On Tue, 15 Apr 2008 10:17:29 -0700, "Capt. JG"
wrote:

We had a windlass die in the BVIs... pretty calm conditions, anchored in
about 15 ft. I'm glad I wasn't the one doing the hauling to get the anchor
up.

It's important to have a contingency plan for dealing with windlass
failure. This is relatively easy on a sailboat, just bend another
piece of line onto your snubber and lead it aft to a primary winch,
using snatch blocks to get a fair lead.

On my trawler I carry a piece of gear called a "come along".

http://www.cvfsupplycompany.com/hanpowpulcom.html

I can rig the come along to a mid-ship cleat and pull about 20 feet of
chain, stop it off, get a new purchase, and pull another 20 feet.
It's slow going but it will work in an emergency. It's useful for
other things also, like hoisting 8D batteries out of inaccessible
locations.

"Wayne.B" wrote in message
...
On Tue, 15 Apr 2008 10:17:29 -0700, "Capt. JG"
wrote:

We had a windlass die in the BVIs... pretty calm conditions, anchored in
about 15 ft. I'm glad I wasn't the one doing the hauling to get the anchor
up.

It's important to have a contingency plan for dealing with windlass
failure. This is relatively easy on a sailboat, just bend another
piece of line onto your snubber and lead it aft to a primary winch,
using snatch blocks to get a fair lead.

On my trawler I carry a piece of gear called a "come along".

http://www.cvfsupplycompany.com/hanpowpulcom.html

I can rig the come along to a mid-ship cleat and pull about 20 feet of
chain, stop it off, get a new purchase, and pull another 20 feet.
It's slow going but it will work in an emergency. It's useful for
other things also, like hoisting 8D batteries out of inaccessible
locations.



Familiar with come-alongs... used to use them for gold-mining in the
Sierras. They work great for moving boulders, so a puny winch shouldn't be a
problem. Nice suggestion/method.



--
"j" ganz @@
www.sailnow.com

On Tue, 15 Apr 2008 12:24:27 -0700, "Capt. JG"
wrote:

Familiar with come-alongs... used to use them for gold-mining in the
Sierras. They work great for moving boulders, so a puny winch shouldn't be a
problem. Nice suggestion/method.

Who would have guessed we had a former gold miner in our midst. :-)
I'm always amazed at the wide assortment of talent represented here.

I also carry a come along and a danforth anchor in my truck. The
anchor is very useful for off road 4 wheeling if you get stuck and
there is no convenient tree handy.

"Wayne.B" wrote in message
...
On Tue, 15 Apr 2008 12:24:27 -0700, "Capt. JG"
wrote:

Familiar with come-alongs... used to use them for gold-mining in the
Sierras. They work great for moving boulders, so a puny winch shouldn't be
a
problem. Nice suggestion/method.

Who would have guessed we had a former gold miner in our midst. :-)
I'm always amazed at the wide assortment of talent represented here.

I also carry a come along and a danforth anchor in my truck. The
anchor is very useful for off road 4 wheeling if you get stuck and
there is no convenient tree handy.



It was an interesting time. I was using an 8-inch dredge powered by a 16
horse engine sitting on two pontoons. We would anchor it in the river. The
engine ran two hooka attachments, so you could have two people under water
at the same time. We had two people on the surface feeding the gasoline and
moving the tailings. It was quite an endeavor. Here's a link to pics of some
of what I found: http://picasaweb.google.com/SailNOW.com/GoldFromSierras

I also used to have a CJ-7 with a winch, but it was too wimpy to drag the
jeep sideways. We would usually just wait under the shade tree if really
stuck. Someone always came by eventually, and we had plenty of beer.

--
"j" ganz @@
www.sailnow.com