Anchor winch?

[Extremetooth]

Who loves pullin up anchors. Not ME

But are winches worth it? Do they tangle?
What battery is needed? deep cycle?

Any recomendations on brands and type?

Cheers

[Jarrah Jack]

There's a bit of discussion here about different types.

http://www.ausfish.com.au/vforum/sho...-Gets-a-Button

The battery is no big thing so long as you have a second if the first gives up.

[johncar]

I'm still thinking that they are OK if setup OK and used in shallower water. No doubt there are success stories out there but I hear a lot of whinging about the shortcomings of mates anchor winches so i haven't bothered and just use the float system all the time deep or shallow. Simple and cheap.

[eyeskeenas]

I have a stress free, free fall anchor winch on my boat. will never ever pull up another anchor again. it does suck your battery tho. just make sure you start your motor before you lift your anchor and all is sweet. biggest con i recon is the chain on the bow sprit. every person in a 10mile radius knows you dropping your anchor. but i can live with that for the joy of not lifting an anchor. fishing is supposed to be relaxing not a workout.

[whiteman]

Get a float ball and drive off. Cheap as, fail safe, no maintenance. Assuming you have a boat under 8m.

[BM]

Keep your engine running whilst deploying your anchor and running whilst retrieving your anchor. This is Boating 101 type stuff, simple as that, irrespective of whether you have an electric anchor winch or no winch at all. Safety first...

[ozscott]

Heaps of threads. Search Maxwell hrc 6 for example . Cheers

[ovakil]

I have a muir winch for about 6 years now.Got a 20 pound plough anchor & 20m chain.Hasn't missed a beat.I always have engine running whilst pulling up anchor.
I use a deck switch when retrieving as My anchor well isn't deep enough (which I already new) to spread rope in.
When setting anchor I usually let it free fall.

[NTMID8]

Micks winch mate!! Great value, extremely well made, local builder (SA - will allow test fits for free), Mick is a GREAT guy, very down to earth and extremely helpful. Ive just bought one for my Haines Signature 470F, all up (including anchor, chain, rope, cables, anchor etc etc) $2250, this is a fraction of the cost of the stress free.

[Fed]

$2250 to avoid going to the front of the boat a few times every trip, I must be living on a different planet.

[scuttlebutt]

I've got a "Quick Genius" windlass but never use it. I find it too slow for my liking. i use a retrieval buoy with a non-return clip. Cheap, quick and easy to use.

[timddo]

$2250 to avoid going to the front of the boat a few times every trip, I must be living on a different planet.

I have installed a lonestar winch $1500 installed, I also have a boat winch for the trailer $100 on ebay.
The worse job is to pull up the anchor

[thylacene]

Horses for courses, we fitted a Mick's winch to our Reef Runner. As above, good product and nice guy.

The winch is good for anchoring in up to 30m of water, with 100m of nylon rope, but not practical in deep water. We fitted ours after a little incident at Montague Island, anchored in the little bay among 10 other boats chasing livies, a bit if swell and the anchor pulled a bit, plenty of room to take action, so up the front I went, dragged the anchor up, but just before I got to the chain, I managed to wrap several bluebottles around each hand that had attached themselves to the rope. I reacted poorly, dropped the rope, and anchor, and by this time the breeze had us scraping the prop on the rocks. My Deckie had a bad back, and was unable to assist.

Doing the sums, I figured that a couple of grand for an anchor winch was cheap compared to the cost of replacing props

There are downsides though, the weight of the winch and chain sitting at the bow is about 25kg with 8m x 8mm short link chain, and some 14m of 2 B&S cable also weighs enough. Mick's winch is "power down" so it takes a little more time to get the plough to the bottom, and you need to be careful to hold the boat in position until the anchor touches down, and then continue to let out rode as you motor backwards slowly to lay the chain, a couple of times I have tangled the anchor in the chain by letting too much down while holding station.

That said, I would not be without it. 20kg plus of dead lift without consideration for getting the plough stuck is bloody hard work at my age. Anchoring in close proximity as occurs at Montague when chasing bait can be a real challenge in a 6.3m half cab, and the winch takes the hard work out of it, as you can drop anchor and position the boat to suit, while still standing/sitting at the controls, and being aware of other boats close by. Yep it may be a luxury for some, and a couple of grand is hard to come by, but back operations are also expensive, and a day on the water is for rest, relaxation and fun. Last January we spent 16 days straight chasing kings at MI, the money spent to fit a winch is soon forgotten when you enjoy the convenience and realize what you don't have to do twice or three times a day.

If you do decide to fit one, I would recommend going up at least one size over the recommended wire guage to avoid voltage drop, at peak load the current draw is about 45 amps, and if you get the plough stuck, it is possible to exceed 60 amps (from experience, got the anchor jammed between two large rocks, and had to maneuver it loose).

Another thing to consider is what you will mount the winch to. On initial inspection it looked easy enough, but once I got into the fitting, the bulkhead the winch was to mount to was not joined to the upper hull. Given the load can be up to a couple of tonne, I chose to make up some bracing brackets that provide a triangle shape that transfers the load to the deck section where the bollard bolted to. If you do a search for "winch fit up" on this forum you will find a post with links to the pics.

If we decide to anchor in deeper water we will get hold of a reef pick, a few metres of 6mm chain and an anchor float system, and stow it in a tub on deck.

Hope this helps.

Cheers.

Thy

[Smithy]

Just got back from fishing the Rainbow Beach comp on a mate's boat who had a Stress Free with freefall. Hated it. Couldn't get it right. Freefall worked fine when you deployed the anchor but then you couldn't lay warp out under freefall with the wind or current taking you back. It was better to let more out under down power. Then it was like loose braid on a reel with layers on top digging into layers underneath. Just couldn't get accurate enough with it trying to get on wrecks etc. in 50m of water where there is no leeway for dragging. Working with rope off the deck you know how much line you need extra or less each time you re-anchor. On the winch it was a guess. Hooked up solid one night and couldn't get it off. Then needed a bloke to go forward to try and get the rope out of where it had bedded into the layers below after we cracked the anchor out with 250 ponies going forward. Just too much hassle for the sorts of depths we fish in SEQ, i.e. 50-80m sort of thing with terrible accuracy. Terrible by my standards anyway and I am used to getting on shows the size of garden sheds a lot of the time.

[NTMID8]

$2250 to avoid going to the front of the boat a few times every trip, I must be living on a different planet.

Perhaps but when im chasing whiting i might move 7 - 10 times, being that my boat is a cuddie climbing through the hatch each time is tedious and painful. Coupled with the fact that i often fish alone it gets difficult to get "on my spot" when i need to dive into the front to drop the pick.

Included in that $2250 is my sarca anchor ($249), 8m of 6mm close link chain ($60), 100m of 8mm nylon rope ($100) and anchor swivel ($70) total of $480 so really the winch is about $1800. I realise that this might be extreme for some but i dont smoke, i dont go out partying, i dont have to spend thousands on the very best fishing rod/reel/tackle so i figure it makes my day more enjoyable why the hell not. I can spend it when im dead!