New windlass for Papillon.

[Hayden Watson]

I decided that I am just too darn old to "weigh" my anchor every time I want to leave and anchorage so it was time for a new windlass. The C30 Mk2 has a very big and deep anchor locker for a 30' boat. It is 34” x 30" and 30" deep so has plenty of room for chain drop. What is does not have is a good location to mount a windlass.

I fixed that by cutting the lid in half with the aft 14" wide piece being hinged and the front 20" piece is fixed in place. On the fixed part, I shaped a piece of 1” Coosa to fit the underside and bedded that in thickened epoxy and covered it with a couple of layers of 1708.

This piece was fixed to the locker with rivnuts and a 3” x 3/8” SS bar to the bow. I then mounted a Lewmar VX1 windlass to this section with foot switches and a remove switch at the helm. The windlass I got also has the capstan and I used it to raise my genoa by myself. I turned the halyard forward with a block on a soft shackle, ran it under my deck cleat to the capstan. A couple of turns and a press of the button and up it went.

 

[dLj]

Windlasses are really nice! Especially as one ages....

dj

 

[thinwater]

How did the rope-to-chain splice go? That was not on the video.

Yes, windlasses are nice. Who cares if you don't "need" it. And you will like it even more with time.

 

[Hayden Watson]

How did the rope-to-chain splice go? That was not on the video.

Yes, windlasses are nice. Who cares if you don't "need" it. And you will like it even more with time.

The rope chain splice went through like a dream. It was the all nylon that gave some trouble with skipping in the gypsy. I am pretty sure that was because the line was dry with absolutely no load on it. I was retrieving it from the dock where I had flaked it out in 25' lengths to mark it. I think in actual practice when it is coming up out of the water, there will be drag on it which will help it settle into the teeth.

I am a 68-year-old retired desk jockey and do not what my sailing to be prevented because I hurt my poor old back. Currently, I have a 35-lb Mantus with 30' of 5/16" chain which comes to about 70-lbs and while I CAN haul it by hand, I don't want to push my luck. I also want to increase the chain to 120' to open up some nice deeper anchorages and then I would not want to do it by hand. We like to cruise and only hit a dock once a week preferring the time on the hook so it should get some good use.

It was also really nice to be able to hoist the genoa onto the furler by myself. Every other time I have done it, I required someone in the cockpit to crank the winch.

 

[jssailem]

Nice job Hayden. I have the same setup but without the anchor hatch. The same Mantus M1 anchor and swivel. 105ft of chain attached to 250ft of rode.

I think you will be very happy with the new system.

 

[Hayden Watson]

I have one more modification that I want to get done. I am using nylon and chain but I do not want the chain piled up on top of the nylon because it will inevitably slip down into the loose coils of nylon. I am concerned that this could then get tangled. I am also concerned that the nylon might have some problems getting stripped out of the gypsy because that happened several times with the dry rode.

It help with both of these things, I will make a divider panel that isolates enough of the forward part of the locker directly under the chain pipe to hold all of the chain I am using. I will then handle the rope into the larger back section to hold the rope seperate from the chain. When I first pulled the rope into the locker the other day, it was very loose and took up most of the space and I needed to stomp it down to compact it before i got to the chain. This will also be easier when the rope is confined to the aft portion under the opening lid.

 

[capta]

I don't think a remote switch for the windlass at the helm is a very good idea. The anchor below was fouled in the chain about half way between the boat and the anchor. It doesn't look that big, but I'm guessing it was 350# or more and over 6' long. I don't know about your boat, but that anchor would have done some pretty significant damage to our boat, had someone not been forward to prevent that.

 

[Hayden Watson]

I don't think a remote switch for the windlass at the helm is a very good idea. The anchor below was fouled in the chain about half way between the boat and the anchor. It doesn't look that big, but I'm guessing it was 350# or more and over 6' long. I don't know about your boat, but that anchor would have done some pretty significant damage to our boat, had someone not been forward to prevent that. View attachment 237734

I fully agree that you need to be at the bow to retrieve the anchor. In my case, I will need to handle the nylon rode into the aft section of the locker so that the forward portion, which is directly under the chain pipe is reserved for only the chain. The remote switch is for deploying the anchor so that I can drive to my chosen spot, stop the boat and lower it down.

 

[jssailem]

You might consider installing an anchor counter. While not a perfect solution, I am guessing they could be accurate to within a couple of feet.

I believe there is a spot for a sensor in the V1.

 

[Hayden Watson]

You might consider installing an anchor counter. While not a perfect solution, I am guessing they could be accurate to within a couple of feet.

I believe there is a spot for a sensor in the V1.

The VX1 comes with the sensor preinstalled but I need to find the display without paying the extorsion from Lewmar. I am thinking about building one with the help of my brother-in-law who is a pretty good electronics whiz.

 

[jssailem]

Let me know how it goes. I have the V3 on my boat.

 

[Hayden Watson]

The clutch on my new Lewmar VX1 has a special wrench for the clutch and I wanted it to have a dedicated storage location to keep it ready to hand and secure. I few minutes with Fusion 360 and 40 minutes in the Bambu P1S and I have a very nice mount that is screwed into the anchor locker.