winches and trollers and sprits, oh my!

[MattInOz]

Hey again guys

If you remember, I was asking about trolling motors a while back but I came to the conclusion that the only way I was gonna fit it on my small (4.3m) runabout with windscreen was to lay it across the foredeck diagonally with a welded on plate sticking out the front to mount it on... and that was going to interfere with the anchor and lie over the top of the anchor well, so I'd have to take the troller off to use the anchor... what a pain. Decided to put it on the back burner till I figured out a better plan. Then I saw this boat online... (bugger, not letting me upload pics from phone).

Ok, I saw a pic of boat very similar to mine with the same anchor well on the foredeck except he'd mounted a windlass over the top of the well with chain feeding down into it so the well became a chain locker... and a trolling motor mounted diagonally over the top mounted on a sticky-out plate. So that was my eureka moment... though I'm buying a drum winch instead of the windlass and mounting it in the anchor well on the aft wall. I've pretty well decided on a "Viper S Series 1000 Micro Winch" with 65m of rope/chain. Problem solved, I can have my troller and use my anchor all at once, AND it's easier to go out on my own since I don't have to deal with anchors manually.

So that leaves me with another issue... I need a bow roller/bowsprit compatible with self launching/retrieving, and hopefully one that'll fit in the 58mm gap between my bow rails. I was at the point of committing to cutting off my bow rails completely (I'll have to modify them for the troller anyhow) when I came across one at whitworths - listed as "Stainless Steel Hinged Bow Roller 57mm x 380mm". I'll have to put a bit of teflon sheet between the SS roller and the aluminium hull so I don't get galvanic corrosion but that's sorted, it's suitable for boats up to 5.5m, and it'll clear my bow rails neatly. So... my question is... what's the point to hinged bow rollers? Is it going to do what I want? Is there a better way? I'm currently using a danforth style anchor but planning to change out to plough style anchor (dc anchor delta brand probably) as they apparently work better with winches. So... whatta you guys think?

Matt

[Junky]

You're on the right path.

 

A hinged bow roller is for auto  deployment of the anchor. 

Normal non hinged won't allow the anchor to drop, therefore the anchor may just sit on the bow roller and you'd have to manually push it out. 

 

Hinged will drop down as soon as you hit the switch, allowing the anchor to fall out easily and no need for your physical involvement . 

Then when you retrieve the anchor, it will come up into the bow roller vertically and as the chain gets tighter it will pull the anchor up to horizontal and sit all nice and neat on the bow spirit. 

Exactly what you're trying to achieve. 

[MattInOz]

6 hours ago, Junky said:

You're on the right path.

...

Exactly what you're trying to achieve. 

Thanks for that... was pretty sure that's what it was but couldn't find any videos of them in action, and the staff at whitworths are surprisingly uninformative about anything to do winches, bowsprits, etc. They sell them, but don't seem to know much about them.

[Angry51]

What I would like to know Matt, how do you use anchor and troll motor at the same time. Asking for a friend.

[ellicat]

7 minutes ago, Angry51 said:

What I would like to know Matt, how do you use anchor and troll motor at the same time. Asking for a friend.

Yes, not a good idea.

[MattInOz]

On 26/11/2023 at 3:24 PM, Angry51 said:

What I would like to know Matt, how do you use anchor and troll motor at the same time. Asking for a friend.

Perhaps not exactly the same time but on the same outing. If I decide to pull up somewhere and anchor I don't to have to mess about taking the trolling motor off (and knowing me dropping it overboard) before I can.

[Angry51]

Matt, Just taking the p*ss outta ya.

[Huxstang]

I think once you have your trolling motor and can spot lock the desire to anchor will drop a lot.  The anchor winch and trolling motor and batteries etc is a lot of weight up front on your smallish boat.

 

[MattInOz]

Well the winch is all fitted up and I finally got out on the water the other day... what a game changer it is, especially for a solo sailor. It's now so easy and fast to drop the anchor and pick it up that I'm questioning if I even need a trolling motor now. Just pull up, throw in half a dozen casts, and if you're not happy and want to move on you're gone in under a minute.

Oh and I talked myself into lay-bying a new fish finder too at the BCF boxing day sales. Upgrading the old Lowrance Elite Ti the boat came with to a Lowrance HDS Live. They had the 7" ones on sale for $1399 ($30 less than the Elite FS 7") because they're discontinued now in favour of the HDS Pro. From looking at the difference between the Ti and the Live on youtube, it's like comparing chalk and cheese. If you want one they had about half a dozen left at various branches the other day... I bought the second last one at Ipswich.

(Tried to attach a pic of the winch but it gave me an error when I tried to upload.)

[Huxstang]

Ahhh they are called boats for a reason..bring out another thousand…. I am no better.  Always finding something I can’t live without -lol.

Need to get a solution for a trolling motor stabliser - dont want to cut up my nice new Seadek just yet!

And I just bought another Victron Smart Shunt so I can check the power on my house battery bank as well as the trolling motor bank.  And will fit a VSR as a battery combiner while I am at it so I can charge the two AGM’s at once with the single battery charger.  (If anyone doesnt know SPRINGERS Solar are the best prices for Victron and Enerdrive I have found - current Boxing Day sale is epic)

[MattInOz]

Yep... just when you the boat's perfect and there's nothing else to do some other shiny toy (usually with a 4 figure pricetag) suddenly seems absolutely essential. Oh well, everybody needs a hobby.