Each of the seven windlasses that PS tested were mounted to this test platform and their chain hooked to a dynamometer for maximum pull testing. The Lewmar V3 Gypsy, shown above, scored very well.

Small windlasses handle a wet, backbreaking, sometimes dangerous job that few of us like. Big windlasses, like the verticals we tested for this article, do a job many sailors could likely not do on their own. When boats get bigger, anchors get bigger, and the job of pulling them off the bottom gets enormous.

In the continuation of PS's anchor windlass testing, we evaluated a group of verticals models, which are a step up from the smaller, less powerful units we tested in our Aug. 1 issue this year. Some of these stronger siblings are able to put more than a ton of force on the anchor rode. If you're looking…