HELP!

Welcome to iboats!

You only require power to lift the anchor..... hence the clockwise only direction.

That "stopper" is a chain lock do the anchor does not drop while you are under way. It is a chain lock that when you engaged and tried the switch.... you locked it in too tight since it got locked under power.

You need to disconnect the lock to drop anchor and when you re-engage it .... do not tighten it. Sometimes the lock gets worn (as you explained) and people just attach a small shackle on deck to hook to the chain as a safety. some other people bring the entire anchor on board and lock it into a bracket depending on the size.

 

[skipjack27]

Re: ORCA anchor windlass - HELP!

Thanks, Bob. That's a very clear answer that makes a lot of sense.

To clarify: you are suggesting that I undo the bolt that holds the chain lock, free the chain lock from the windlass, and then reinstall the chain lock in a freed position?

Jeff