Broken/seized? anchor windlass

pelagic2530 · Oct 29, 2008

alright guys, maybe you can help me out here. last weekend, we were out in the bay trying to set the hook near a jetty. disengaged the anchor winch and let er rip. about 50' of line later, line stops going out. just stops. additional attempts to try to raise or lower the line failed, all that happened was that the windlass made a clicking noise every time the switch was engaged in either direction. I assume its getting power, otherwise it wouldnt be making the clicking sound? anyone have any idea what might be the problem here? Windlass is a Good windlass, not sure of the model, its the old, boxy metal kind with the built in T-post. any help would be appreciated, not sure i want to just go tearing the thing apart blind. thanks

BradV · Oct 30, 2008

is the line in a knot? is the clutch slipping? any pics of what is spinning when you hit the button to move the line?

pelagic2530 · Oct 30, 2008

Brad- as far as i can see, there is no knot on either end, but its possible one may be buried inside the housing. but i would think that if that were the case, it would go one way or the other, depending on which side of the mechanism the knots on, right? right now it is literally frozen. nothing in, noting out. not even pulling it manually.
in terms of movement or spinning, nothing is doing so. literally all that is happening, is when the switch is pushed to either up or down position, the winch motor clicks, kind of a pop actually? no movement in the line at all.

Megabyte · Oct 30, 2008

At this point, she isn't working so you have nothing to loose by taking her apart (carefully) to see if the problem can be diagnosed and corrected.

Member Porkchunker had a similar issue with his windlass and he documented his repair in the projects section. It might be worth a review. :wink:

Good luck!