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Another windlass install with thanks to John Harrison

I used a lot of John''s ideas to install my system. I stuck to wood and frp for the materials rather than metals, thinking about reducing weight mostly. Feel free to comment good or bad. There are still a few things left to do.
Some pics in the media section: "Xanadu 384 hull 47".
 
Wow! Opened the site and saw my name... your engineering looks incredible. Far beyond my original design! Your execution looks flawless... and awesome!!
 
Richard, we went out to Passage Key in Tampa Bay yesterday..... I payed out the anchor, chain and rode in about 12' of water using the windlass wireless remote (I am using a cheap-o Chinese made $13 unit, which if I have to replace I will find something made elsewhere)... the whole system worked flawlessly, and we had some wind and current working in unison and the anchor held great, and when it came time to retrieve it, it was just so awesome to be able to walk forward, have my helmsman follow hand commands and bring that ground tackle in with no back breaking effort! Yesterday alone made all of the work and effort well worth it. 1590106199237.jpeg
 
John,
It's so nice to hear that your system is working well, and that you are happy with it! Your hard work paid off! Congratulations, and happy anchoring! I'm looking forward to putting mine to use soon.
I plan on adding an SS plate to the top of the "pork chop" to act as a chain wear plate and try to preserve the paint there. Looks as if it could get pretty chewed up otherwise.
Best regards, Rick
 
Thanks Richard.... if getting a stainless piece cut to fit is too expensive, maybe try a piece of poly board that will absorb the chain slap without getting too much damage that is visible? Just a though.... plus maybe you can use epoxy to adhere it instead of having to sink screws into that piece... 'the porkchop'.... great name for it!
 
Thanks Richard.... if getting a stainless piece cut to fit is too expensive, maybe try a piece of poly board that will absorb the chain slap without getting too much damage that is visible? Just a though.... plus maybe you can use epoxy to adhere it instead of having to sink screws into that piece... 'the porkchop'.... great name for it!

The poly board is a good idea, thanks! I'll look around on the "net" for some specs. I'm curious about thermal cycling and associated differential movement between the dissimilar materials. Learned that Awlgrip paint doesn'the tolerate soaking with wet rope or rags, etc. So the wear plate potting or epoxy canot leak moisture into the plate/pork chop interface. Awlgrip will bubble up and de-bond from the primer. It seems as if the typical urethane (non-acid) caulk would flex enough to stay bonded during such expansion/recovery excursions of a few thousandths inch, but might need to limit the minimum potting thickness. Yes, eliminating holes is a good thing.
 
I was thinking about my install process and something occurred to me that I thought I would mention and hopefully prevent problems for others down the road. My boat is a little over 2 hours away from my home. So time aboard working comes at a premium. When doing various 'dry fits', etc. during the process, I left the windlass capstan/chain ring 'loaded' in the motor gear receiver for a couple of weeks before getting back down to finish the install. To my total surprise, it took some doing to get the capstan/chain ring shaft out of the motor gear housing! If you look in the instructions for installation, it speaks to lubricating that shaft with waterproof grease and I believe that is a part of the annual maintenance for the windlass going forward. I'm feeling certain that you followed those install instructions to a 'T', but if that is something perhaps you or others have forgotten, I'd highly recommend going back in to lubricate it very soon!! Even though it's all quality stainless, it gets some corrosion between the surfaces and it is not easy to get back out for servicing the other components!!!
 
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