CD 33 Electric Windlass Installation Completed

[Paul D.]

It is possible on a smaller boat with a smaller anchor locker with hatch. After back surgery last year, and much nautical-mental anguish, I decided I would complicate Femme with an electric windlass.

Several challenges lay in the way of installing one. The anchor locker has a foredeck hatch and drains externally, which I like, but it is also rather shallow. This also forbids an in-locker windlass installation. A bulkhead 4" aft of the locker hatch created a real challenge finding a windlass configuration that would work. Fitting a windlass above deck would give the chain an appropriate length to drop into the locker, which has a bottom that angles forward towards the drain hole in the stem.

After reviewing many windlass models, their installation instructions and most importantly, mounting templates, I settled on the Lewmar V2 as that model had the most distance between the motor shaft hole and anchor chain hawser hole. This would allow me to theoretically mount the motor securely inside the forward portion of the V berth and have the chain still fall into the locker ahead of it. It was a near thing but after measuring three or four times and drilling through the bulkhead to get a precise measurement of it's thickness, I took a deep breath and drilled the two 3" holes on deck. There was a cabin liner aft the bulkhead with almost a half inch space between it and the deck, but the drilling worked alright. I would also need some form of base mount plate on the deck due to it's curved surface.

I dug out the balsa deck core and filled this area plus the space between the deck and liner with epoxy, including the 3/8" holes for the mounting bolts. It was early in the season on the hard so a little creative warmth application was needed. I used our old oil lamp suspended well below the holes. The next day when everything was cured and solid I installed the starboard mounting plate my brother fashioned for me, passing it up and down from the deck to get the curve of the deck just right.

The windlass motor fit well but tightly with the Lewmar "fast-Fit" clamp letting me adjust the angle for the least hinderance in the V Berth. Give me a hallelujah - there were no deck leaks. Now it was time to run the cables and wires and fit the contactor, breaker and switches.

A few more rainy days in a transient slip at Madeline Island saw time to run the cables through the port side under deck area. This worked well and I didn't need to drill any holes to get the wires from the port cockpit locker, where the batteries lived. This was also the place last year where, recuperating aboard from surgery, I spent a few pleasant rainy days re wiring the panel and knotting and splicing up some much needed rigging jobs.

The run was just at the long end for #6 cable so I went with #4. The motor draws 80 amps so I felt this was not the place to take chances. With the breaker and rocker switch mounted in the cockpit locker, I mounted the remote handheld switch to port side of the anchor locker. It's seven foot coiled cord would allow me to position myself where I needed to be while anchoring. The hardest bit with all this was making the wiring flow properly to the contractor and motor in the V berth, but the connections are solid, out of the way and look clean. We are considering enclosing the wiring and motor but they are not too out of place up there. and do not get in the way of our feet.

After splicing the rope to chain splice I tested out the system. Only glitch was reversing the wires at the contactor so the remote switch "up" and "down" switches matched the windlass operation.

After one season's use where we voyaged around western Lake Superior, I can report that the windlass works very well. It helped us weigh several times in one day when we stopped in local places I may not have gone through the trouble to anchor in. It does become strained and should have the motor help move the boat up to the load. But the manuals all describe that. The windlass works much better with chain than line. I need to carefully work the stiff line down into the locker and then push the chain pile out of the way as it falls on top of the pile of line.

Next year I plan to go all chain and glass in a shelf in the anchor locker to get the spare anchor and rode out of the way so the windlass has the full use of the locker. The chain should slide down away from the windlass hause hole and Femme can stand a bit more weight in her bows to float on her lines.

However, complication brings just that. The windlass has drawn up to 70 amps so far on the Link 10, and one has to remember to bring up the remote switch AND turn on the breaker in the cockpit locker before going forward to drop anchor. Trust me, I've forgotten many times already! Also, I still don't have the right deployment set up on the stem of the boat. The CD33 was built with a smaller anchor in mind than our 35lb CQR. But I would recommend this Windlass set up to anyone considering adding an electric windlass to their 33 or boat with a tight foredeck anchoring situation.

[Vincent]

Nice install. It is nice to see that you were able to use that anchor locker.
I have a windlass coming and plan to install this summer. I want to do ocean sailing so I am mounting a staysail stay that will tack right at that anchor locker bulkhead for support. I am committed to mounting the windless a bit further aft and will have to run the hawse pipe down to where the forward water tank will become the anchor locker.
The Rocna type anchors are a problem with the CD33 roller. I have a SS bowsprit made up, not yet installed. I will be able to use the existing roller but the anchor will sit further forward. The guy that built the bowsprit is amazing, he is in his eighties and is still at it. I'll have a second roller to port. I will post pics when I get it mounted.