Windlass Mounting Question

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salty-shanty

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Hi all

I'm hoping someone has the knowledge or experience to provide a little guidance here. We are replacing an old broken Symonds and Laurence windlass on a 1999 Bavaria 42. The mounting holes on either of what appears to be the best replacement options (Lewmar V2 or Lofrans X2) are on a much smaller diameter footprint than the existing windlass and would be within what is already within the existing cut out. The existing windlass is mounted in 30mm marine ply (which has then been gelcoated ?) within a recessed area in the anchor locker I am considering bolting a 6mm stainless steel plate over the top of this ply (about 500mm x 270mm) and cutting out the holes in the plate for the windlass and mounting holes and then fitting the windlass into the stainless steel plate. 6mm extra height between the top of the windlass and the anchor locker cover would be fine but not much more room for mounting anything much thicker. ?Anyone have any experience of doing similar or have a better idea or any reason this not the best idea ? Thanks in advance...Steve.
 
salty-shanty said:
Hi all

I'm hoping someone has the knowledge or experience to provide a little guidance here. We are replacing an old broken Symonds and Laurence windlass on a 1999 Bavaria 42. The mounting holes on either of what appears to be the best replacement options (Lewmar V2 or Lofrans X2) are on a much smaller diameter footprint than the existing windlass and would be within what is already within the existing cut out. The existing windlass is mounted in 30mm marine ply (which has then been gelcoated ?) within a recessed area in the anchor locker I am considering bolting a 6mm stainless steel plate over the top of this ply (about 500mm x 270mm) and cutting out the holes in the plate for the windlass and mounting holes and then fitting the windlass into the stainless steel plate. 6mm extra height between the top of the windlass and the anchor locker cover would be fine but not much more room for mounting anything much thicker. ?Anyone have any experience of doing similar or have a better idea or any reason this not the best idea ? Thanks in advance...Steve.
Click to expand...

Sounds like a plan. Do you mean Simpson Lawrence incidentally? My thoughts would be only to think about corrosion between the windlass and the plate and the plate and the wood and how to prevent it.
 
I'd make up a fibreglass sheet, someone will advise what weight of cloth and how many layers, to cover the existing plinth (and existing hole, obviously) and bond to the existing plinth. You can make up the sheet at home, make oversize and cut back. Paint with a decent white epoxy. You can make the new cut out and new bolt holes at home - before affixing on the existing base.

Here we can buy fibreglass board (often coated foam) - I suspect it is available in the UK.

If the new windlass is similarly rated to the old one you might be able to use the old wiring, but I'd check the wiring - its now 20 years old - and maybe a good time for retirement.

We retired our Windlass a couple of years ago (the new gypsy for our new smaller chain was very close to the cost of a new windlass) and chose Maxwell/Vetus and have been well pleased. Windlass design has progressed in 20 years, ours was a 20 year old Muir. The new windlass, or ours at least, is so much faster than the old one! Our biggest issues was removing the old one - stainless bolts into aluminium alloy components (an angle grinder was very useful). Remember these units need to be serviced, the gearbox, make sure you allow decent access.

Most windlass come with fairly standard motors, with a mild steel casing. Give it a coat of something water repellent before you install and keep the motor away from the fall of the chain.

Jonathan
 
Hi Neeves, many thanks for the reply. The main issue i think i would have with that is that i dont have much clearance height. The windlass with Gypsy fitting is 95mm above the existing 30mm ply/epoxy base with the hinged locker cover clearing the top of the gypsy probably by only around 10 or 15mm in the closed position. Assuming the existing 30mm ply/epoxy base is the required strength then would i not have room to add this second layer over the existing. This is why i was thinking i could get the same strength in a much thinner stainless steel plate. Is there a flaw in this approach ? Got the old one out easy enough as i think the previous owners had had a few attempts at repairing it previously. I need to put new 25mm DC cables in due to both age and new windlass 3 cables and old one was just 2. Best regards..Steve.
 
Thanks for the reply, yes i meant Simpson Lawrence. This was beyond economic repair so time for a new one. That's a good point, will need to think about that issue.
 
I did very similar to what you describe when I replaced my SL windlass, except that the windlass is mounted direct on the gelcoat with a 30mm ply backing behind and now an additional 4mm steel plate underneath that. I painted both the ply and the steel to minimise interaction. Its been good for five years now.

Don't forget, especially with chain, to ensure the new windlass is positioned to give a fair lead to the gypsy from the bow roller. With a horizontal capstan, the chain should lead slightly upwards to the gypsy; with a vertical capstan, as near level as possible. This might affect the ideal thickness and arrangement of your backing plate(s). Check the installation instructions before buying.
 
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Just fitted an X2 and found that the 'under-deck' motor, has 4 holes that the 'above deck' unit's threaded studs/rods fit into. When clamped up tight, the whole thing spreads the load quite widely. I also added a 15mm marine ply pad under the deck between upper and lower elements, and I now feel that this will spread the load and reduce any stress the anchor chain will ever apply to the mounting 'deck'.
 
As Jonathan points out, the motor casing on a Maxwell and maybe others is made of mild steel. I painted my original one but corrosion became a problem as the motor is almost permanently wet with seawater. With my replacement windlass I wrapped the motor in Dymo tape, available from builders' merchants, which I know from offshore experience gives steel tubulars remarkable corrosion resistance. Dymo is horrible sticky stuff to handle so I wrapped it in polythene and duck tape. Nearly 10 years later the motor casing is still free of corrosion.
 
vyv_cox said:
As Jonathan points out, the motor casing on a Maxwell and maybe others is made of mild steel. I painted my original one but corrosion became a problem as the motor is almost permanently wet with seawater. With my replacement windlass I wrapped the motor in Dymo tape, available from builders' merchants, which I know from offshore experience gives steel tubulars remarkable corrosion resistance. Dymo is horrible sticky stuff to handle so I wrapped it in polythene and duck tape. Nearly 10 years later the motor casing is still free of corrosion.
Click to expand...

Maybe you mean Denso tape?
 
And when you install be copious with whatever you are using to stop corrosion of the nuts and bolts etc, Duralac, Tufgel (?). Many windlass use aluminium components (casings of the gear box for example - though many are now polymer) but the whole is held together with stainless nuts and bolts. When you come to service you will be most grateful!

Jonathan
 
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