# Anchor Winches: Choosing and Wiring a Windlass **By Sawley's Auto and Marine** · 2026-09-20 Pulling an anchor by hand is fine at thirty and less fine at sixty, and on a windy day over the whiting grounds it is unpleasant at any age. An anchor winch is the upgrade that owners put off for years and then wonder why they waited. It is also the one where the parts are cheap compared to the fitting, and where the fitting decides whether it works for a decade or frustrates you from the first weekend. ## Which type of winch suits your boat? Two families, and they suit different boats. **Drum winches** wind the rope and chain onto a drum, like a trailer winch, and feed it out over a bow roller. They are the answer for trailer boats and most boats under about eight metres: the rode is stored on the drum rather than in a locker, so there is no anchor well to fill or block, and the whole unit sits in the bow. Stressfree Marine builds these in Australia specifically for our boats, and the [Stressfree range](/collections/stressfree-marine-premier-anchor-winch-and-marine-specialist) runs from small drums for tinnies up to units for offshore boats. We have fitted a lot of them at Kadina. **Windlasses** — the vertical or horizontal type with a gypsy that grips the chain — drop the rode into a locker below. They suit larger boats with a proper anchor well and all-chain rodes, and they are the norm on cruisers. On a trailer boat without a deep locker they are usually the wrong choice. ### Sizing it The winch is sized to the boat and to the ground tackle, not to the anchor alone. Boat length is the usual starting point — the [budget drum winch range](/collections/budget-anchor-winches-winching-solutions), for example, steps from a unit for boats up to about six metres, through one for six to seven and a half, to one for seven to ten — but the honest measure is the weight of the anchor, chain and rope together. A winch wants a rated pull of roughly three times the weight of the whole rode, so that it is never working near its limit and the motor lasts. Go up a size if the boat anchors in deep water, carries a lot of chain, or is heavier than its length suggests. On the rode itself: a length of chain between anchor and rope is what makes the anchor lie flat and hold, and a spliced rope-to-chain join is what lets it pass over the roller and onto the drum. Rope, chain, swivels and the anchors themselves are in [marine anchoring gear](/collections/anchoring-marine-anchoring-solutions). ### Wiring, and why it is the whole job A winch motor draws a lot of current for a few seconds at a time, and every problem we see with winches that "stopped working" is electrical. - **Heavy cable, sized for the run.** The winch is at the bow and the battery is at the stern, and that is the longest cable run on the boat. Undersized cable arrives at the motor as a voltage drop, and a winch on low voltage is slow, hot and short-lived. - **A circuit breaker at the battery.** Not a fuse in the dash. The breaker protects the cable, resets after a jam, and is rated to the winch maker's figure. - **A solenoid or relay** near the winch that switches the heavy current, so the dash switch only carries the control signal. The [anchor winch switch kit](/products/t10115-anchor-winch-switch-kit) is the dash end of that arrangement. - **Sealed connections.** The bow is the wettest place on the boat. Crimped, adhesive-heat-shrunk joints, and the cable routed where it cannot chafe. Heavy-gauge tinned cable and the breakers are in our [electrical cable range](/collections/electrical-cable-tinned-copper-battery-wiring-cable). If you are adding a winch to a boat that already runs a sounder, a fridge and a radio, it is also the moment to think about the battery arrangement; a winch that flattens the start battery has not solved a problem, it has created one. ### Fitting and using it The bow roller has to line up with the drum so the rope feeds straight, the anchor has to sit in the roller when it is home, and the mounting has to be through a backing plate rather than into thin glass or alloy. Those three things are what separates a winch that self-launches and self-stows from one that jams every second time. Two habits once it is in. Never use the winch to break the anchor out of the bottom; motor up over it and let the boat do that, then winch. And rinse the winch, the roller and the rode with fresh water after a salt trip; the motor is sealed, but the drum and the chain are not. We supply and fit drum winches and windlasses, including the wiring back to the battery and the switch at the helm, as part of [device and accessory fitting](/pages/device-accessory-fitting) at Kadina. Ring [0412 532 984](tel:+61412532984) with the boat's length and what it anchors in, and we will size it for you. **Tags:** Electrical, Guides --- > Source: [Sawley's Auto and Marine](https://www.sawleysautoandmarine.com.au/blogs/guides/anchor-winches-choosing-and-wiring)