Installing Drum Anchor Winch on a Trailer Sailer
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- čas přidán 3. 07. 2020
- In this video I go though the installation of my Viper Pro Series 1500 drum anchor winch on my RL 28 trailer sailer.
I look at a few tips and tricks involved in the installation and then tips and tricks in the correct use of the winch. Controlled by manual switches at the front and rear of the boat and a remote that can be used anywhere on the boat the winch has made the tasks of anchoring and retrieving a simple matter especially when sailing solo. - Sport
Hey Mark, another consummate well thought out improvement. Always a pleasure to watch your mods. I know your generous help has helped me in the past and is appreciated by many in the trailer sailor community
Thanks for the generous comment. Love my sailing and sharing the tinkering on boats. If it helps and encourages others even better. Cheers Mark
Thanks for the reply Mark. I had a boomerang 20 about 9 years ago. Then changed to a top hat 25 fixed keel which I love but I do miss the versatility of the trailer sailer. And l like the size of the rl 28 and am tempted to look for one in a couple of years. And I enjoy watching your channel. Keep it up. Thanks Joe
A fine job that removes one of the harder parts of cruising, especially single handed. Much more useful than the capstan type in my mind. I would love to see a schematic of your wiring, I am 8 parts there with that on my SC25 but am still struggling with duel battery layout etc. There are so many options ! It's foggy and damp here in the Dandenongs and an occasional sail on Westernport (last Tuesday was beautiful with not another boat to be seen), and videos like yours make Winter not so hard. Thanks. Tom
Hi Tom,
The wiring is as per the wiring diagram that came with the winch. It may vary depending on the winch you have. I went for having the solenoid close to the winch in a waterproof box as it meant 2 heavy cables back to the battery instead of 3. Solenoid connections might vary according to the brand as well. I have twin batteries and just wired the cables directly to battery 1. If you have a dual battery system it wouldn't matter which battery you wired it to as long as it has a current out capacity of 100 to 140 amps depending on the winch you install. If your main battery is a cranking battery it would have the capacity and mostly if your engine is charging the battery you tend to have the motor running when anchoring so the main battery would be the one to go for. If you anchored 10 times between charges in deeper water then you might have an issue with discharge.
Yes last weekend was very pleasant but very little sailing wind. Still great to be out on the water without a boat in sight. Cheers Mark
Nice touch, your back will love it
The problem with silicone i'm told is that once silocone is cured it secreates an oil, making it impossible to seal over, you cant add more silocone once its cured. So im told
Good to know! Cheers Marki
Nice job Mark
Good job on that install
My yacht managed to grow a small forest of vegetation over the second lockdown but is beginning to look clean. Unfortunately her rudder has split so handed the problem over to my son in law to fix. Looking forward to my first sail on Western Port and may see you on the water. There aren't too many RL 28 in the area.. keep safe Tony
Yes the lockdown was not kind to many boats. Hopefully you will be up and running soon. I have to wait for my trailer brake parts before I can get out again. The improvements to the Hastings ramp has made it a bit more TS friendly but a queing pontoon on both sides would have been much better. I hear it is a really busy ramp so returning after a trip on a weekend always makes me nervous. Over January I at least have the option of both launching and retrieving on a weekday. Hopefully we will cross paths out on the water, its hard to miss the big "Neringa" RL 28. Cheers Mark
Great tips! Great setup!
Glad it was helpful! Cheers Mark
I like the new name Mark, to your channel congratulations. The slipway at Hastings is I believe open for use...cheers Tony
Thanks Tony, Yes I have been watching it on the web. Had a bit of a shake down cruise on Port Phillip Bay this weekend after a long break and lots of new improvements on the boat to test. I lost a brake pad on the way home so now have to wait for a replacement caliper which got damaged so Western Port may be before or after christmas when I have a month off. You are welcome to email me on sharemyadventure.net@gmail.com if you want to ask anything of the public comments. Cheers Mark
Hi Mark, just touching base to see how you are. COVID has certainly made a mess of the year. Let’s hope all will be well for next year. Keep well Tony W
Hi Tony, Yes its been a year you could never have predicted. Juggling my long service leave for 2021 to get to the Kimberley as I have to give 5 months notice. I have it set for April but may have to change it to July as its going to be a strong cyclone season and the Covid thing may still stop the Kimberley in April still. Have to wait and see.
