Stainless steel anchor chain

Magnum said:
Thanks for the pics.

Princess Motor Yacht Sales are saying a stopper cannot be fitted on my 68 due to limited space and location of a bulkhead.
Click to expand...

Are you working with Peter Harwood?
I know that if I was, I would somehow have fitted that chain stopper.
It is kind of a "no brainer".
Probably fit it in the channel but that requires some serious drilling and the easy bit of fitting a plate on the back in the chain locker.
However, in their defence (and touching on Asm's post) you would need to be sure that the chain can run through the slots in the bottom of the Lewmar chain stopper without jumping.
I know that Asm has had this problem but I'm sure it is fixable with a bit of care.
Is the boat going to Swanwick?
I know that your old 67 did.
There are people at Swanwick that, I'm sure, would solve the problem.
Complain to Roger is you don't get any satisfaction.
Roger is a very "hands on" person who I would trust to get things to happen.
Maybe fitting a stopper in the channel isn't the answer but I'm sure that the guys at Swanwick would be able to provide an answer.
 
jfm said:
You could do either of the suggestions above, or you could make a custom stopper (like the one in my picture above which is not catalogue) and weld its two side cheeks onto the existing channel, or replace the whole channel component with a new one whose sides rise up at the aft end to create the cheeks for the chain stopper mechanism. This is so easy - would take a s/s craftsman a few of hours. Princess just don't want to.
.
Click to expand...
Agreed. A custom made channel incorporating a stopper made by a skilled stainless steel fabricator would be half a days job and be a thing of beauty IMHO. Even if the factory doesn't want to do it (which they should) its a disgrace that the dealer doesn't want to get off his arse and find a specialist to do it to keep a customer buying a £2m boat happy. All I can say is that business must be too good
 
Making progress. It seems it may be possible to fit the Lewmar stopper in between the stem head and the windlass on a slightly angled base. I'm not sure how that would look though. My preference would still be to machine a few mil off the stopper and sit it in the stem head. When I suggested this I was told drilling the stem head would take some time as it is 5mm thick. Is it that difficult to drill stainless?
 
Magnum said:
Making progress. It seems it may be possible to fit the Lewmar stopper in between the stem head and the windlass on a slightly angled base. I'm not sure how that would look though. My preference would still be to machine a few mil off the stopper and sit it in the stem head. When I suggested this I was told drilling the stem head would take some time as it is 5mm thick. Is it that difficult to drill stainless?
Click to expand...

In situ with a handrill (electric) far from impossible with good quality drill bits, far better and easier off the boat when using a pillar drill.......
 
RobWales said:
In situ with a handrill (electric) far from impossible with good quality drill bits, far better and easier off the boat when using a pillar drill.......
Click to expand...
+1. To do it in situ you really need someone tooled up and who knows what they're doing - it isn't easy. Removing it and pillar drilling is much better, but if you do that then you might as well do a proper job and make a custom stopper integrated into the channel. Fundamentally, if you don't do that you are going to have a bodge look, with one component bolted atop another when they should be integrated. You'd be much better removing the channel and getting it adapted to incorporate a custom stopper. Then bolt it back on with socket head CSK bolts/set screws and have the heads polished before assembly (possibly adding a couple more bolts that are used currently). You don't need the groove that's in the base of the Lewmar stopper
 
Magnum said:
Making progress. It seems it may be possible to fit the Lewmar stopper in between the stem head and the windlass on a slightly angled base. I'm not sure how that would look though.
Click to expand...

Sammy B on this forum did just that - fitted a small shim under a Lewmar stopper.
I'll email them if they aren't reading this and see if they mind me going on board and photographing their solution.
They got a local stainless steel fabricator (good tradesman - done lots of good work here in SC) to do the job.

Magnum said:
My preference would still be to machine a few mil off the stopper and sit it in the stem head. When I suggested this I was told drilling the stem head would take some time as it is 5mm thick. Is it that difficult to drill stainless?
Click to expand...

It is possible to drill it in situ - ask Asm
I believe he ruined several carbon tipped drills doing it and it took a long time - but it was possible.
 
jfm said:
You don't need the groove that's in the base of the Lewmar stopper
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R U sure?
I would think it's meant to keep the chain flowing as a "vertical cross" rather than a "X" (if you see what I mean), in order to make the stopper grab the chain better.
Not saying it's surely necessary, but I wouldn't be positive that it isn't...

Ref the screws, looking at their placement, I have a funny feeling that they might have used just self-tapering screws, without any threaded counterplate underneath.
And if so, the choice of slot heads would be a bit of fine craftsmanship, in comparison... :ambivalence:
But I'm just speculating now, obviously.
 
