I'm building a Darby and was wondering if anyone has built a free falling anchor windlass.
Looking for pics or anything to help.
Thanks,
You guyz are the best

Ok so after tons of thought and lots of undo or redo or deleting of things I made a working anchor windlass for my Darby.
The windlass itself is static, but under the deck I put a motor and servo with some linkage and other things I don't know what to call them. Free falling and powered retrieval is real neat. The only problem I have is that the motor and gearbox are to fast at 12 volts and looks stupid when retrieving the anchor, so I went to just running 3 volts on it. The looks are ok just not quite enough torque for smooth operation. I’m looking to get a new motor and gearbox.

Go to a higher voltage and add in a small resistor to slow it down to what you need .
I have enough resistors to help you get it right.

Rich

Thanks Cyclops,
I have a buddy that has been helping me. My biggest problem is there is not enough something electrical to make it slow and yet powerful enough to pull it in smooth.
I tried all sorts of resistor possibility's and none seem to work. But I ain't no electrician thats for sure.
Here are some simple pics. I can't get the actual windlass itself because its covered by the deck. If I take it out at some point I'll get a pic of it.
Thanks again,
Steve

That is a great Windlass.
We know the anchor and chain are not heavy enough to load the motor. So the problem should be friction in the gearbox. I am a big help ??

I would simply take apart a standard servo and make it into the drive for the windlass. Done it many times as a ESC for small boats. The pulses of the servo will jar the windlass several times a second and give fantastic control up and down.

Rich

That is a great Windlass.
We know the anchor and chain are not heavy enough to load the motor. So the problem should be friction in the gearbox. I am a big help ??

I would simply take apart a standard servo and make it into the drive for the windlass. Done it many times as a ESC for small boats. The pulses of the servo will jar the windlass several times a second and give fantastic control up and down.

Rich

Ok,
It took long enough to get this vid on my Computer now here it is.
I tried it out at the pond and it seems the winch is not really strong enough if its got a good hold of a rock or something.
Hey Rich, I'll try the servo soon (soon can mean months for me).

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D6PxOyiU9Ns

Thanks,
Steve

Krick has a winch you might consider.

http://www.cornwallmodelboats.co.uk/...k_winches.html

[8D]