I have a horizontal anchor winch with all chain rode.
The winch is electric but only pulls the anchor up so you loosen the wheel on the side and depress the lever near the bottom and the chain runs free at a rate of knots to drop the anchor the problem i have is that the chain deploys so fast it jumps out of the gypsy and keeps running out till i put my hand or a boat hook in there to stop it so not an ideal situation.
I am wondering is there a technique i can use to solve the problem, my last boat the windlass was electric both ways.
this is a very heavy sarka anchor and gets a lot of momentum going with all the chain feeding any ideas

Not a direct answer to your question but I have seen significant damage to a shoe on someone who tried to stop an anchor chain running away. Lucky he didn't lose part of his foot.

I would be thinking that the knob that you are loosening is a clutch and needs a certain mount of preload on it to control the feed out of the chain. Once the chain is flowing you may need to tighten that knob to slow it down. The clutch may need some lubrication on it to help it slip at a controlled rate,, if it is dry, it might only work like an on or off switch,,, like the one on my boat does when in need of a grease.

Is your issue as bad as this

I would think you could make the winch electric up and down. It is only a matter of reversing the polarity using two double pole solenoids. You would have to check that the winch did not have some form of mechanical protection to stop the winch from winding backwards. My winch can be lowed by releasing the clutch or electric , I tend to always use the electric to lower the anchor.

Yes Jolene it may be a clutch but at the moment its either on tight to stop the chain going out and to wind the chain in.Or off and loose like a lock nut no middle ground of being semi on.
When it gets a bit tight winding in it slips and i have to nip it up.
I would not like my hand in there to tighten the wheel up as the chain went out because it is just like tophs video but no fire

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aus005 said..
Yes Jolene it may be a clutch but at the moment its either on tight to stop the chain going out and to wind the chain in.Or off and loose like a lock nut no middle ground of being semi on.
When it gets a bit tight winding in it slips and i have to nip it up.
I would not like my hand in there to tighten the wheel up as the chain went out because it is just like tophs video but no fire

Sounds like maybe there is a clutch liner which needs to be replaced.

Select to expand quote

aus005 said..
Yes Jolene it may be a clutch but at the moment its either on tight to stop the chain going out and to wind the chain in.Or off and loose like a lock nut no middle ground of being semi on.
When it gets a bit tight winding in it slips and i have to nip it up.
I would not like my hand in there to tighten the wheel up as the chain went out because it is just like tophs video but no fire

The clutch on mine consist of a cone that is forced into the receiver on the gypsy , this provides the drag for feeding out the chain. In the bottom of the gypsy is a set of pawls that allows gypsy to freely spin on the main shaft, in the direction for anchor retrieval. If those pawls are not engaging the gypsy will free spin in both directions regardless of the clutch pressure.

Edit/Correction:
I should say that the pawls allow the main shaft to freely spin in one direction. If they are not engaging the whole shaft spins in either direction regardless of the clutch pressure.