Mahe 36: Anchor and Windlass

[Cotemar]

Mahe’s

I had a real big concern with this new Bow roller design change also.
E-mailed FP to see what was behind this change.
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Dear FP,

The Anchor roller on the bow cross beam is a square part riveted on to
a round surface. This will not stand up to any real use. This is
normally welded on to the cross beam on older Mahe’s. Why the change?

Mark
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Answer from Thierry Billard at FP on my question.

Bow roller: It is not an anchor roller but a bow roller to take a line for a
Mooring
The anchor roller is brought back aft in the chain locker.

The fixation of the bow roller by rivet to the front beam has been decided
and implemented by Z Spars the manufacturer
Hope that this helps

Recommend you send pictures of your broken Bow roller to Z Spars fora warranty fix or recommended fix.
An let us know how you make out.
sales@zsparsuk.com

[Scott730]

Mark
I really think the reply you received from an FP representive is BS. It's thier boat with FP on the side of it. Why aren't they persuing this fix for all Mahe owners Instead of passing the buck on to us. You would think they would care about thier finished product and the safety of those who use thier product and rectify this obvious flaw.

Scott

[DtM]

Our bow roller is welded as well.
Seems like it was that way in the earlier Mahe's and has now been changed.


daniel

[jean1146]

I have been following your conversations guys....by the way my bow roller is welded. I don't think FP is doing a good job with our little problems,I have had many inquiries never answered,and by the way Scott I don't know if Willmar is still the FP agent in Florida. I am still waiting for a check on the blister repair....I was in France 2 weeks ago and so the new Lipari,this boat is amazing.
JC.

[Cotemar]

Mahe’s

Finally put all my new ground tackle in place.

Rocna 20Kg / 44 Lbs Anchor
176 feet of 5/16 High Tensile G4 chain
200 feet of 8 strand plait rope
New 5/6 HT gypsy for the Lofrans windless

Boat came with a 35 lbs CQR anchor with 100 feet of 3/8 chain and 300 feet of 3/4 three strand rope.
Needed a heavier anchor and longer chain, so I figured it all had to go and get upgraded.

Winchard Chain Grip hook for 5/16 chain
http://www.defender.com/product.jsp?path=-1|10391|32295|321087&id=1037211

Winchard Key Shackle 5/16
http://www.defender.com/product.jsp?path=-1|118|2186|312052&id=123737

Mark

[Jef & Marin, Netherlands]

Hi all,
We have done almost the same thing as Mark.
When we drove to La Rochelle to pick up Miss Poes, we had a 20 kg Rocna anchor and a 50 meters 8 mm manganese steel chain in the car; and a gypsy for the Lofrans windlass. Amongst some other things....

It turned out that for the conversion of the windlass to 8 mm chain you need a new gypsy plus a new cone, which they did not tell us. The Dutch Lofrans representative kindly sent us the replacement cone to La Rochelle with DHL.

The advantage:
50 meters 10 m chain = 118 kg
50 meters 8 mm chain = 68 kg.
Price of the 8 mm chain a bit higher, due to the stronger type of steel used.

The anchor is working OK so far.
We still have to decide what to use for 2nd anchor.
Jef

[craigsmith]

Thanks to Cotemar I've created an entry in the Rocna Knowledge Base for the Mahé 36, with his Rocna 20 (44 lb). See here: www.rocna.com/kb/Fountaine_Pajot_Mahe_36
Anyone else want to contribute, you can e-mail me any photos.

[Cotemar]

Mahe’s

Had to bend the windlass manual release handle 30 degree’s to allow for a one pull full release.
Also had to cut 4 inches off one end to clear the mooring cleat in the anchor locker. The handle is now 14 inch’s long.

Have always wanted to use this handle to free fall the anchor, but it hit the side of the anchor locker and was awkward to use.

Mark

[Eric66]

My bow roller is welded as well.
Mahe #31, year 2007.
It looks a lot stronger than the new ones.

I totally agree with Scott about mooring: one bridal and a safety line (posts #26 & #30).

I do it another way but the result is the same:
First I install the safety line. When it's done, the cat is stable and I have plenty of time to install the bridal.

I use to take the bridal of the main anchor but someone already told me it was not safe in case of an emergency. Bridal with 2 looped ropes is better.

Eric.

[Eric66]

Great minds think alike.

Without even knowing the forum at that time, I took the decision this summer to change my main 16kg FOB anchor (FP choice) with a 20kg ROCNA anchor + 50m chain + rope and I retrogressed the FOB as secondary anchor (easy to stow).

I experienced the ROCNA for 1 month and that's a difference compared to the FOB: now I can sleep at night!!!

For the little story, I had the ROCNA dragging once but it was my fault: 10m chain with 3m depth and wind gusting at 35kts is definitively not enough!

But still the ROCNA didn't disappoint me: it was dragging very slow, gently I would say, but never released. The seabed was sand.

Eric, ROCNA supporter.

[Cotemar]

Mahe’s

Just added two additional 10” cleats to the front cross beam to make is easier to take a mooring.

Found it awkward to cleat off to the factory cleats which are 3 feet back from the bows and tend to chaff on the seagull striker cable when setting your bridal.

Seafarer 316 Stainless Studded Cleat $37.26

Studs are 5/16 inch dia.
Whitecap 316 Stainless Studded Cleat

Purchased from Jamestown distributors

Put 3/8" White Nylon hole plugs on the bottom to finish off and cover the ratchet extention ports on the underside of the cross beem.

Mark

[Cotemar]

Mahe’s

Added an Anchor Bumper to stop the gel coat chipping in the forward lip of the locker opening.

It only bumped 3 times in two years, but it does not look good and can only get worse.

Drilled and tapped the two button socket cap screws on the locker lip.
Used 1/4 – 20 thread x 1/2 long. Attaches to the existing bolts on the anchor roller

See blueprint attached


Mark

[Cotemar]

As most of you know, you can not use your Windless unless you start your port engine.

Oranaman did a nice job of documenting his Anchor Windlass Interlock
Override modification. This modification will work on most FP boats.

http://www.cruisersforum.com/forums/...tml#post573607

[Scott730]

Mark
Do you know where our solenoid is located on the mahe?

Thanks
Scott

[Jef & Marin, Netherlands]

In our Mahe 88 the solenoid is located in the upper box in the empty space behind (well, actually forward of) the fridge. Accessible via the hanging locker just aft of the starboard heads.
Note that in part of the mahe's, the NMEA2000 to NMEA0183 converter module (Simrad AT-10) is situated nearby. This unit has already failed 2 times, and needed to be replaced two times. This failure may well have been caused by the proximity of the anchor relay; switching of the relay will cause large voltage spikes.
I have taken measures to reduce voltage spike to protect the new AT-10 module.