arthura
New Member
- Jul 6, 2010
- 6
- Boat Info
- 310 Sundancer 2001, Merc 350 MAG
- Engines
- twin Mercruiser 350 MAG MPI (350 cu in, 300 hp, 5,735 cc, V8
Although I am a long time boater, until I recently moved from Lake Ontario to Georgian Bay I had never used my Windlass. I bought a 2001 31 ft Sea Ray Sundancer for Georgian Bay. It has original equipment including a Lofrans Progress 1, which I think is a Low Profile since there is a gypsy (wildcat?) but no obvious separate capstan. Now I want to anchor at the great beaches and overnight coves, but I have discovered that I do not know how to use my windlass, and the 4 paragraph 'manual' that Lofrans provides does not help me. Everything seems to be working and I can use my foot pedal or console control to pay out my anchor and the chain portion of my rode smoothly. However, the windlass does not continue to grab the rope portion of the rode. The larger problem is retrieval. The windlass does not grab the rope or feed it into the locker and I have to manually pull it up and manually stuff the rope into the locker. Once the transition is made to chain, the windlass grabs well but often the chain jams going back into the locker. Once I sort this out, the chain and anchor retrieval works flawlessly under power. I see that there is a handle but I have no clue as to when to use it. Ditto for the Finger. Many thanks to anyone who can enlighten me.
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