extra winches on Oceanis 351

[redege]

I'v just ordered 2 new Hutton (Australian made) 40ST winches to improve handling on the 351. Looking forward to installing them to add to the 2 "standard" winches. I have decided to place them up front, in place of the locking genoa rollers. I know a lot of you will be saying "place them aft" but I am not a solo sailor, so up front will be better for me. From Joker's photos I see that his winches are bolted straight through the deck and inner shell. My question is: Is there enough substance between the deck and the inner shell to tighten the bolts? Or do I have to reinforce this? The existing locking rollers are just bolted straight through (2 bolts) and I suspect if that is enough to hold the force of the genoa, then is would also hold the new winch with 5 bolds.
any experience or advice would be welcome!

 

[joker460]

The area where the locking rollers are located is reinforced. The winches you see on mine were installed by the PO by an installer.
There is no visible stress cracking around the bolts.
They have been in use for 12 years.

I didn't like the location because it wasn't single handling friendly.

Good Luck

 

[tulasailing]

Last year I serviced all Tula's four winches. 2 Lewmar 46's and 2 slightly smaller models. Big job. I dug around under the headliner and noticed all winches had no backing plates. I had a local plastics company cut backing plates made out of half inch acrylic with the attachment bolt holes in the right places. The circular backing plates are one inch larger than the diameter of the winch bases. One less thing to worry about.
Regards
Captain Pedro

 

[catsailor]

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[joker460]

I came across this article. Not specifically for a 351 but it's damn close:dance:

http://books.google.ca/books?id=iBF...esnum=1&ved=0CBQQ6AEwADgU#v=onepage&q&f=false

 

[marian]

This is my set-up. 2 lewmar 44s and 2 lewmar 30s. With the help of auto pilot remote control, makes it really easy to sail by myself.

 

[redege]

Thanks for your replies. I have just finished the installation and the winches have been tried over a 2 week sail, up to 29 knot wind and all works fine!. It sure makes some better sailing with the extra winches. We have now used one of the winches for quick reefing, when wind picks up, without having to go on deck.
I have some photos of how I ended up installing the winches.
1. drill small holes from top through fiberglass and inner shell.
2. from inside use small hole as locating hole for a 18mm circular hole cutter in inner shell only.
3 from outside enlarge the small holes with bigger drill to fit bolts.
4 create 25 mm hole in centre.
5 put bolts in place, insert oversized washer through middle hole and move it to each of the bolts
6 use locking nut with deep socket to tighten onto bolt.

the 18mm hole is made to fit the 16mm socket, the 25mm hole is made to fit and move the oversized (25mm) washers.

All I need to do is cut and fit a nice white piece to cover the holes.

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[joker460]

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[redege]

photos

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