Waiting for the Hastings boat ramp upgrade to be finished and lock down eased to so I can do a lot of Westernport sailing this season for some new video material.
Hope you have avoided the virus and enjoyed what you can of the year. Cheers Mark
@@TRAILERYACHTADVENTURES I keep my small yacht at Yaringa which is not too far away from the Hastings ramp. I’m also a member of the Hastings Yacht Club. Stay in touch all the best Tony
Hi Mark, Once again an excellent video....... well thought out, well done. Perhaps some videos on your upgrades for the trip up North(of blessed memory) I know you have done one video .....perhaps break them down into there constituent parts...ie fielding beaching legs.
As alway the very to you. Tony
Thanks Tony, hopefully the trip up north will still happen next year if people in Victoria all get serious and do the right thing at the moment. As time permits I will think about the upgrade videos. They take a lot of work to put together and then you get the occasional brave viewer who dislikes the video without leaving a comment as to why? Maybe its because then they are not anonymous any more! Not that I care less as I make them for myself and to share some of the experience of sailing with others with similar interests. Sorry about the little rant. Thanks for the positive comments and I will definitely think about some additional videos. The beaching legs haven't yet been thoroughly tested yet due to the lack of sailing to suitable locations with suitable tides. I will be really happy with them once I have dried out on hard sand as all other times have been on soft bottoms where the keel sinks in a bit. I am pretty confident they will be fine though. Cheers Mark
Nice video!
Great job skipper. Obviously, the motor for the drum winch is impervious to oncoming breaking waves? I have a trimaran 30 footer. How i wish i had a retrieval/deployment system like this. But there is no room for such. Loved your video.
Hi Alan, Yes room is always the problem on boats. The motor/Gearbox has an IP6 rating which for memory means it can be submerged 1m for 1 hour. The RL28 has a large anchor well which lends itself well to this sort of winch. As a bonus it keeps the anchor rode neatly bundled whilst underway! Cheers Mark
On one of the Lone Star videos it recommends using a shackle between the anchor and the swivel. I noticed you have connected the swivel directly to the anchor. What is the correct way?
There was no recommendation for a shackle with this winch. The swivel was super heavy duty with pins twice that of the shackle I would have used. I did use thread locker when installing as the sliding slot on the anchor may have worked the pin loose. I am not sure if the shackle is needed, I have had my arrangement for quite a few years now and have no issues with it at all in that time including during our 3 month Kimberley trip where the pressures on the anchor in the huge tides were often a real challenge for the anchor. The swivel pin has little signs of wear and has never shown any inclination to work itself loose. Cheers Mark
Hi Mark - great video
I've just bought and installed the same Viper winch and do you have a link for the curved roller
Sadly I couldn't find a suitably wide curved roller although I am sure someone makes them. I used my old wood lathe to make one from a block of polyethylene bought on ebay. The reason I needed one is that the closer the flat roller is to the drum winch the more a curved roller is needed to help lay the anchor line evenly onto the drum. Even then it doesn't always work perfectly especially if your drum is really full. Best be is to find a supply of any curved rollers and see it they can source one of the right width. If you have a lathe machining them is pretty easy.
Aloha, I see you attached the chain swivel to the anchor, I think I see where the maker said to put a shackle to the anchor and then the chain swivel.
