Winches for Van de Gruiter

On behalf of Van de Gruiter we developed a unique set of winches. For the outfitting in the Netherlands a yacht needs to be transported behind a tugboat through a number of sluices. During locking, the tugboat and the yacht cannot fit into the lock simultaneously. For this purpose, DROMEC Winches developed a quadruple winch system on the hull of the yacht.

Quadruple winch system

Using 4 electric mooring winches with a pulling force of 5500 kg on deck 1, the hull is secured before entering the lock. The tugboat passes through the lock. Subsequently, the 70-meter cables with a diameter of 28mm are attached to the bollards in the lock. The 4 winches with controls pull the hull into the lock. After locking, the cables are disconnected and reattached to the tugboat. Similarly, the hull is then pulled back to the tugboat.

Free-wheeling clutch

The 4 winches are identical, they are mirrored at the bow and on either side of the aft deck. The cable is retracted at a speed of 10 meters per minute. The winches are equipped with a manually operated free-wheeling clutch, a crucial requirement for these winches. With a drum in free-wheel mode, the operators on shore can pull the cable to the bollard. And once the cable needs to be released, the drum goes into free-wheel mode. When the cables need to be retracted again, the drum is reconnected to the drive for rewinding.

Controls

DROMEC Winches has mounted a frequency-controlled control system on the winches. With a user-friendly handheld controller, the operator can incrementally increase and decrease the speed with push buttons.

Joost Ressing:
‘We have connected a control system to each winch, making it a complete set that is versatile. This way, multiple yachts can be moved over long distances. The collaboration with Van de Gruiter was pleasant, and communication was good on both sides. Despite the tight delivery time, everything worked out well!’