Hurricane said:
Sammy B on this forum did just that - fitted a small shim under a Lewmar stopper.
I'll email them if they aren't reading this and see if they mind me going on board and photographing their solution.
They got a local stainless steel fabricator (good tradesman - done lots of good work here in SC) to do the job.



It is possible to drill it in situ - ask Asm
I believe he ruined several carbon tipped drills doing it and it took a long time - but it was possible.
Click to expand...

It is hard to drill SS, very hard. There are lots of new fangled drill bits on the shopping channel that always promise miracles but I always preferred to blow a hole in it with my plasma cutter to use as a pilot hole. Might not be a
Princess-esque solution as it won't have a perfect finish. But a few simple holes can take a lot of man hours
 
Hurricane....
Drilling SS is all about the correct cutting speed, too fast and you'll blunt the bit in a few rev's....
Tungsten tipped bits are just as prone if the wrong cutting speeds used.
Lubrication also helps..... (OOOH EEER Madam)
 
Neeves said:
Much excellent quality comes from China - its the buyers who are at fault.
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A friend of mine who has had up to 150 folks working for him in his Chinese factory, through 20+ years, once told me that among all the people he met arguing that the "Chinese=cheap" equation is only down to buyers' choices, NONE of these guys ever had any first hand experience of industrial production in PRC.
You can call him Xenophobe if you wish, but he lived there for a much higher number of MONTHS, through two decades, than the number of HOURS most of us would withstand for a holiday...
 
MapisM said:
R U sure?
I would think it's meant to keep the chain flowing as a "vertical cross" rather than a "X" (if you see what I mean), in order to make the stopper grab the chain better.
Not saying it's surely necessary, but I wouldn't be positive that it isn't...

Ref the screws, looking at their placement, I have a funny feeling that they might have used just self-tapering screws, without any threaded counterplate underneath.
And if so, the choice of slot heads would be a bit of fine craftsmanship, in comparison... :ambivalence:
But I'm just speculating now, obviously.
Click to expand...

Yes P - that slot is for the chain to run it (every other link will locate in the slot.

Fixings
No - not self tappers - the recess allows for substantial Cap Scres bolts to be used - M16 in fact.
I bought mine from here - A4 of course.
The 100mm long ones worked for me - right length to go through the deck and allow for washers and backplate etc.

http://www.nutandboltshop.com/acatalog/A4---M16-Socket-Cap-Screw--DIN-912-.html
 
Magnum said:
Making progress. It seems it may be possible to fit the Lewmar stopper in between the stem head and the windlass on a slightly angled base. I'm not sure how that would look though. My preference would still be to machine a few mil off the stopper and sit it in the stem head. When I suggested this I was told drilling the stem head would take some time as it is 5mm thick. Is it that difficult to drill stainless?
Click to expand...

Further to my posts 43 59 & 188. It is possible, I drilled the same style channel with a normal diy drill (slow speed) using cobalt tipped bits with water as a cooler/lubricant. When you drill through the channel, beyond the fibreglass is another SS plate.making a very strong sandwich - the existing though bolts in the channel are not selftappers!
 
I have the Lewmar stopper and think you probably do need the groove. In addition to the "+" rather than "x" argument, it helps stop the chain bouncing in the channel and flipping the stopper bar, which can be a problem anyway depending upon the angle/distance between the windlass and the stopper and the speed of the chain.
 
Asm said:
Further to my posts 43 59 & 188. It is possible, I drilled the same style channel with a normal diy drill (slow speed) using cobalt tipped bits with water as a cooler/lubricant. When you drill through the channel, beyond the fibreglass is another SS plate.making a very strong sandwich - the existing though bolts in the channel are not selftappers!
Click to expand...

I have a spray can of cutting oil on the boat, and find it relatively straight forward to drill 316 with the right drill bits, low rpm, and liberal use of the oil. The oil also gives a useful telltale of smoke if you're generating too much heat. I'm surprised that Princess/PMYS are raising this as a reason not to fit the stopper, when it should be relatively simple for their experienced fitters.
 
If drilling in situ I would first check if the cutting oil stains the surfaces esp teak. As Asm says try water
 
Hurricane said:
Fixings
No - not self tappers - the recess allows for substantial Cap Scres bolts to be used - M16 in fact.
I bought mine from here - A4 of course.
The 100mm long ones worked for me - right length to go through the deck and allow for washers and backplate etc.
Click to expand...
Interesting.
I don't remember how similar (or not) JW deck is vs. the new P68, but looking at this one among the pics posted by Magnum, I would have thought that reaching the underside at least of those screws on the right, towards the tip of the bow roller, is extremely hard...?
 
Fine.......weld it into the channel then?...nice substantial bit of kit that Lewmar is and as jfm has stated a decent fabricator would make it look easy...
Tell you what, rip it all off send it down and it'll come back looking like a designed to fit item....:-)
 
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