Lewmar V700 Windlass
- Thread starter Fred
- Start date
I just installed a v700 on my boat that is similar in size to your Catalina 28. The v700 has to be mounted on a horizontal surface. I chose it cut the anchor locker lid into a forward section that opens and an aft section for the windlass support. The aft section is epoxied to the deck.
There are a several considerations with mounting a windlass. First, the windlass must allow for an adequate chain fall or the chain and rode will castle with the rode falling off the windlass.
To be effective the rode needs to wrap around the gypsy, typically about 180° around.
Next is the location of the motor. The gypsy that is seen above deck is only a small part of the windlass. There is a large motor beneath the deck.
There will be a lot of force exerted on the windlass. The supporting structures must be strong enough to handle the loads.
Finally, windlasses are designed to mounted on a flat horizontal surface. Some windlass have a vertically oriented gypsy, such as the Lewmar V700 other are horizontal. The rode on the V700 must wrap around the gypsy by about 180° before falling into the chain locker. It will be impossible to do this if the wlndlass is mounted on a vertical surface.
To be effective the rode needs to wrap around the gypsy, typically about 180° around.
Next is the location of the motor. The gypsy that is seen above deck is only a small part of the windlass. There is a large motor beneath the deck.
There will be a lot of force exerted on the windlass. The supporting structures must be strong enough to handle the loads.
Finally, windlasses are designed to mounted on a flat horizontal surface. Some windlass have a vertically oriented gypsy, such as the Lewmar V700 other are horizontal. The rode on the V700 must wrap around the gypsy by about 180° before falling into the chain locker. It will be impossible to do this if the wlndlass is mounted on a vertical surface.
I've seen similar types of installations with the windlass mounted on a shelf inside the anchor locker. This example looks to be made of starboard, I think that material is too soft for this application. If this was my boat I would consider an aluminum shelf or bracket or something more substantial like G10 or plywood reinforced with several layers of glass in epoxy.
Maxwell makes there VW10 series windlass that is a vertical windlass without the chain pipe so that it can be mounted horizontally in the chain locker.
