GoWindlass

[haggis]

Just had a thought about them. Presumably where there isn't room for a long throw

windlass ( like hilmorton bottom lock ) you can still use a gowindlass?

 

Haggis

[Nightwatch]

12 minutes ago, haggis said:

Just had a thought about them. Presumably where there isn't room for a long throw

windlass ( like hilmorton bottom lock ) you can still use a gowindlass?

 

Haggis

Yes. There is a 'socket' half way up the arm, but not a ratchet.

 

i think, we paid £60 for ours. My lock wheeler likes it. 

[Rob-M]

9 hours ago, haggis said:

Just had a thought about them. Presumably where there isn't room for a long throw

windlass ( like hilmorton bottom lock ) you can still use a gowindlass?

 

Haggis

You don't need to do a full rotation because of the ratchet so something preventing a long throw wouldn't so the gowindlass ratchet from being used. Our as Nightwatch said there is also a fixed socket.

Having seen several in use on our current trip I'm going to have to treat Mrs-M to a new windlass I think.

[Nightwatch]

12 hours ago, Rob-M said:

You don't need to do a full rotation because of the ratchet so something preventing a long throw wouldn't so the gowindlass ratchet from being used. Our as Nightwatch said there is also a fixed socket.

Having seen several in use on our current trip I'm going to have to treat Mrs-M to a new windlass I think.

Although quite an investment, they seem well manufactured and certainly assist with stiff paddles. Stiff ones are no longer an issue for my lockwheeler.

[roggie]

Well it was inevitable.. Cowley Lock this morning, first lock of our trip and first lock for quite a while, you guessed it left the GoWindless behind. Walked back but gone... The big black 'stealth' widebeam, Walhalla, was heading into the lock so if you picked it up and are reading this hope you find it useful. Noticed the boat is for sale. Perhaps I should hunt around for the number and give them a call....

[roggie]

found.... Facebook helped connect us and cycling down the canal to collect in the morning. There is a advance to social media.

[FluffyVal]

I am hoping to purchase said GoWindlass for my upcoming trip.

So all these comments have been most useful.

 

Just as an aside, please refrain from sticking your windless in the small of your back in your trousers.

I was descending Hatton flight, locking the boat down, when I hit a pothole and ended up with me and bike in canal. I hadn’t realised I had done myself any harm, picked up windlass and bike and carried on for a couple of locks.

We reached the bottom of Hatton and I was feeling rough so I lay down on the roof of the boat. Wrong!

I was unable to get up again for a couple of hours, in which time my beloved had cycled into somewhere, my memory of this is fuzzy, and brought a doctor back.

between them they managed to get me into the boat.

A prescription for strong painkillers and rest having been dispensed the doc pushed off. I now have the after effects of a crushed coccyx to remember Hatton by.

 

n.b. Obviously this was some years ago, no way you would get a doctor out to you now.

[Ray T]

The picture is not too clear but, do as many working boaters did - put your windlass over your shoulder beneath your jacket, socket end behind.

 

Picture from "Painted Boats."

[Arthur Marshall]

Tricky if you don't wear a jacket... I've never felt secure doing any of these things, over the shoulder, down the trousers or on a belt loop. I've never had a problem holding the thing while climbing lock ladders and have never seen a reason to carry it any other way. Maybe after fifty years of playing instruments my hands are abnormally large....

[Mad Harold]

48 minutes ago, Arthur Marshall said:

Tricky if you don't wear a jacket... I've never felt secure doing any of these things, over the shoulder, down the trousers or on a belt loop. I've never had a problem holding the thing while climbing lock ladders and have never seen a reason to carry it any other way. Maybe after fifty years of playing instruments my hands are abnormally large....

There is a belt windlass holster available.I bought one,it lasted one season!

I now simply splice an eyelet in a rope for the windlass,over my shoulder and tie the other end into the eyelet.

Adjusted to hang the windlass about hip high,I have found this quite comfortable,and of course you can climb lock ladders and cross lock gates hands free.