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Position: 18°21’05″N 64°34’39″W
For the past few weeks we have hung around waiting for a replacement motor for our Lighthouse 1501 windlass. For the uninitiated, a windlass is a machine that raises your anchor so you don’t have to. Lighthouse makes a pretty good product, but they could work on their logistics. Quaintly, they don’t take electronic payment. Neither credit card nor Venmo. Writing a check in the field needlessly adds a week or more to the shipping time, which is expensive (opportunity cost-wise) and, frankly, daft.
Anchoring is character-building. I’ve written in the past about our system of hand signals for anchoring and mooring and we’ve become good at it. Without a windlass, though, pulling up the anchor demands more finesse and six hands rather than four. Thankfully, Tai is with us. She has two hands, each still with five fingers.
Our high-test anchor chain weighs about a pound (453g) a foot (30cm). The anchor weighs about 50 pounds (you do the math). Factor in additional weight from drag or forward movement and the whole kit is pretty darned heavy. Thus, hauling up the anchor gave me a chance for a proper upper body workout. Bend at the knees with your back straight, and pull until your rhomboids look like Arnold Schwarzenegger’s.
Tai translated my grunts into signals and shouts for Carol at the helm. She also had the unenviable task of feeding the chain into the hawsehole while avoiding my backside. Suffice it to say that I now know when the chain is lightest and heaviest based on its pitch off the bow. That knowledge will help preserve the new motor.
Speaking of the new motor, it finally arrived looking splendid in its bright yellow jacket. No sign of any installation instructions, but a quick email fixed that.
Like any good company would, Lighthouse redesigned this motor for greater reliability. Where once was a collar and studs, now sat a seal and bolts. Installation should have been simple. Insert the drive shaft connecting rod into the new seal, align the assembly and slip it into and over the existing downtube. Sure. Unless you have a Valiant 42. In that case, lie on your back and bench-press the 40lb. motor for six hours while swearing very loudly at regular intervals. It will eventually seat itself and your wife will shed tears of joy.
At last we were free to go! Only Marlon’s exit papers from the BVI, a rabies free country, stood between us and the rest of the Caribbean’s rabies free countries.
