Galley maid windlass

[Scarlett]

For those who are questioning how much weight these windlasses can lift, see attached photo. It was working pretty hard but it did it. Now I have to figure out how to get it off.

 

[SKYCHENEY]

I once brought up a 30' long log that was about 14" in diameter. It pulled hard but it got it to the surface. At that point I pushed down on one end of it with a boat hook and it slid off and plunged by down to the bottom.

Never seen someone bring up a tire.

 

[rustybucket]

Once picked up an oyster encrusted dock piling. It didn't like it but it did it.

 

[Scarlett]

This is where I got the tire. Just a nice weekend raft up in San Diego with our Hatt in the center of the raft. Pretty good drone shot with the city in the background.

 

[rwaldrop13]

While it was not with a Galleymaid windlass, while i was in the USCG on a buoy tender, we were retrieving a buoy mooring and also pulled up an abandoned yacht anchor, chain and bow pulpit that had wrapped around the buoy mooring chain at the sinker. It was a hugely entertaining evolution, and resulted in hands-on training in oxy-acetylene torch operation for everyone in the Deck department.

 

[cww]

These galley maid windlasses are pretty deeply reduction geared with larger electric motors than most windlasses, the flip side is that's also why they're slower. You could just about pull up a sunken chevy suburban with one of these if you wanted to. It will make a rumbling noise under load but it'll do just about whatever you want it to. There is a dedicated breaker located up forward inside the chain locker that will trip if you actually manage to overload it somehow, but I've never managed to do it. I think you'd really have to be trying to pull that off.

 

[SKYCHENEY]

These galley maid windlasses are pretty deeply reduction geared with larger electric motors than most windlasses, the flip side is that's also why they're slower. You could just about pull up a sunken chevy suburban with one of these if you wanted to. It will make a rumbling noise under load but it'll do just about whatever you want it to. There is a dedicated breaker located up forward inside the chain locker that will trip if you actually manage to overload it somehow, but I've never managed to do it. I think you'd really have to be trying to pull that off.

If it's still rolling in one direction and you hit the button for the opposite direction, it will trip the breaker instantly

 

[jmooney]

Are Ideal windlasses the same as Galley Maid ?

 

[SKYCHENEY]

I once heard it said that GalleyMaid stole the plans from Ideal and made some minor changes. They are very similar in build so I could believe such a story.

 

[cww]

If it's still rolling in one direction and you hit the button for the opposite direction, it will trip the breaker instantly

You're right. I figured that one out by accident one July 4th evening trying to anchor downtown to watch the fireworks. I had just got the boat and I didn't know where the breaker was yet either, that was a fun scavenger hunt, naturally the anchor locker was the last place I looked.

 

[warrenw]

On my boat I bypassed the breaker at the Galley Maid control box as it was "soft", tripping frequently and in a difficult to access location (bypassing it was not fun). I have another properly sized breaker by the source battery in the engine room.

 

[cww]

On my boat I bypassed the breaker at the Galley Maid control box as it was "soft", tripping frequently and in a difficult to access location (bypassing it was not fun). I have another properly sized breaker by the source battery in the engine room.

I think your breaker is fine, and that Skycheney is right on this one. I don't know what it is about the design, but it blows the breaker if you push the button while it's still spinning in the opposite direction. You have to let it stop rotating first, then go the other way. Odd quirk now that he mentioned it, but mine does the same way. I'd be willing to bet that's what you were experiencing.

 

[warrenw]

I think your breaker is fine, and that Skycheney is right on this one. I don't know what it is about the design, but it blows the breaker if you push the button while it's still spinning in the opposite direction. You have to let it stop rotating first, then go the other way. Odd quirk now that he mentioned it, but mine does the same way. I'd be willing to bet that's what you were experiencing.

Chris,

I wish it would have been as easy as operator error. I'm the anchor jockey on my boat and we only have the foot switches and I always let it coast to a stop prior to reversing direction. The windlass would trip the breaker without much of a load, like starting to pull slack out of the chain. The windlass is in great shape - built in 1987 and the boat was docked in a fresh water covered slip until 2011, then shrink wrapped and mothballed on the hard from 2012 to 2022 prior to my purchase. With the new 150A Bluesea breaker (my boat is all 12VDC), it works like a charm, I have never had to reset it, and we anchor out every summer weekend. I think the old Airpax breaker was just done.