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Lofrans Tigres Horizontal Windlass

Thread starter dLj
Start date Yesterday at 9:40 AM
Forums for All Owners
Ask All Sailors

I'm going to have to rebuild my windlass, the Lofrans Tigres. It apparently has a "safety feature" where when dropping your anchor, if there is too much force pulling the chain out of the locker, it just spins the gypsy and no chain comes out. This does not happen when weighing anchor - thank god- but this windlass is now not working well when dropping the anchor. This mechanism is not functioning correctly and I'll have to hand pull the anchor chain out of the locker for much of the time while dropping anchor. Rather a pain in the a$$.... I have two questions: 1) Has anybody worked on on of these and do you have any technical manuals. I can only find the installation and users manual on-line, a maintenance kit and a 3D model (a file I'm working on getting the software to open). But I can't find a technical manual that has detailed instruction on this windlass. If anyone has advice on rebuilding one of these, please let me know any concerns or watch-outs - like small parts that like to fall out when taking it apart, or a sequence of disassembly, whatever. 2) When talking with Lofrans, they said there is a way to lock this mechanism so that this "safety feature" no longer exists. Can anybody think of a reason why I should not do this? I'm trying to see what this kind of "safety feature" really does. Why would I not want the windlass to simply pull the chain out of the locker even if there is a lot of resistance? dj

dLj said: Why would I not want the windlass to simply pull the chain out of the locker even if there is a lot of resistance? Click to expand

dlochner said: Off the top of my head, when the bitter end is reached windlass could continue pulling on the rode eventually pulling the attachment for the bitter end off and sending it flying. Click to expand

dlochner said: If someone had a body part caught in the chain, the windlass would stop pulling thus causing less injury. Click to expand

dlochner said: If the chain is jammed pressure is taken off the gypsy allowing the motor to run rather than seize and over heat. Click to expand

dlochner said: It sounds like the gypsy has a clutch of some sort that releases under tension a better system might be a simple pressure switch at some pressure the motor just shuts down. Click to expand

dLj said: This would then give a "safety feature the system does not currently have, which is an over-load safety for going both up and down. Might be a good idea - still leads me to disabling the current load going down part of the windlass. Click to expand

dlochner said: I have a Maxwell windlass and the clutch will work in both directions. Click to expand

The Tigress is not designed to lower the chain with the motor. The brake is loosened to drop the chain in free fall mode, and the chain is slowed by tightening it (a cone shaped metal piece fitting into a cone shaped receiver). We completely serviced out Tigress twice a year, paying particular attention to the brake, as it often had a salt build up on the pieces that had burned to the brake from the heat of breaking. If this isn't done frequently enough the build up will become very difficult to remove, not that it is easy even if done several times a year. Ours was over 30 years old and working perfectly, but we wanted to move up to 1/2" chain, which the Tigress would not have handled well, as we lay on our anchor virtually every night for 8 years.

capta said: The Tigress is not designed to lower the chain with the motor. The brake is loosened to drop the chain in free fall mode, and the chain is slowed by tightening it (a cone shaped metal piece fitting into a cone shaped receiver). We completely serviced out Tigress twice a year, paying particular attention to the brake, as it often had a salt build up on the pieces that had burned to the brake from the heat of breaking. If this isn't done frequently enough the build up will become very difficult to remove, not that it is easy even if done several times a year. Ours was over 30 years old and working perfectly, but we wanted to move up to 1/2" chain, which the Tigress would not have handled well, as we lay on our anchor virtually every night for 8 years. Click to expand

dLj said: I'm going to have to rebuild my windlass, the Lofrans Tigres. It apparently has a "safety feature" where when dropping your anchor, if there is too much force pulling the chain out of the locker, it just spins the gypsy and no chain comes out. This does not happen when weighing anchor - thank god- but this windlass is now not working well when dropping the anchor. This mechanism is not functioning correctly and I'll have to hand pull the anchor chain out of the locker for much of the time while dropping anchor. Rather a pain in the a$$.... I have two questions: 1) Has anybody worked on on of these and do you have any technical manuals. I can only find the installation and users manual on-line, a maintenance kit and a 3D model (a file I'm working on getting the software to open). But I can't find a technical manual that has detailed instruction on this windlass. If anyone has advice on rebuilding one of these, please let me know any concerns or watch-outs - like small parts that like to fall out when taking it apart, or a sequence of disassembly, whatever. 2) When talking with Lofrans, they said there is a way to lock this mechanism so that this "safety feature" no longer exists. Can anybody think of a reason why I should not do this? I'm trying to see what this kind of "safety feature" really does. Why would I not want the windlass to simply pull the chain out of the locker even if there is a lot of resistance? dj Click to expand

artboas said: I wouid highly advise putting this unit in a crate, and shipping it to Lofrans. The job will get done perfectly, and you’ll sleep well at anchor Last reason… I had a problem years ago with the horizontal windlass on my 40.5. Decided to get my hands into the chain locker to remove a “jam up” That was a very painful experience that landed me in the ER. if you can have someone professionally repair this, and remove risk….. I’d go that route. Click to expand

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