Still windlass shopping? Lewmar Profish 700 FF

[mildew2]

Was debating weather a EZAnchor puller was the answer for my 2120 but I fish reefs alot and need a freefall. The EZ puller was also 89lbs.not counting the weight of the rode and chain(Quite expensive also) Now looking at a Lewmar profish 700 Freefall. Am looking for some feedback on the quality of this unit. I want to use 200 ft. of 9/16 inch 8 plait w/ 10ft. of chain. The anchor locker on my 2120 seems to be rather small and was wondering if it would hold the 200ft and still have a foot of drop left that the Lewmar tech. said was needed. Thanks

 

[Lucky John]

The biggest problem you will have with the Lewmar is the fact you won't be able to center the hole over the center of the anchor locker. when you fish deeper water you will have to stop every so often to sweeep the line back towards the back of the locker otherwise it will bind up an jam the unit. Without a doubt use 8 plait rode or you will have problems for sure.

 

[mrfunandson]

I have the 2120 w/ the lewmar and 300 ' of 8-plait. If you deploy 200+ feet of line on the retrieve it will jam, have to open the hatch in the cabin and push the rode down into the locker. As stated it will not be directly over the deepest part of the anchor locker and thus the need to hel pit a little. (still better then being on the bow in nasty weather)

 

[mildew2]

Is there a better fit for the application than a Lewmar ????

 

[Lucky John]

I have seen pictures on here where they removed the hatch an fiberglassed some starboard in and mounted the windlass there.

 

[WAJSKI]

The Lewmar is not atrue freefall, you still have to go on the bow and release the clutch. I have one on my 2320 I like it but wish I would had a EZ pull or a Good installed jmho.

 

[mildew2]

The Lewmar Profish 700 Freefall windlass was explained to me by the Techs. at Lewmar to be an automatic freefall winch. Does anyone have a Lewmar freefall model winch that doesn't work as automatic? I think there are 2 models..the manual f.f. and the automatic f.f. Have there been problems experianced with the Lewmar's auto freefall???

 

[Lucky John]

The 700 is a free fall. Yes there is a clutch pin on the gypsy which you can push in (or pull out) and that will make it a manual drop.
I had alot of problems with the rode before I switched over to 8 plait. With delux three strand rode it would jam up under the stopper pin. I have removed the unit thrre or four times and had to send back for service.Since switching over to 8 plait I have not had a problem. I am not your average use the boat once in awhile fisherman. when bottom or bass fishing the windlass gets a good workout with me.

 

[coolbreeze]

I have the lewmar 1000 profish freefall .Wouldn't buy any less. love it .. the free fall works great . I have a 22lb plow on the front. only draw back is dew to I have 50' chain it sometimes will not free fall without a love tap. I also have the remote that makes it so nice to retreive from the front of the boat .. Use 8plait rode.. I had 3 and changed .. also you must use a swivel on the anchor if not you can damage your rode easy. only thing I would say is a draw back it the remote is little cheesy .. its not a strong signal . so sometimes its like trying to use your phone offshore.

 

[WAJSKI]

I will check it out, mine is supposte to be freefall. I guess I will have to get instruction out, hope they installed freefall
Thanks Walt

 

[Megabyte]

You might want to reconsider the 9/16" 8-plait rode and 10' of chain due to your space limitations and your intended use.
A 2120 should not need much more than 7/16" or 3/8" if you are using 8-plait, tho I would increase the chain to at least 15' of 1/4" BB.

 

[mildew2]

When I talked to the tech. at Lewmar he said that the 700 called for 1/2" but that because of 8 plait being a soft rode that 1/2" would get some slippage that 9/16 would'nt. I'm with you,I know that the extra size of rode will fill the anchor locker even that much more. Is anyone that is using 1/2" 8plait on a 700 having any trouble with slippage??

 

[Megabyte]

True. The gypsy might require a certain size line to get a bite.
Might be good to ask if it can be adjusted for smaller diameters.

 

[mildew2]

I will talk to the lewmar tech. that is a good idea,it would help the small anchor locker problems and save a little on the price of the rode. Thanks Kevin.


I just talked to the Lewmar Tech again and he stated that their gypsies used only 1/2"or larger rode on all of their winches. They had complaints about slippage on the 1/2" rode and now were suggesting 9/16" on all. Sounds pretty cut and dried. No options I guess.Bummer :?

 

[mrfunandson]

No slippage lewmar 700 freefall 1/2" 8-plait

 

[Brian S]

I just installed a 700 with 3 strand, no complaints so far at all.

 

[scalywag05]

viewtopic.php?f=8&t=8779

 

[mildew2]

Great looking install thanks for the pictures..I like the way you did the Starboard.

 

[scalywag05]

thanks mildew.....wish i took more pics of the install, all i have are the "after" shots

 

[Pipedream]

I was going to tell you every thing was great with my pro fish 700 untill I went out monday.
I had a problem yesterday, the clutch would not close tight on the rope and retrieve the anchor. I think this was do to operater error. I had the manual on the boat. After reading the manual I noticed, when releasing the anchor you should only toggle down for 2 sec. for freefall.
I know I was holding it down for much longer, opening the winch all the way. After tightening it by hand I was able to retreive the anchor with the winch. I moved a couple of more times and it would release ok ,but not retreive with out tightening it by hand, When I got back to the dock I fooled with it some more and got it to work normal. Not exactly sure what I did to fix it. The windless is bran new on a new boat, it looks like a quality product and worked fine the few times I used it in the spring. I though I was using it correctly but I wasnt. Hopefully I will have years of good service from it. I would recomend it but always read the directions.