Opinion on Simpson/Lawence Sprint 600

The Maxwell is a vertical axis windlass. I have owned several maxwells and they have given excellent service. I think you have to live with the motor in the V berth area--probably will do will, since you will get little moisture in there. You might want to use some of the foam which covers water pipes in the winter over the chain to keep out water (actually works well on all windlasses)>

Regards,

Bob
 
mikeporterinmd":zngcdn44 said:
Well, I finally got the Maxwell Freedom 500. Looks like a very substantial
unit, but I have not handled that many windlasses...

So, what I didn't realize fully is that the motor for this unit is horizontal,
even though it is a "vertical" windlass. Has anyone installed one of these
on a CD-22? Have any problems getting it to fit? Did you just let the
motor extend a bit into the V-berth? I haven't been down to the boat
since I picked up the windlass, so perhaps there won't be a problem.

The windlasses of this type susually have a flange on the drive unit and motor which allow the motor to be installed in any of four ways under the gypsy and drive housing. I was able to install my Quick Aires with the motor juting forward into the bow, and not back into the V-berth.

Installation of the windlass itself looks fairly straightforward. However,
there is a decent sized relay box, an 80 amp breaker plus the
control itself to find room for. If you have installed one of these, I'd
appreciate hearing your experiences. Perhaps I'll install the control
on a bracket under the walkaround, forward of the throttle... something
like that. Or perhaps such that I can manipulate the throttle and
the switch at the same time... that might be nice.

I placed all these components on the port side of the helm station along side the steering wheel. The components are actually mounted on the back side of the dashboard, and the up/down switch and (in some models) circuit breaker protrude into the helfm station from behind.


Maxwell calls for '3' gauge wire - I think 4 should be fine. Thoughts?
I know many windlasses in this size range are wired with 8 gauge,
but I've always thought that was a bit light.

I used 6 gauge, and it is fine, although I have two additional batteries under the forward port dinette seat that ease the distance/load somewhat. 4 Ga. should be fine.

Thanks,

Mike
Click to expand...

freedom_large.gif

Motor can be mounted facing any of four ways on most windlasses like this.

Joe.
 
mikeporterinmd":2l724qh7 said:
Well, we should end up with a Maxwell Freedom 500. It was 'buy it now
for $800 or make an offer' on Ebay. I made an offer and they accepted it. It
was installed on a boat, but either never used or lightly used. I'll know
in a day or two or four!

(item 170094637271)

I saw one of these work on a friend's boat - very fast. Have to see
if it will work with the anchor road we have or if I need to switch
to 8-plait. He had 8-plait (braid) on his boat, and Maxwell generally
recommends this line.

How does one connect chain to 8-plait? Learn or find someone to
do it?


Mike
Click to expand...

Mike: I recently installed the Maxwell 500 with 3 strand nylon rope.
It works fine.
 
4 gauge Ancor brand on E-Bay @ $1.68/ft, with at cost UPS ground shipping...!

That is going to save me some money. Ordered yellow...in the past,
I've always forgotten to buy that and end up with black.

Mike
 
Mike-

Most windlasses with combination rope/chain gypsies are designed to use 3-strand nylon rope, usually 1/2" for the windlasses used in boats the size of C-Dorys.

There are some variations in three strand nylon rope, two of them being the tightness or firmness of the braid, and the second being the stiffness of the rope, which is the resistance to bending.

Most windlasses seem to work better with a firm, moderately stiff rope. A rope that is too soft and easy to bend can jam in the windlass, particularly where it exits the gypsy and drops down into the rode locker. A stiffer and firmer rope tends to mind it's own business and pass through the system will less tendency to bunch up and jam the mechanism.

The stiffer rope also has less of a tendency to loop around itself and invent funny knots as it lands down in the rode locker.

One such stiff and firm rope that I can recommend is the New England Ropes Premium Anchor Rope offered by West Marine. I'm sure there are others, you might check them out and see how they compare.

How do I know this? Three rodes later I can say I speak from experience and say "I've been down that rode."

