HOW TO RAISE THE ANCHOR WITH A HAIRPIN

All we know that the anchor remote control is a very breakable item.

Very subject to the action of the saline environment where it spends most of its life, often abandoned for days or weeks connected to the anchor locker, it can get broken in the most topic moment, that is when we have to raise the anchor.

On smaller boats, the problem can be solved manually but this is not possible when boat size goes beyond 30 feet.

So, unless there are some problems in the electric circuit, we only need a hairpin, a metal paper clip or a electric wire in order to recover the windlass’ functionality.

The jack socket in the anchor locker has 3 holes, one of which is bigger and located in the middle. We have to put the edge of our hairpin or metal paper clip into this hole, while the other one will be inserted into one of the other two. One will start the windlass, while the second edge will serve to raise the anchor.

However, you’d better to avoid a such situation and keep the anchor remote control always perfectly clean and functioning.

The first thing to do is to not let it in the anchor locker for days because salt, water and rain can damage it.

Then, it’s important to clean and oil all its components; first of all, the jack and all its parts,

 

together with the socket which must be closed with its cap, cleaned and oiled.

Finally, we must deal with the “body” of our device. There are many models available on the market but their operation and components are always the same.

So we have to open its box to access the push-button panel and check all pins and connections.

Then, we’ll unscrew the Up and Down switches in order to check them. Eventual dirt can be removed with a small brush or a cloth. Before closing the box, we have to oil all the components.

Finally, we recommend to switch the windlass button off on the electric panel when the anchor remote control is not used because windlass might activate against our will.