Adding a Windlass

[Peel]

I have a 10 meter sailboat that I sail exclusively within inland waters (Salish Sea of Washington State and British Columbia). The boat has a 15 kilo Bruce anchor on 10m of chain and 60m or 3-strand rode. It holds well in all the places that I anchor.
As I'm getting older, it is getting more difficult to haul the anchor back in. Even after getting it unstuck, the weight of the anchor and chain is getting to be too much on my back. I would love to add a small windlass, like the Maxwell RC8-8 rope/chain windlass, but can't figure out where I'd mount it. Below is a sketch I did of my chain locker, and the flip-top lid goes all the way to the back of the locker, so no opportunity to place the windlass aft of the lid. Immediately aft of the locker is V-Berth, so that doesn't help either.

I'd love to hear your suggestions of how to get one to work.

[Don C L]

A vertical windlass could allow the chain to come around and exit straight out so that it could be mounted aft and allow you to feed the rode into the existing anchor locker, like this diagram.

[Don C L]

Check this too:
https://www.pinterest.com/pin/765119424209917102/

[bergius]

I've seen quite a few boats with a chain locker like that install a horizontal axis windlass on a shelf inside the locker. You might want to measure if that would fit.

[Cthoops]

We installed a horizontal Maxwell windlass on our Bristol 29.9 back in 2018. Our locker cover is similar in that it extends back the same way, but our doesn’t have the split down the center.

Regardless, we ended up cutting the cover in half horizontally and installing the windlass on the forward half of the cover, using thick G-10 as a backing plate and affixing the forward half of the cover with stainless steel screws (so it’s permanently closed). Mr. Cthoops opens the other half of the cover to flake the chain as it’s going in (our locker isn’t deep like yours.)

You could do something similar. I wrote a detailed article about it for Good Old Boat. A google search for an electric windlass on a Bristol 29.9 should find it for you.

[Peel]

Thanks everyone. Those were great suggestions and links to drawings. With all of that info I've come up with the following plan: I will rotate the anchor bow roller 6º toward port, then reinforce, and glass in the port side anchor locker door. The windlass will be mounted on this side, while still allowing access into the locker from the starboard side. A horizontal, above deck windlass fit better than a vertical, motor in the locker type, so I will go with that. It's still low profile enough (5.5" above deck), and far enough back that it won't interfere with my jib furler, or headsail.

[Don C L]

Originally Posted by Peel

Thanks everyone. Those were great suggestions and links to drawings. With all of that info I've come up with the following plan: I will rotate the anchor bow roller 6º toward port, then reinforce, and glass in the port side anchor locker door. The windlass will be mounted on this side, while still allowing access into the locker from the starboard side. A horizontal, above deck windlass fit better than a vertical, motor in the locker type, so I will go with that. It's still low profile enough (5.5" above deck), and far enough back that it won't interfere with my jib furler, or headsail.

Great! Send photos when you get it worked out!

[wyb2]

Originally Posted by Peel

Thanks everyone. Those were great suggestions and links to drawings. With all of that info I've come up with the following plan: I will rotate the anchor bow roller 6º toward port, then reinforce, and glass in the port side anchor locker door. The windlass will be mounted on this side, while still allowing access into the locker from the starboard side. A horizontal, above deck windlass fit better than a vertical, motor in the locker type, so I will go with that. It's still low profile enough (5.5" above deck), and far enough back that it won't interfere with my jib furler, or headsail.

I did exactly this on my old boat, it worked out well. I actually just through-bolted the door to the lip that it rested on. Fully glassing it would be ideal, but the door and the lip both seemed sturdy enough, and we were cruising.

[Bowdrie]

Originally Posted by wyb2

I did exactly this on my old boat, it worked out well. I actually just through-bolted the door to the lip that it rested on. Fully glassing it would be ideal, but the door and the lip both seemed sturdy enough, and we were cruising.

To the OP, at a minimum do what wyb2 mentions above.
You can't just fasten a windlass to a flimsy hatch that's only held to the boat with a couple of little hinges and a weak latch.
And you'll want some real stiffening/reinforcing underneath that hatch.

[Peel]

Originally Posted by Bowdrie

To the OP, at a minimum do what wyb2 mentions above.
You can't just fasten a windlass to a flimsy hatch that's only held to the boat with a couple of little hinges and a weak latch.
And you'll want some real stiffening/reinforcing underneath that hatch.

You'll see above that my plans are to glass that side of the hatch in place, after I strengthen it by epoxy sandwiching in a sheet of plywood between the hatch cover and 4 layers of fiberglass.

[barnakiel]

Imho a winch located behind (aft of) that existing locker would be best - with the chain falling into a different locker - one build into under the fwd berth.


This would make for easy installation and modification.


b.

[j.g.evans]

In a similar situation I first glassed in a plank against the aft chain locker bulkhead. To this I bolted an aluminum angle to create a horizontal surface to mount a horizontal pull and vertical drop windlass. Close the anchor locker lid and all is out of sight and out of the weather.

[SailingYoungs]

On our race boat we considered installing a windlass for cruising season but instead opted for some snatch blocks to run the rode back to a winch in the cockpit. Recently we installed an electric halyard winch so we will route the rode to that this summer. Yes it gets the decks messy but a bucket of water takes care of that and our foredeck stays nice and clean and light. We feed the rode into a sack or milk crate and stow it below.

[twofingerpoi]

I considered a Maxwell but discovered that it would drain under and possibly into the motor compartment, so instead opted for a Lofrans 1000 vertical which has been ideal.

2003 Beneteau 361 was designed for a vertical windlass and the OEM option was a Lewmar 700 which is undersized and doesn't have the build quality of the Lofrans.

Be sure to reinforce with a strong large backing plate that will spread the load across the deck. Consider drainage and seal well with butyl tape. We had to run two Ancor 2 AWG from bow to engine compartment as I elected to use the house batteries rather than a separate battery in the bow that would need wiring for charging. Include a good quality breaker of appropriate size, mine was Blue Seas 100A as recommended by Lofrans for that windlass.

Treat yourself to a cheap wireless remote control. I have mine also hard wired to the helm as backup but the remote is what i typically use.

[jen1722terry]

We have 90 ft. of 3/16 chain and a 30 lb. anchor on our little 31-footer.

We chose a Lofrans Royal horizontal manual and we were able to center it to feed directly into the existing hawsepipe (we have no external chain locker cover). It works fine but needs to be hand-fed at times to avoid having the chain jam in the pipe.

Install was pretty simple. Drilled and sealed the bolt holes and made our own thick aluminum backing plates.

At this point, we rarely use it unless were anchoring in deep water where the weight can get unmanageable. We still prefer to haul the chain/anchor by hand but that could change as dear wife got sciatica last summer and I, though fit, am getting off-warranty.

Best of luck.

And Happy Holidays to all!