South Pacific 710FS

[inveratta]

Ok.....background..I have an old boat and an ageing deckie who used to flip in 40m of anchor rope in without even a swear word.

But he has been paying into the winch fund for a while now and I feel kinda obligated to do something for him...

Did a quote process for a Lonestar GX2 and over $5000 fitted...and thats not the first quote....meh for an old boat...

Micks winch xwinch sav winch viper etc not much different...and Im not trying to argue one against the other...

I have an old leccy up front for Mallacoota and it works fine but...nearly the same money again for a new gps able motor and the batteries ....meh..


So I looked at the South Pacific 710FS ...thought I can fit that for about 1k ....$600 for the winch and $400 for the other bits.

I know they have mixed opinions...I looked at it as they have been around for a long time now....but I would appreciate feedback from anyone who has used them both about set up and use....and yes if you bought the other stuff..great gear.

[winston]

A mate has one on a 4.8m bowrider. He had to have a welder fashion a frame to hold it above the anchor well so that the rope and chain could feed into it. He also had to fit a roller and sprit so that the anchor could fall without having to be pushed. He loves it (he's a lazy bastard). Cheers Winston.

[ranmar850]

Some people have a good run with them, others not so much. The important part with a windlass type, that relies on dropping rope/chain down into a well is this--They MUST have a good vertical space available below them with the rope/chain fully recovered.They rely on the recovered rope being able to fall under weight--if it starts to build up underneath with not enough clearance, it will just jam in the winch. The manuufacturer will normally give you this disctance, likely to be about 300mm from memory. So you need a deep space rather than a wide space. And also, they need expensive rope to work properly, it must be very soft and pliable. Forget using your old rope, exercise in frustration. At a minimum, 3 strand nylon with regular application of fabric softener ( likely 12mm) The best is 8-strand plaited nylon, not cheap.
So the choice is not quite as easy as it appears, and yes, your foredeck which the winch is pulling on will need to be strong.

[MikeC90]

Agree with the comments above. My dad recently fitted a windlass style winch and has had no end of issues... First the chain supplied with the winch wasn't quite right, kept jamming and damaged some of the guide fingers/hooks. Got that sorted, then the rope diameter was a touch too small, so kept getting snagged on the inner guide finger. Now he is hitting the issue with the depth of well. His is probably 500mm when empty but as the rope stacks up it stops wanting to 'fall' away from the winch, backs up and jams (the 8m chain section now works well at least). With some more finessing I believe he will get it working but he's nearly thrown it in the bin a few times!

[ranmar850]

Yes, it is unfortunate, but they are actually harder to get working consistently well, than the drum type. I had a Maxwell windlass type on my last boat. It was quite complicated to get a drum mount going on that boat ( Swiftcraft Dominator), so I went windlass and went ahead and half-ignored the manufacturers recomendations re fall I had a large volume, but wide and shallow, space to work with. About 420mm empty, IIRC? Went with 12mm 8-strand plait--had to cut down the length, and make sure that I didn't feed out too much, so I could keep the excess spread out to make the pile smaller. Also, found that it helped to stick the hose in before launching the boat for the day--dry rope is stiff, softens when wet and feeds out better intiailly. But I still had some jams.
Can you get a stainless gypsy for the South seas winches as an option? I thought you could, where the standard gypsy was plastic? The windlass type actually work better with all-chain, no rope, but then there is the problem of weight, more propensity to snag, and the problems if you do get snagged.

[inveratta]

thanks ..for the replies ....much appreciated....I find it interesting ,challenging..etc ...some people have had no issues at all and others would Im guessing cheerfully give them to their mother in law for Christmas. So it appears ..rope type ..enough fall room..and yes they have a stainless gypsy option available....Im going to live to regret it no doubt..built a bow roller launcher in stainless this weekend ..have some good 13mm rope and correct chain..if I bypass the existing anchor flat for a suspended rope bag will give more drop...