Hi Roger, didn't see any reference to a shackle between the anchor and swivel. I did lock the threads on the swivel pins with resin. Used it like this for 2 years now with no problems. Will look into it more though, thanks for the heads up. Cheers Mark
I have just bought a Sonata 26 and at 67 my days of fore deck work are a lot harder. I have viewed your installation several times trying to work out how I can reinforce the anchor locker to cope with a drum winch. Have you any suggestions?
Hi Mike, Not familiar with the anchor locker on the sonata 26. If you send a couple of pics to my channel email sharemyadventure.net@gmail.com I can give you some hints about how I might strengthen it . Cheers Mark
Do you recall what size wire you used? Appears to be quite the distance from power to the motor. Nicely done, especially the gussets.
Hi Creig,
For memory it was around and 8m cable run, a bit shorter for the negative and a bit longer for the positive. Originally I was going to use 2 B&S but ended up using 1 B&S because that''s all the supplier had at the time. I am reasonably confident 2 B&S would have been adequate as the 1 B&S has shown no signs of being stressed at all. I have to say its been one of the best additions to the boat for stress free anchor retrieves. Definitely recommend the addition of the remote control to the system.
Cheers
Mark
Hi Mark, the yank, here , has another question about your setup...smile. Once anchored. ..do you attach some sort of snubber to take the load off of the drum and motor assembly? My God, Mark, that looks bullet proof commercial fisherman style...he he he...Wonderful explanation and good eye for bomb proofing it. I really have to think of how to make my anchoring life more easy. I have a 35 lb Mantus and only 30 foot of chain and then rode. But I am late 60's...ain't getting easier. I lost an anchor last February in San Carlos area when caught in an anchorage with 6 foot swell and 30-40 knots of wind and about 15-20 foot deep. Boat sailed on the anchor rode all night. Pitch up, pitch down...sailed to port and lifted the windward ama...dropped into the trough...what a night. Was done puking my brains out by 2 am. We never forget those nights...do we? So much fun and then moments of sheer terror.
HI
Hi Alan,
I was definitely in the same boat, 30ft of chain in deep water was getting a bit much to haul up and the thought of being able to drop the anchor whilst in control at the rear of the boat really appealed. I went the drum style winch as there wasn't enough room below decks to create a chain locker to use with a normal anchor windlass. The drum also copes better with the chain/rope anchor rode. I do a lot of solo sailing so being able to drop and retrieve whilst in control of the boat especially in tight anchorages is fantastic. The drum is rated to 270kg of constant pull so in most places I dont need to use a snubber. Once retrieved I only lock the anchor down if planning to do a longer passage in rough conditions and have never found the anchor loosening on shorter trips. I love it so far, the only worry is that if it ever fails to spool out I would have to get my spare anchor out from the rear of the boat. A free spooling model would have been better but are 6 inches wider and that would have bee to hard to fit in the boat.
Nothing is absolutely perfect but I think its not a bad compromise. Cheers Mark
Hi Mark,
Great video as always.
Do you need to lock of the anchor rod or chain after you set it on this anchor winch .
Hi Mark,
The winch claims to have a holding capacity of 270 kg so no, I take my safety shackle of once on the water and put it back on when loading back on the trailer. I might consider using the locking shackle if the forecast was for really rough weather but otherwise I only lock it for road travel. Cheers Mark
I always forget to ask the following question......how reliable are the Parsun outboard motors? Your thoughts please...
Hi Tony,
Missed this question. They are OK and perform well but have a few short comings. I found my 15hp 2 stroke reliable except when I was in the Kimberley last time. Had fuel issues and poor idling. Fixed it with stripping the carby and giving a full clean but I was hesitant to do that in the Kimberley sailing solo incase any parts were damaged or lost. This could of happened to any outboard though. The biggest fault of the Parsun motors is the poor quality of the alloy used to make them. Corrosion and bubbling paint was a constant problem. The smaller 5.8hp parsun I got also had this problem big time and the water pump after a short time became a bit marginal.
