Galley Maid Windlass frustrations

[43DoubleCabin]

I finally got around to messing with the windlass onboard. New to me boat. Galley Maid model BB, Capstan only no Wildcat. Only has power down? This is very frustrating. Why in the world would somebody only want power down? What am I missing here? The rode ends at a thimble and is then shackled into the chain. This is frustrating as well. As opposed to the road being braided into the chain. As you may imagine this causes a mess when all of that meets in the capstan at the same time.

 

[Pascal]

Someone must have replaced the rode and didn’t know how to splice the chain... it s not that hard plenty of how to video

I prefer power down but free fall is much faster. A gipsy can be added by not cheap

 

[Briankinley2004]

I had to call Galley Maid about a part for mine. I believe the guy's name is Rick that I talked to. He knows these things better than I know my wife after 34 years of marriage. He told me you are not supposed to power down constantly with their winches, only momentary to un stick, etc. He thought powering down by the previous owner might have been the issue with mine. With that information I can't imagine they would make one with power down only. The direction you wrap the rode makes a difference in the direction it pulls. It may be you just change direction of the wrap to go up or down. I would call them and find out for sure before assuming its power down only.

 

[Captain Ralph]

Galley Maid windlass prefer free falling and power up.
Could you be wrapping the drum incorrectly or the battery has been installed backwards?
Looking down, the wild-cat or drum should be spinning clockwise to raise.

 

[brico]

My problem is that my "Admiral" has no clue how to meneouver the boat when approaching anchorage or choosing the spot where to anchor in relation to other boats already anchored. She is happy walking the anchor down or hoisting it up by windlass. She knows not to over stress it when hoisting it up if the weight is too much and she gives me the direction where the chain is leading so I can ease off the strain if needed using engine(s) . She has no clue, nor have I taught her, how to drop/free fall it on the "brake" so I only hope, that my Galley Maid Windlass is not going to crap out one day because we power it down every time we anchor instead of dropping/free falling it ......

 

[ageless]

My problem is that my "Admiral" has no clue how to meneouver the boat when approaching anchorage or choosing the spot where to anchor in relation to other boats already anchored. She is happy walking the anchor down or hoisting it up by windlass. She knows not to over stress it when hoisting it up if the weight is too much and she gives me the direction where the chain is leading so I can ease off the strain if needed using engine(s) . She has no clue, nor have I taught her, how to drop/free fall it on the "brake" so I only hope, that my Galley Maid Windlass is not going to crap out one day because we power it down every time we anchor instead of dropping/free falling it ......

there are many options to alter what the motor does, you could put/have switches on the bridge to operate it, it's a simple system. I, too need to do something now that my bowrail is gone. I free fall my system based on current and only have a foot control retrieve at the pulpit. with no rail I'd rather have a free fall (short power down) with a retrieve smitch at the bridge where you could control it. My issue is the access to the anchor locker, someone HAS to be up there to feed it. Hmmmmm, might need to break out the sawzaw and west system and see what can of worms I can open. I need a different gypsy, absolutely HATE what is on there now and want to replace the 20 yards of chain i have now with 200' + the 300" of rode. Would be nice to do this together as mine is galley maid as well. I am 15 minutes from Raz marine and 15 minutes from the inlet so I can video what I do. With this site and Raz this close to me, together we can get our systems RIGHT!!

 

[Pascal]

Rick rebuilt mine a couple of years ago. He said occasional power down is t going to hurt anything. Indeed it had worked fine like that for decades. Sometimes I let free fall by just pulling the chain of the gipsy and let slide along the capstan

Remote switches at both helms are a must so you control the boat.

Ageless, the set up looks pretty impractical. No gipsy and no hawsepipe so you to manually feed the chain ? Yuck. Call Rick at GM and see if he has a longer shaft and gipsy. Or any machine Shop should be able to make a new shaft. Worth it. Then drill a hole and install a hawse pipe in the correct spot

 

[Doug.T]

My problem is that my "Admiral" has no clue how to meneouver the boat when approaching anchorage or choosing the spot where to anchor in relation to other boats already anchored. She is happy walking the anchor down or hoisting it up by windlass. She knows not to over stress it when hoisting it up if the weight is too much and she gives me the direction where the chain is leading so I can ease off the strain if needed using engine(s) . She has no clue, nor have I taught her, how to drop/free fall it on the "brake" so I only hope, that my Galley Maid Windlass is not going to crap out one day because we power it down every time we anchor instead of dropping/free falling it ......

I had mine rebuiltwhen I bought the boat because it was making a racket when powering down. It turns out that the Galley-Maid windlass is a carbon copy of the Ideal windlass, but they eliminated the thrust bearing for power down and thereby avoided a patent lawsuit from Ideal. When I had it rebuilt I had them add a "compromise" thrust bearing. I power down from the Flybridge, and position the boat with the engines when in a crowded anchorage.