As mentioned above, the windlass decided to stop working again when we were reanchoring in the channel at Puerto Refugio. Tim did quite a bit of in situ troubleshooting while I just manned the helm and kept us from drifting into any rocks. He eventually gave up and dropped the anchor manually. Tim and Steve traced the issue back to the breaker swich, so as a band-aid, they decided to bypass it altogether. Steve, being an Electrical Engineer by education and trade, is our resident expert. He put together a four fuse in parallel contraption to use in place of the switch in order to protect the windless motor from overcurrent. It was an ugly looking thing, but it got the job done. Tim ordered a replacement switch and it was part of the loot I brought back down from the states. (Note from 2/17/2014 as I write this… Tim has yet to replace the switch. The fuse monster is still in place. Long live the fuse monster.)
So, the windlass has been working, but shortly after leaving San Felipe the chain counter got fussy and the remote gives an error of “no sensor.” This complaint is clearly a “first world cruising problem,” but we, especially I, had gotten very spoiled by just having to look at the display to know how much chain was out. Luckily, while we were in San Felipe, Tim added markers on the chain to identify 33, 66, 100, etc. ft on the chain. It’s a bit of a pain, but we’re managing. When we anchor, ususally I’m at the helm and Tim’s at the anchor, but occassionally when I’m at the anchor I have to call back, “What color is 100 ft again?”
Gresham Family Exodus 