Mooring equipment

Winches with various arrangements of barrels are the usual mooring equipment used on board ships. The winch barrel or drum is used for hauling in or letting out the wires or ropes which will fasten the ship to the shore. The warp end is used when moving the ship using ropes or wires fastened to bollards ashore and wrapped around the warp end of the winch.

The motor drive of mooring winch is passed through a spur gear transmission, a clutch and thus to the drum and warp end. A substantial frame supports the assembly and a band brake is used to hold the drum when required. The control arrangements for the drive motor permit forward or reverse rotation together with a selection of speeds during operation. Modern mooring winches are arranged as automatic self-tensioning units. The flow of the tides or changes in draught due to cargo operations may result in tensioning or slackening of mooring wires. To avoid constant attention to the mooring wires the automatic self-tensioning arrangement provides for paying out (releasing) or recovering wire when a pre-set tension is not present. (900)