Other than the above, they started easily and performed as well as the more expensive outboards. I would probably not buy another as the only importer of these when called on the phone for advice on the 15hp was rude and un helpful to say the least. Hope this is helpful. Cheers Mark
Hi Mark. just wondering how changing from a fractional rig to a mast head rig has changed the handling of the RL 28. Did you change the position of the mast ? and what size head sail are you using. What made you change it in the first place. thanks joe
HI Joe,
I'm not a racer so the fractional rig is less important to me. The headsail is the same area as the mainsail with the bottom high enough to be able to see in front of the boat when under sail if I bend down.
I changed the rig mostly to improve light wind performance and balance. The original head sail is quite small and the boat is well under powered in my view. I now get between 1 to 2 knots extra speed in winds under 15 knots depending on point of sail and sea conditions and for me this is significant when cruising which is my main use of the boat. The RL has a tendency to round up in strong gusts when heeled so it was part of the process of improving that as well. At around 15 knots the headsail is reduced to around the original size to keep the boat balanced and sailing well whilst under 15 knots the boat is better balanced with the full headsail out. The rounding up was also improved by the new flatter slightly smaller mainsail I got 18 months ago, that moved the center of effort forward. The mast position is now far more fixed but still has some ability to adjust with the back stay. I am using the second hole from the front on the mast base bracket and have adjusted the mast to as close to vertical as possible. Without the back stay tensioned the top bends marginally forward, I then tension the back stay until it returns to vertical putting a good tension on the front stay and furler. It can be bent slightly back with more backstay. I have added an inner forestay attaching behind the anchor well and to the original point on the mast. This is tensioned enough to give a very slight forward curve to the mast.
My assessment of it all is I have a greater range of sail forward to adjust the center of effort and balance the boat giving better speed in light winds. Having said this strong unexpected gusts can seriously overpower the the boat and round it up but the RL28 is quite twitchy that way and in my view anyway which I feel is partly due to the keel design and the center of lateral resistance not being quite far enough aft. The other bonus is when using my full spinnaker previously the unsupported top of the mast would bend significantly which I wasn't comfortable with where now it is rock solid. Hope this answers some of your question. Cheers Mark
Forgot to mention the main and the headsail are both just over 12.5 square metres each.
Would this work for a 36ft yacht weighing 3 tonne?
The winch was rated for 8m + and for memory up to 3.5t displacement boats so strength wise it would be ok. You would just have to check the winch rating before buying one.
The main issue with this style of winch is the capacity. I used 70m of 12mm rope and 12m of 8mm chain and the drum is at full capacity. The winch came with 100m of 6mm polyester rope which in my view was completely inadequate. So if 80 to 100m of anchor rode is sufficient for your boat it would be fine. It is important to remember that these drums are designed to work with a rope+chain anchor rode. Chain only would have a much less capacity. Hope this helps. Cheers Mark
I envy you ... you have an anchor well I supplemented with an a winch with 300 foot of rode however I need to have somewhere to place my anchor and chain so its not rollong on my deck any ideas?
Only really 2 options. First would be to bolt a box onto the foredeck but unsightly and gets in the the way of sails and working there. Second option if there is enough room in the vee berth underneath to create a fibreglass box hanging down from the underside of the deck into the vee berth space. There are commercial hatches you could install in the deck and even make it self draining if not too low.
Cheers Mark
Hey Mark, I am new to trailer sailing. I have a dream to sail to the islands nth of Flinders Island. Have you done this trip? Can you do it in a sailer trailer?? Thanks in advance, james.
Hi James, Sorry I missed this message. Yes, I definitely want to sail Bass Strait through the Islands, in particular Deal island north of flinders. You need a suitably long window of time in a trailer sailer to cope with the possible weather which has stopped me to date. I am hoping to retire at the end of 2021 so maybe then if not sooner. Cheers Mark
Well done. Should last.
Folding beaching legs!!!!!!!