Using a Dillon dynamometer, testers record the maximum pulling strength of one of the windlasses.

Big and gnarly. That was the type of test the publisher of Powerboat Reports wanted from his crew at a recent editorial meeting. How about windlasses—big and expensive windlasses, with lots of moving parts and thick wires and shiny chrome bodies? Perfect, the boss replied.

And so, this spring we conducted the mother of all windlass tests in an industrial complex near our editorial offices in Sarasota, Florida. The result: Enough data for three windlass articles, each focused on a different cost range. …