Born in Edinburgh, in 1859, Kenneth Grahame would later write "Wind in the Willows". Most likely unaware at the time, in 1908, that his phrase "Believe me, my young friend, there is nothing - absolutely nothing - half so much worth doing as simply messing about in boats", would still bring a smile to the face of serious cruisers everywhere, even in 2017.

Not wanting to miss an opportunity, Tuesday, we travelled to Paisley. Why go to a small town, on the other side of Scotland near Glasgow, 64 miles away? To see a man about "mess about" with boat stuff, in particular an anchor windlass!


In 1996, we bought a "Sea Tiger 555" manually operated Two Speed Windlass. At the time it was made by the Scottish company, Simpson Lawrence. Mounted on Calypso's bowsprit it used a 3 foot handle and Wendy, Jeff or Shannon power to deploy & retrieve our anchor and chain rode (Ground Tackle). It is a small, but major part of our overall safety plan.

Today, large boating equipment manufacturers provide only one choice when buying a new anchor windlasses, it must be electrically operated! In today's high tech world, most electric windlasses require their own dedicated battery as they draw a lot of power.

There is no argument that electric models are physically easier to operate than manually operated ones. The electric windlass allows less active boaters to buy larger boats that require larger ground tackle. All that is needed from the crew is that they can push a button and the chain comes up or goes down.

Several years ago, Simpson Lawrence decided to stop producing its line of windlasses. John stepped in to fill the void left by them to provide needed replacement parts. He now runs Simpson Lawrence Spares Ltd, in Paisley.

Started as a hobby in a backyard shed his business has grown, mainly through "word of mouth". John proudly told us that he has only advertised once, in Good Old Boat Magazine.


John soon started to refurbish Simpson Lawrence products for owners and needed a hydraulic press & other testing equipment.


Soon, he rented a 500sq-ft work shop, but it too became overwhelmed as customer requests for parts rolled in.


A few years ago he moved into a larger 1500 sq-ft workshop in a small industrial park.


John is very proud, and rightly so, of his little hobby. He has built a reputation for providing spare parts, refurbishing old windlasses, and now can provide an entirely new manual windlass. Simpson Lawrence Spares Ltd, http://slspares.co.uk

Go small, go simple, go now!

Fair Winds and Quiet Anchorages,
Jeff & Wendy