Adding a Lewmar Profish 700 anchor winch to my 1988 Grady White 204 Fisherman (Center Console)

[jkunze]

Hi Grady owners. I have the above mentioned model & year of Grady White & need some recommendations as to how to install a Lewmar Profish 700 anchor winch. I have the winch & need to select an anchor roller. Should it be a fixed or pivoting roller?
Also should I also add a short pulpit to the bow first to support & extend the anchor flukes forward & away form the bow? I found butler marine in PA that can make me a teak pulpit that is a custom size & shape for about $500.00. I need some input as to how to approach this & what to do & not to do. I
I've included a drawing I created in autocad to help with the design & layout. Any good advice will be greatly appreciated.

 

[Halfhitch]

If you want the anchor to self-launch and you will be using a Danforth style anchor like is depicted in your drawing, then you will need a pivoting roller. There are many anchors that are designed to self-launch from a fixed roller. So the answer is, your choice of anchor will dictate what style roller you need.

 

[Hookup1]

Nice work on your drawing! One error though - the chain goes over the gypsy not under it.

Yes...you should add a bow pulpit. Your anchor rode locker is going to dictate placement of the windlass. You will need topside access to the locker.

I upgraded from a Horizon 700 to a Lewmar ProFish last year. Mine was mounted to the hatch on the anchor locker so
I kept it the same. I have an identical setup for the roller assembly. 300' of 8-plait to 20' of chain. Danforth 13lb anchor with tapered flute from West Marine. Couple of comments.

To deploy the anchor someone has to go up on the bow and "arm" the anchor so that you can drop it with the windlass.

I don't use free-fall. Locked out. I power up and down. My preference.

The ProFish windlass is faster and has more pulling power than the Horizon 700. When the anchor comes up to the roller it frequently flip around and sometimes gets hung up on the roller side guides requiring manual intervention. I will look for a pivoting roller and hope that it eliminates this problem.

I have a hard time getting the windlass to swallow the rope/chain splice (Defender factory splice). I have to fiddle with it back and forth and eventually it takes it up. I may brush up on my marlinspike and re-splice it this year.

The windlass has some pulling power! I ripped the hatch out this Winter in Florida and had to temporarily replace it with 3/4" plywood. This was the original location for the Horizon 700. Offered the best "drop" into the anchor locker. Some people install on the the bow pulpit but for me its too far forward. I'm rebuilding my hatch now. Probably make a mold using it and layup a new hatch.

 

[jkunze]

If you want the anchor to self-launch and you will be using a Danforth style anchor like is depicted in your drawing, then you will need a pivoting roller. There are many anchors that are designed to self-launch from a fixed roller. So the answer is, your choice of anchor will dictate what style roller you need.

Thank you, I have always used a danforth around here LI bays & sound. Is there a better choice for mud/sand bottoms?

 

[DennisG01]

Danforth/fluke-style will work well in mud and sand, too. It doesn't do really well in heavy weeds though since it can float/skip along the top of the weeds, sometimes. But, if you're happy with the performance of a fluke style (which is a good anchor style), then stick with what you know. Otherwise, a plow style would work.

Hookup... just an FYI, you can (well, really, "should") use the engine too move forward while retrieving the anchor. That way the stress is taken off mounting area. I can definitely see how that happened to you - that hatch just wasn't designed for any kind of pulling stress on it. Even the hinges could be a weak point. Actually, the same thing can happen if you rely on the windlass to hold the anchor when deployed. What you should really do is to through bolt (adding backer plates as needed) the hatch to the boat.

 

[jkunze]

Nice work on your drawing! One error though - the chain goes over the gypsy not under it.

Yes...you should add a bow pulpit. Your anchor rode locker is going to dictate placement of the windlass. You will need topside access to the locker.

I upgraded from a Horizon 700 to a Lewmar ProFish last year. Mine was mounted to the hatch on the anchor locker so
I kept it the same. I have an identical setup for the roller assembly. 300' of 8-plait to 20' of chain. Danforth 13lb anchor with tapered flute from West Marine. Couple of comments.

