I have an electric windlass that plan to mount. I also need to add rollers for 2 anchors on the bowsprit.
The windlass is a Vetus Alexander. I have not decided finally how to mount it. Here are some alternatives:
With the position on the left, it looks better and The chain goes past the forestay without problems. However, I need to cut both hatches… (the hatches under that windlass wil be fixed, but the front part(s) will be possible to open.)
With the postion on the right, I only need to cut one hatch, but I need to lead the chain past the forestay somehow.
The chain goes over the wheel and straight down, so the windlass needs to be placed so that the chain locker is below. A slight change to the windlass so that the chain can go round and then forward again, would make it possible to mount the windlass further aft and leave the hatches as they are…
The bulkhead in the chain locker is not fully vertical, so I have ordered a piece of stainless steel, which is bent less than 90 degrees. The windlass would then be bolted through the steel plate and through the hatch.
The steel support is done and drilled for the windlass.
Here is a better picture with the hole made for the power cables visible.
I hade to remove the front cupboard to get access to the bulkhead. Here the holes are drilled.
The support in place. I had to move the power intake to the port side to keep it away from where the chain will come down.
Windlass finally in place. I originally planned to cut the hatches across, but this way of cutting gives better access to the chain locker. I brought the hatches home to seal the edges (I cut through the sandwich material, so the foam was visible. Here is the current view (60 m of chain marked at every 5 meters and loaded into the chain locker.
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