Equipment & Gear used on our CR Yachts 400DS sailboat
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Lewmar Sprint 1000 electric anchor windlass
(formerly Simpson-Lawrence)

Mad Dog Voyager, a CR Yachts 400D, was originally delivered with a Sprint 1000 windlass installed. Our Sprint 1000 has failed once, twice 3 times, even though it has seen very little use. First, due to poor design, the electric Framco motor had become completely water soaked and was totally seized. Even the epoxy attaching the magnets to the housing had let go of some of the magnets. The motor was taken to a electric motor repair shop and repaired. A couple hundred dollars later the motor was back installed and working.

The second time, again due to a poor design in our opinion, the interior gearing seized up. The reversing compound gear locked up and caused the motor to completely overheat. The electrical lead wires had bubbled the wire insulation and needed to be replaced. Another day, another long job and it was disassembled, reassembled and back in use.

Shortly thereafter - same thing as in the beginning again! The motor had stopped and was completely full of water. This time though, several magnets came loose and were fractured and broken due to pressure on them from the spindle. We contacted Lewmar, who responded that "...it happens sometimes, probably a seal was worn-out or something and let water in. However, the the unit is still current enough that you can order a replacement Framco motor". The motor was replaced at a cost of several hundred dollars, the unit completely disassembled, reassembled, reinstalled and was working again.

Since that time, we have replaced the brushes on the "new" motor due to rusting of the springs, due to the same problem of water leaking inside an electrical motor suspended in a vertical axis, directly below the chain gypsy. A plain stupid design!

While the Telephone Technical Assistance was helpful, we think Lewmar did themselves a disservice with this one. Lewmar decided to keep making parts available for these units, but never designed a retrofit kit for this unit in order to suspend the motor horizontally as on the later Sprint models. Furthermore, when we spoke with Lewmar Technical Support, it would have been a better option for Lewmar to admit the faulty designed unit they inherited when they bought out Simpson Lawrence and NOT have recommended replacing any parts on the Sprint 1000. While we wouldn't have been happy with the advice at the time, I wish Lewmar had suggested replacing the windlass instead of repairing the old one.

During the saga of our windlass we have met and spoken with two other boats equipped with the same windlass that have had similar problems and are also considering replacements.

 
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