What has been your experience with free fall winches??

Some years ago I was cautioned against them due to more frequent
fouling....maybe in the rope locker, I don't remember.

Are these more trouble prone than the power up power down type?? Worth the
extra money???

In concept, I guess free fall reduces motor brush and gear wear but I'm
wondering if the different mechanism has its own set of difficulties....

Cheers,
Rob Brueckner
1972 Hatteras Yachtfish

Our free fall winch works just fine on Ancora. Takes some practise keeping
enough tension on the winch to lower the anchor slowly to the bottom.
Ralph Salerno
M/V ANCORA

My Ideal Windlass has both reversing and free-fall capability.  My
experience is the electrical reversing is plenty fast enough for my needs
and the free fall would be a lot more likely to jump the gypsy unless you
managed it carefully.  I prefer to operate everything from the bridge being
a single hander...

                                      Regards....

Phil Rosch
Old Harbor Consulting
M/V Curmudgeon MT-44TC
Currently moored in Vero Beach, FL