To deploy the anchor someone has to go up on the bow and "arm" the anchor so that you can drop it with the windlass.

I don't use free-fall. Locked out. I power up and down. My preference.

The ProFish windlass is faster and has more pulling power than the Horizon 700. When the anchor comes up to the roller it frequently flip around and sometimes gets hung up on the roller side guides requiring manual intervention. I will look for a pivoting roller and hope that it eliminates this problem.

I have a hard time getting the windlass to swallow the rope/chain splice (Defender factory splice). I have to fiddle with it back and forth and eventually it takes it up. I may brush up on my marlinspike and re-splice it this year.

The windlass has some pulling power! I ripped the hatch out this Winter in Florida and had to temporarily replace it with 3/4" plywood. This was the original location for the Horizon 700. Offered the best "drop" into the anchor locker. Some people install on the the bow pulpit but for me its too far forward. I'm rebuilding my hatch now. Probably make a mold using it and layup a new hatch.

View attachment 20739 View attachment 20740

I don't have the topside hatch like you & many others do. Must be the older style hull. My anchor locker door is vertically mounted inside the front of the bow (see pic). This works in my favor I think.
I'll back up the mounting at the underside with a piece of Coosa or starboard. My plan is to bring the pulpit plank all the way back to the edge of the bow cockpit & mount the windlass atop the pulpit. I'm leaning towards the pivot anchor roller now too. Thank you for your help, It's very helpful to hear from others regarding the good & bad. How far off the tip of the bow should the pulpit extend?

 

[Hookup1]

My pulpit is about 4' long. I can get you a better measurment if you need it. I assumed you had a vertical hatch for access.

Look at my hatch that I blew up. That was 3/16" of fiberglass and 1/4" plywood. I reinforced the area under the windlass and around about 2" with coosa board. You can also see the edges of the coosa board I glassed in. I should have taken the coosa board all the way to the edges of the hatch.

You are going to have a large load on a smaller section of the boat than mine. See how thick your deck is and if its windlass ready. If not I would use as big a piece of coosa board you could fit as a backing to distribute the load and beef it up. If you don't want to epoxy it use 3M 5200. You can't bond Starboard so stay away from it.

 

[PointedRose]

I don't have the topside hatch like you & many others do. Must be the older style hull. My anchor locker door is vertically mounted inside the front of the bow (see pic). This works in my favor I think.
I'll back up the mounting at the underside with a piece of Coosa or starboard. My plan is to bring the pulpit plank all the way back to the edge of the bow cockpit & mount the windlass atop the pulpit. I'm leaning towards the pivot anchor roller now too. Thank you for your help, It's very helpful to hear from others regarding the good & bad. How far off the tip of the bow should the pulpit extend?


View attachment 20743

I’ve used this phenolic material as backing plates. It’s quite hard and strong.
Leecraft BK-2 Blank Phenolic Sheet https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0002898CQ/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_apip_xTG74D4Z7ybne

 

[Hookup1]

I prefer the coosa board or sealed 1/2" plywood. But the phenolic is fine especially if you have it. Use it to secure both the bow pulpit and windlass in a single piece - doubled up.

I just ordered a pivoting bow roller for mine from Five Oceans.

 

[ROBERTH]

I used a large plate of 1/2" aluminum under the deck which was easy to work with and not expensive as I got it from the scrap metal yard. Make sure you get a pulpit roller wide enough to allow the anchor and shackle to rotate when coming over the roller. When I added my wider than factory version, it solved all the issues I was having before with upside down anchor.

 

[jkunze]

I used a large plate of 1/2" aluminum under the deck which was easy to work with and not expensive as I got it from the scrap metal yard. Make sure you get a pulpit roller wide enough to allow the anchor and shackle to rotate when coming over the roller. When I added my wider than factory version, it solved all the issues I was having before with upside down anchor.

I'm going to be using this pivoting anchor roller. I hope it's wide enough for that. It appears to be a good one either way.