Just MHO and $0.02.

Joe. :teeth
 
Sea Wolf":2kuld45d said:
Mike-
One such stiff and firm rope that I can recommend is the New England Ropes Premium Anchor Rope offered by West Marine. I'm sure there are others, you might check them out and see how they compare.
Click to expand...

I'm almost certain this is what I have on the boat now. I know I didn't
buy a particularly cheap one. It came in a nylon carry bag (I have
no idea why), so I just have to find that bag and then I'll know
who made the line! I think I used the bag to hold the stern anchor line.

Mike
 
Lewmar Pro700 vs Lewmar Pro-Fish 700FF

I plan on putting an automatic windless on my 22' C-Dory and can't decide between the manuel and auto Free Fall unit. Has anyone had any experience with the Free Fall?? Is it possible to lower the line on the FF manually or is it alway FF? Here in Tampa Bay where the waters not deep, manual would work OK, but when we fish offshore in 100' plus, seems a free fall would be nice.

Let me have some input on your experience with both units... and any other useful suggestions..... Thanks

PS... I think I accidently started a new thread on this also :smileo
_________________
 
Roger I have both--the 700 on the TC and the 700Pro on the CD 25--got it by mistake--not sure if mine or the internet seller. The pro can be used manual power down, as well as free fall. You have to do the change over at the windlass. Works fine. You are more likely to use the free fall in fishing situations where you want the anchor down fast....For most of my cruising in shallow water, power down is fine.
 
I'm pretty sure the Freedom 500 can have its clutch released at the windlass
for freefall. If you are interested, I'll find the manual. I haven't pulled the
boat out since I got the windlass, so aside from making sure it basically
works, I haven't started on this project.

Mike
 
Thanks all for the input

I've decided on the Pro-Fish 700FF. :smile

Confirmed that it can be switched between FF and manual, and that's the issue. Also note on their literature that the say that the Pro 700 has 100% stainless steel CASE and the Pro-Fish 700FF IS ALL 100% stainless steel. Don't know if that's advertising gobbly gook or if there's a message there.
 
C-Change":15tynxwp said:
Sprint 600 disaster.....

The last time we anchored out, I had a lot of trouble bringing in the anchor rode. The windlass seemed bogged down when retrieving even though the batteries were fully charged and there was no stress on the line. A couple of days ago while in our slip, I decided to give it another try. The rode went out with no problem at full speed. One I had a pile of chain and line on the dock, I tried to retrieve and same problem - the motor sounded like it was laboring and this time the battery charger was plugged in and the batteries were fully charged.

I finally decided to remove the windlass to see if I could figure out the problem... Well... once I got it home and took the gearcase off ,the problem became obvious.... It looked like a mess in there! Obviously water had entered the gearcase and corroded the geartrain and the bearings. The bearing for the main shaft was completely rusted and frozen. Actually, most everything was rusted and frozen. Well to make a long story shorter. It looks like the seal on the main shaft was never installed... water came in under the gypsy and rolled right into the bearing and into the gearcase.

Monday, I'll call the Lewmar rep in Seattle and see if he is willing to help. I purchased the boat used so I am not sure if they will repair it. Hopefully I can at least get some new parts. If not, has anyone tried the V700? I have seen a couple on ebay new for under $600.


Jan
C-Change
Click to expand...

Boy does this sound familiar. Exact same problem here, have not disassembled anything yet. Have the Sprint 600. Works great going down, runs a little coming up and then just "stops". Then it'll come up a little. Doesn't hum or anything when it stops, just quits moving. There's about 15' of chain, spliced to the anchor rode.

This was installed either at the factory in the fall of 2005 (it's a 2006 TC255) or by Y-Landing Marina in NH when the boat was sold/outfitted for the first owner. I've had it since Sept of 07. It is not an electrical problem.

Guess I'm gonna have to pull it unless someone has another bright idea. It may still be under warranty (book says 3 years) but somehow I'm gonna have to "prove" when it went into the boat! I'll call the Simpson-Lawrence folks in Bradenton FL tomorrow.
 
