Anchor Windlass

[Briguy]

I all my years of appreciating SeaCraft boats I have never seen one with an anchor windlass. These boats are, above all, fishing killing machines! When grouper fishing in the Gulf of Mexico, it is necessary to fish in 80 to 120 feet of water. Fish, move, catch, move, fish etc. Sometimes 5 times a trip. As the captain of my boat, guests have the honor of being the anchor "slave". When I take my dad or girlfriend, it's my duty. I now use an anchor retreiving ball and that works pretty well. Can anyone give me an opinion on how awful this looks before I even consider it. Is it better to look good rather than feel good? I'm open for thoughts. [img]images/icons/rolleyes.gif[/img] [img]images/icons/rolleyes.gif[/img]

[FELLOW-SHIP]

HA BRIGUY
I hear you on the anchoring I fish the artificial reefs down here in South Florida and sometimes I drop down 2-3 times a trip. I also use the anchor retrieval method as you do and it has been working good for me. When I re did my boat this year I removed the cap and replaced all the cork that is used for the lamination between the top and bottom layers of glass. I don’t think you could mount a windless anchor on the cap unless you first rebuild the lamination with plywood to support the stress that could occur on the bolts that hold it in place. Personally I think that it would be just a mater of time before you would see a soft spot and then much more problems would occur. Or you might want to put a large aluminum plate under and above the cap for support and use a lot of 5200 and epoxy to prevent water from getting in there. The problem with the aluminum plates is that you are still drilling through cork lamination and I thing in time the cork would brake down from the stress.
Fellow-ship [img]images/icons/confused.gif[/img] [img]images/icons/rolleyes.gif[/img]

[TarponTom]

Briguy,
I'll let you know. I just bought a windlass and am going to install it soon. I've got a 23 cuddy and it is a royal pain to get to the anchor, and as you said you tend to stay longer in a poor or exhausted fishing spot because you dont want to pull anchor time and again. I too worried a little about how it would look but finally said functionality is more important. I got an above the deck model because I didn't want to take up room in the anchor locker which is just big enough anyway. I'll keep you up to date when I complete it to see if it's worth it all.

[JohnB]

Tom,
When you get the windlass mounted, take some pictures for us to see how it looks and works. I was out of Clearwater a week ago Monday grouper fishing. Alot of short grouper over there.

[PressureDrop]

there is an anchor windlass on my project boat the was put on a year ago and is perfet however i have no need for it, if i can ever get it off (there must be a gallon of 5200 under it) im going to sell it, its a simpson lawrance 600. if anyone is interested email me [email protected]

Ben

[Brian Rice]

I may be interested in the windlass what is the exact model? I would like to get the Sprint 600 so if this is a sprint I would be very interested in it.

As far as the original post the boat looks fine with the anchor on a pulpit/windlass mount. I have mine set up like this to keep the anchor above deck and ready to deploy at anytime.

Thanks

[PressureDrop]

Bump,i need to sell the windlass so i can buy an old rybo console for the boat! [img]images/icons/wink.gif[/img]

[JohnB]

I might be interested in it. Is it working?, how much, and do you have a picture?

[PressureDrop]

no pic, it works, and id like 250-300$ for it,

also, i have a new $125 dollar anchor roller, ill sell for $50, email me if interested!

Ben ([email protected])