I just replaced the little VC500 windlass (stock) with a VW1500. Oh how nice to be able to haul chain without wrapping it around that little drum. My back is much happier.
One question. The new windlass came with a footswitch and a breaker (120 or 140 amp I believe), both from Maxwell. The factory setup has a Maxwell windlass switch under the forward starboard settee seat, facing into the footwell under the game table. It has a flat red 'knob' on it that you smack with your palm to engage the circuit to the windlass, which lights a red indicator light on the main panel at the nav station. You pull it to turn the windlass off.
In the Catalina wiring diagram that came with the manual, there is an 80 amp breaker pictured on the panel. My boat does not have that on the panel. I'm curious whether the windlass switch is also a breaker? I've taken a close look at it and don't see anything on it indicating an amp capacity. I don't find any breaker or in-line fuse in the windlass wiring (yet). Does anyone know if that switch is also a circuit breaker and, if not, where the breaker or fuse is located?
If it's just a switch, I'd like to leave it in the circuit, and add the breaker supplied with the new windlass; that would allow me to turn it on/off more easily than with the new breaker/switch. If it's also a breaker, it would not allow the windlass to operate to full capacity. Same is true if there's an 80 amp breaker or fuse elsewhere, that I've not been able to find.
Sorry no pic, but will get one next time I'm on the boat.
Gary and Cathy Price
1997 C36 Mk II Tall Rig/Wing Keel Imagine...
Hull # 1617
Worton Creek, Md.
Northern Chesapeake Bay
My windlass breaker problem is a little different. It the big breaker button that Gary described but the threads that hold the read "button on have worn out so when you pull on the button to deactivate the breaker the button comes off.
So I just leave it on. Anyone have any suggestions - who makes a replacement and is there perhaps a better design?
Bruce
Southern Comfort #1881
Tall rig, Wing Keel
Chesapeake Bay
We just put in a VW1000 to replace the VW500. Nice upgrade once you get onto the rhythm of throwing the chain forward in the anchor locker.
On our '95 the breaker is on the forward seat of the small settee down below the cushions. It is cut into the fibreglass below the seat cushions. I was going to use the 120 amp breaker Maxwell included with the VW1000 but since we only have 4 Ga to the windlass I decided to stick with the smaller 80 amp one that is stock. Felt if we blew that 80 amp breaker it would indicate we need heavier cable. So far it is working fine.
I shuda got the 1500, didn't realize until well after I installed the 1000 that there was only a hundred bucks difference in price. Stupid man. But then again, the 1000 seems to work just fine for our 45 lb anchors and 5/16" chain and so far no need to upgrade any wiring. So maybe not stupid man? Time, as always, will tell.
Sounds like the same thing I have, same location. I'm sort of proceeding with the same approach, eg., if the new windlass works with the old breaker, then I may leave it there. If it trips, I may upgrade the wire. That is, assuming it's a switch/breaker, not just a switch.
According to this reference [url]http://www.powerstream.com/Wire_Size.htm[/url] the 4AWG can handle 135 amps conservatively, with about a 10% voltage drop on a 50foot round trip @ 100 amps. The VW1500 motor is rated at 1200 watts or 100 amps@12 volts, so I'd think the 4AWG is [I][U]probably[/U][/I] sufficient.
However, for safety sake, and piece of mind, if I ever trip that 80 amp breaker, I'd probably go to 1/0 ; an expensive and probably tedious upgrade.
I'm not an electrical engineer so if my calculations are incorrect, please advise.
Gary and Cathy Price
1997 C36 Mk II Tall Rig/Wing Keel Imagine...
Hull # 1617
Worton Creek, Md.
Northern Chesapeake Bay
Gary, some standards seem to de-rate battery cable more than others, I found conflicting numbers. But I also felt the 4AWG would do the job unless you were really loading the windlass up hard like pulling the boat up to the anchor with it. But Maxwell specifically cautions against doing that. I just pull a bunch of chain off the bottom and let the chain weight move her up as the chain sinks back down to the bottom, I repeat until it's straight up and down. That also seems to get the mud off fairly well.
If it's too windy for that to work my wife just motors slowly forward. We have the marriage saver headsets and they truly are worth every penny. We are no longer the half time anchorage show, we are the spectators (usually).