CD## Electric Windlass Installation

[Paul D.]

It was possible. After back surgery last year, I thought 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. This also makes it unavailable to an in-locker windlass installation. And a bulkhead 4" aft of the locker hatch creating a real challenge finding a windlass that would fit. 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 and their installation instructions and most importantly, 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 mount the motor securely inside the very forward portion of the V berth and the chain could 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 an accurate 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 mount on the deck due to it's curved surface.

I filled the liner space and dug out the balsa deck core and filled 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 which found the oil lamp suspended well below the holes. The next day when everything was hard 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 motor fit well 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 leaks. Now it was time to run the cables and wires and fit the contactor, breaker and switches.

The distance measurement for the voltage drop was right on the edge so I went up to #4 cables instead of #6. A few more rainy days in a transient slip at Madeline Island saw the cables run 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 live and the breaker/rocker switch was mounted straight up to the V Berth where the contractor and motor were. I made up the cable lug ends with heat shrink tubing.

I bought a Quick windlass remote to control the windlass from the bow and installed that on the port side behind the locker. After a review of all the wiring I opened the breaker and tried the switch and the windlass came to life.

Currently we are using it with our 50' of 5/16" BBB which I removed the shackle and spliced to the existing 200' of 1/2 line. The locker needs to be open to make it all work. The line, being rather stiff, does not fall/flake into the locker well so that takes some handling in the locker to make it work. The chain however falls and piles nicely. If I got my spare anchor and rode out of the way in the locker I think the chain would not require pushing the pile around. My plan is to go all chain next year and splice up a snubber line.

After a season's use, including an extended trip to remote north western Lake Superior, it was used a lot and truly was a back saver.

[Jim Walsh]

Well planned, perfectly executed......it doesn't get better than that. Nice neat installation worthy of a Cape Dory.

[JD-MDR]

Hi Paul, How long is the cord for the quick remote? Can it reach the cockpit. I'm still running my rocker switch with an extension cord back to the cockpit . It won't last long and already broke once. But I am single handling and want to have control back while I am motoring up. When I get enough rode up? Then I run forward and tie it off to break it loose. Its not so bad but I really hate having that long wire.