Drum or windlass anchor winch

looking at upgrading my anchor winch on the Commodore Abrohlos 8000, as the one that's on there (windlass) looks to be what was originally fitted, can't actually hold the boat... Every time bow goes up she lets out rope and winds out, as if it's not designed to handle the weight of the boat... Also is painfully slow at letting rope out when trying to anchor up on spots.. I mean PAINFUL!

can anyone recommend a decent windlass that can handle a boat probably pushing 3.5 tonne loaded? Or do I bite the bullet and install a decent sized drum winch on the bow..

I do have a viper pro 1000 drum winch sitting in storage I bought for another boat but think that may be a touch small even though they say suits boats to 9m...  

I want to be able to safely anchor and fish in water up to 85m depth..


Posts: 791

Date Joined: 05/12/09

 Ps.. If anyone wants to come

Wed, 2015-08-19 09:37

 Ps.. If anyone wants to come up and install for me, I'd gladly put you up for a few days and throw in a few trips out to the islands

Posts: 563

Date Joined: 27/08/09

Just check with your manual

Wed, 2015-08-19 11:10

Just check with your manual but on a lot of winches there is a clutch that will slip if the load becomes too great. You may only need to adjust it up.

RobertMc's picture

Posts: 326

Date Joined: 19/01/09

 Sorry mate I can't help ya

Wed, 2015-08-19 09:44

 Sorry mate I can't help ya with the install but If you ended up getting a new winch and you wanted to get rid of  the winch you have in storage send me a pm cheers

Posts: 791

Date Joined: 05/12/09

 Everything is always for

Wed, 2015-08-19 09:49

 Everything is always for sale for the right price haha

still boxed up never been opened with rope chain etc.. Check them out on the Bell marine website

ranmar850's picture

Posts: 2702

Date Joined: 12/08/12

You'll need a lot of line capacity

Wed, 2015-08-19 10:19

 Obviously, if you want to anchor in 85 metres you need at least 250 metres of rope, would a viper 1000 hold that, even using the very expensive small diameter rope they recommend? Biggest downside of drum type winches, IMO. Guess you'd be running at least a 10kg pick and fair weight of chain, as well? 

Posts: 791

Date Joined: 05/12/09

 There's no way the viper

Wed, 2015-08-19 11:32

 There's no way the viper would hold that.. I would only be anchoring in that depth occasionally when weather n swell permitted.. 90% would be 20-55m.. Just wanted to be able to anchor that depth once in a blue moon when the 1 in 3 rule wouldn't need to be applied..

merdel12's picture

Posts: 306

Date Joined: 19/07/12

 Just got the viper and is a

Wed, 2015-08-19 10:47

 Just got the viper and is a great unit with the 5 year warrenty. Ive got the 1000 model and 100m of rope with 10m of chain

Posts: 1

Date Joined: 22/07/15

 What's the deepest you have

Wed, 2015-08-19 12:07

 What's the deepest you have used it in?

merdel12's picture

Posts: 306

Date Joined: 19/07/12

 Hey riley, havnt had it long

Wed, 2015-08-19 12:54

 Hey riley, havnt had it long but normally anchor around the 30m mark