Anchor winch modification

[seo]

Hi,
I'm currently sailing as captain on a schooner, and am working on a proposal to upgrade her anchor winch. She's a traditional type, carrying two 550 Lbs. kedge anchors on catheads. Both anchors use 3/4" chain which is stowed in deck boxes.
The anchor winch is a horizontal shaft mounted on the aft side of the bitt posts, with gypsy heads at each end. The actuator is a plain old teeter-totter rig.
I dislike this rig a lot. I hate how long it takes to range out two shots of chain on deck, and how dangerous it is to dump it all on the run when you let go the cat stopper.
I'd like to get rid of the gypsy heads, and replace them with wildcats. I'd also like to have a brake on the wildcat, so that the anchor can be released under control. That accomplished, it's possible to put the chain rode in a proper chain locker below decks, which improves stability and is easier on the deck (all that chain weighs a lot).
So, here's the questiion. Has anyone ever seen a modification like this, or know of a winch like it. We don't have room on deck for a vertical capstan, which is the only alternative to the teeter totter; we need to be able to get at least four people on the winch, and two of them had better be healthy specimens.
As a final question, does anyone know of a source of raw castings of 3/4" chain wildcats? Either iron or bronze would be fine. Or know of a machine shop in New England that has a big enough CNC milling machine , and enough imagination to undertake making a wildcat from blank?
And would anyone like to trade a 350-400 Lbs kedge with folding arm for one of our 550's? (If this looks an odious commercial offer, please delete it.)

[Ian McColgin]

Paul Luke can fix your gypsey problem. It just needs to be on a cone so it can be friction braked. Very safe to let out under brake control.

Like you, I don't really like the teetertotter and always imagined a worm gear alternative so'd would crew could either march around or crank.

Final thought. If there's the verticle space and a lack of sheets to foul a surpluss coffee-grinder with brakable gypsey under a drum is a super solution. You might have to locate the unit abeam or a tad abaft the foremast.

G'luck

[George Ray]

Paul Luke sounds like a great lead.

However, FYI

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Traditional Marine Hardware
Compiled: George Ray (Sept_2006)
Version: 3.0
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Lunenburg Foundry & Engineering
PO Box 1240
Lunenburg NS B0J 2C0
Tel: 902-634-8827
Fax: 902-634-8886
WEB: www.lunenburgfoundry.com
Info: mail@lunenburgfoundry.com
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Port Townsend Foundry
251 Otto St.
Port Townsend WA 98368
Tel: (360) 385-6425
Fax: (360) 385-1947
WEB: www.porttownsendfoundry.com
Info: ptf@olypen.com
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Bristol Bronze:
Postal address:
PO Box 101
Tiverton, RI 02878 USA
Tel: 401-625-5224
Fax: 401-624-3991
WEB: www.bristolbronze.com
Info: Info@BristolBronze.com
Sales: Sales@bristolBronze.com
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New Found Metals
240 Airport Road
Port Townsend, WA 98368
Tel: (360) 385-3315
Tel: (888) 437-5512
Fax: (360) 385-6097
WEB: www.newfoundmetals.com
Info: nfm@newfoundmetals.com

No longer casting. Now reselling only.
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Spartan Marine Hardware
340 Robinhood Road
Georgetown, Maine, 04548
Tel: 800-325-3287
Tel: 207-371-2024
WEB: www.spartanmarine.com
Info: info@spartanmarine.com
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Davey & Co. Marine Hardware
1 Chelmsford Road Ind Est,
Great Dunmow,
Essex,
CM6 1HD
UK
Tel: +44 (0)1371 876361
Fax: +44 (0)1371 873202
********
Distributed in USA by:
R&W Rope Warehouse
39 Tarkiln Place
New Bedford, MA 02745
Tel: (800) 260-8599
For Traditional Rigging Division:
Tel: (866) 577-5505
WEB: www.rwrope.com/contact.htm
Info: traditional_marine@RWrope.com
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Toplicht
Friesenweg 4
D-22763 Hamburg
Tel. (040) 8890 10-0
Fax: (040) 8890 1011
Looks like a lot of great stuff!
Helps if you read german...
WEB: www.toplicht.de/
Info: toplicht@toplicht.de
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Classic Marine
Lime Kiln Quay,
Woodbridge, Suffolk IP12 1BD UK
Tel from USA: 011 44 1394 380390
Fax from USA: 011 44 1394 388380
WEB: www.classicmarine.co.uk
Info: info@classicmarine.co.uk
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J.M. REINECK & SON
9 Willow Street
Hull, Massachusetts 02045-1121
Tel: (781) 925-3312
WEB: www.bronzeblocks.com
Info: jmrandson@AOL.com
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Accon Marine
(727)572-9202
13665 Automobile Blvd.
Clearwater, FL 33762
WEB: www.acconmarine.com
Info: info@acconmarine.com
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Traditional Marine Outfitters
360 St. George Street
Annapolis Royal, Nova Scotia
BOS 1A0
www.traditional-marine.com/1-100web.htm
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The MYSTIC RIVER FOUNDRY, LLC
Broadway Extension
P.O. Box 121
Mystic, Connecticut 06355 USA
Tel: 860-536-7634
Fax: 860-572-8473
WEB: www.mysticriverfoundry.com
Info: mrf@riconnect.com
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*** end of supplier list ***
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Rev Notes:
*********
Rev 2.0 => 3.0
Member: KC8QPL
New Found Metals should be removed from the above list. They haven't done custom casting for several years now, since the EPA forced them to shut down their foundry operation. These days they supply bronze and stainless ports and a few other stock items made in China. Port Towensend Foundry now has most of NFM's old patterns, along with thousands more I believe.
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******** end revision notes ********
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[seo]

Thanks for the ideas. The tapered brake on the wildcat might work. I'd been thinking in terms of a disc brake, but will have to figure it out.
Last time I was at Paul Luke, they did not have a foundry. They supply patterns to a foundry that does the actual castings, and then finish the raw castings. I think that Spartan does the same. If they have a foundry there at Robinhood, I didn't notice it.
I don't think that the stop (ratchet) pawls on a coffee grinder are heavy enough for this service. We are talking about a 550 Lbs anchor and rode that weights over 500 Lbs per hundred feet. Aside from that, I can't see how you'd get more than two people on a coffee grinder. Two people can't lift that amount of weight in a reasonable amount of time between aweigh and hooked on the burton.
The problem with a capstan is that they need a clear circle around them for the sailors to walk the spikes around. A 90' schooner just doesn't have that kind of space. Maybe if we cut down the bitts, and put the capstan right behind the bitts. But then they'd have to step over the bowsprit butt every time they walked around, in addition to stepping over the chain.
Too bad, because years ago I got a very nice two-speed capstan with a wildcat off an old drydock in Staten Island that was about to be towed to sea and sunk. Although the wildcat wouldn't run backward, and it didn't have a brake.
Well, anyway, thanks for the ideas.
seo