Charlie-

If the motor runs out easily, but has little power on the way up, and doesn't sound like the mechanism (gears or gypsy/rode) is jammed (humms but no movement), you may have a weak electrical connection that won't pass enough amperage.

If the external connections are good and the voltage supplied OK, you might have weak contact with the brushes on the armature at the commutator.

The Horizon 600 is a permanent magnet motor, so there are no field windings.

The current is reversed to reverse the motor direction.

Weak brush contacts would render the motor weak overall.

Just a guess from the information provided, so far!

Good Luck!

Joe. :teeth :thup
 
Thanks Joe....


Just spent about an hour down there with the windlass, I can't loosen the clutch with the plastic wrench thing. Turning it 90deg counter clockwise should disengage the clutch but all it does, if I push hard enough is to run the motor/gears manually and let the chain out. Sneaks has one like this and he describes this in another thread... I will call the factory on my cell phone tomorrow and do what they recommend, one way or another. I think I'll probably have to take it out. I don't think there is any way to get to brushes, the motor is a sealed unit. Three bolts/nuts take it out, shouldn't be too bad but it's in that center locker and a little hard to reach. Fortunately, I'm lying on the bunk when I do it!! Hope I don't go to sleep.... :shock:

Charlie
 
Charlie:

Was just checking in on the site from the Gulf Islands and noticed your post. I feel your pain... :) I ended up removing the the windlass and calling the local Lewmar rep. and we ended up working a deal on a new V700. I had to adjust the location of one of the mounting holes and modify the cutout slightly, but it seems to be working great so far.

Jan
C-Change
 
Jan,

Crap. I did a search hoping to find something encouraging! This is exactly what happened to our Sprint 600 this past Thursday night at Annette Inlet...the sucker just stopped working, no hum, no nothing, no she go. The plastic clutch lever does not engage or disengage the clutch - it turns the gears (which was how we got the rode up!) How do you contact the Lewmar rep, and what kind of a deal? Ours was new from the C-Dory factory, when they used to do that kind of thing, in May 2005...and why would we get another product from the same company (other than we have a hole in our foredeck that is about the right shape)?

Pat
C-Change":2uc8tf6c said:
Charlie:

Was just checking in on the site from the Gulf Islands and noticed your post. I feel your pain... :) I ended up removing the the windlass and calling the local Lewmar rep. and we ended up working a deal on a new V700. I had to adjust the location of one of the mounting holes and modify the cutout slightly, but it seems to be working great so far.

Jan
C-Change
Click to expand...
 
Uh, Pat, if there's no sound or movement, the motors not working, and you probably have lack of electricity to the same. Get out the voltmeter and check if there's any voltage going to the windlass.

Since our boats were made in the same era, I'd suggest checking the breaker right next to the drivers seat, and then look at the forward side of the manual switch on the bulkhead. There's some bare buss strips, which allow the switch to reverse polarity to the motor. You can measure those voltages to ground whilst someone pushes the windlass switch up and down.

I had a loose connection, and I forget where, but it just needed tightening. After you find it.

Boris
 
Pat:

Sorry to hear about the windlass.... I am not sure if yours failed in the same way as mine. Mine did make a humming noise from the motor but the gears were all jammed up due to the corrosion from the missing seal. If yours is not making any noise, perhaps it is a wiring/electrical issue. Is the windlass motor getting power? If so, then you may have a burned out motor. If not, then I would check power to the windlass switch and then the switch itself.

If it turns out that the windlass is bad, then it makes sense to look at the V700. The V700 is supposedly sealed so that water intrusion is not an issue... and... it fits in the hole already cut into your boat ( with minor modifications)

I looked on the Lewmar website last year and called the local rep's number. I just tried to find it again and found that they are not listing the rep anymore on the site. I'll look around and see if I can find his name and number in my records.

If you need any other info, feel free to give my cell a call.

Jan
 
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