Sorry to derail the thread, but yes, it was an interesting consideration...
Pulling anchor by hand in SoCal kelp can be a PITA, and windlass is so nice to have. But RIB's are alluring in many ways, one of which is their simplicity and another is the soft halo of the inflatable collar. In theory I would love to have a windlass for sure. In practice, it is one more system to maintain/fail... the SS arm to reach over the bow is one more piece of rigid, hard and sharp metal to catch on something...For the same reason, we attached the Ttop to the console rather than the floor (one less thing to bang a toe on). Also, it is not cheap to build, and in some way kind of takes away from the concept of an inflatable by adding rigidity.
I figured it can always be added later, so Ryan and I decided to start without it. Typically you can get away with a much lighter anchor on a RIB than comparable sized traditional boat, so it is a little less to haul. Plus, I think with the size of this boat, and how rad it is going to be, I should always be able to find an anchor Ho to serve as my windlass!
But I am really curious to hear from people who've had them... maybe I over-thought it and they work great, and never get in the way. ???
Quote:
Originally Posted by Bigtalljv
How about a quick recap of your discussion? What were the negatives that eventually turned you to not doing it?
I wasn't planning on having it done anytime soon just interested in know it had been done, I'm not getting any younger. I'm not sure how big it would need to be, how much force can one exert on it? a long arm like that is suspect to me but then I don't work with metal and constantly underestimate how strong it is. and engineer friend of mine once said that if it looks strong enough to the layman it's probably 3X what it needs to be 
Jason |
