View attachment 8016Peter,
When I examined the mounting literature that came with my windlass, the manufacturer makes it quite clear that the windlass is there to pull the anchor and rode up to the boat and the technique is to motor the boat forward to keep slack on the rode/chain. They were quite clear to not use the windlass to 'pull' the boat to the anchor. That will wear the clutches and the motor if that is done. My original design was to simply mount a plate to the deck with multiple thru-bolts to spread the load. I intended it to span between the base of the bulwarks, but, with our pulpits offset from the centerline due to the forestay, and the deck being approximately 5.75" lower than the channel of the pulpit for the rode and chain, it then necessitated that the windlass be offset from centerline, and then elevated quite a ways higher than the deck. Thus the platform I built, the teak spacer and the poly board spacer on top of that. The platform is mounted to the aluminum tracks which have four 1/4" stainless bolts holding those to the locker rim, and 4 stainless 1/4" combo wood screw/threaded bolt that are screwed into the bottom of the platform and held to the aluminum tracks with vinyl washers (dissimilar metals) and stainless washers and self locking nuts. the load would be to pull the platform assembly forward, or to pull it up. Unless the 1/4" aluminum suffered catastrophic failure, or the wood screws pulled out, I just don't see a problem with the mount as I have engineered it, in compliance with the manufacturers procedures for use of the windlass.
As for the forward lid, it will only open partially if the chain is kept tight in the windlass, which is how I usually have it stowed. If I need to fully access that locker, I slacken the chain and it is not a problem to access it. I keep spare dock lines there and the manual windlass handle in the event that I need to manually bring it up or let it down. I can open it enough to reach the manual handle should the need arise. I'll attach a range of photos for your perusal... let me know if you have any questions. If I were doing it again, I would do a couple of things differently for aesthetics mainly.... overall, it's working fine so far. The second picture here is before I mounted it and from this, you can see how much is left of the upper locker. Yes, the upright piece of plywood is angled... intentionally. The original design of the upper locker would have standing water against the V-berth/Anchor locker bulkhead which fostered wood rot in the upper locker floor and the first couple of layers of the bulkhead. This is fiberglassed in addition to mechanical attachment and being angled, any water in there will drop down to the lower locker, where there is a drain to the outside in the bow (as I think I previously referenced, the lower locker is blocked off from draining to the mast step...I cannot find my pictures of the lower locker in my computer.... but I think they are in the media section of this site... somewhere! I hope this helps or gives you some additional ideas to aid in your efforts!
View attachment 8016 View attachment 8017