Fresh Start

[Okydowky]

Ok removed old windlass and all ground tackle. Our bow deck thickness consists of the actual boat deck being 1 1/2” with some type of wood core. On top of this is our Pulpit which is 2 1/2” thick consisting of 2 layers of a mahogany type hard wood.

The old Maxwell shaft was mounted through both layers including a 1” mahogany backing plate making it 5” deck.

What I found was a little rot around the 4 studs going through the deck. And the other holes which were 4” for the winch shaft assembly and a 2” for chain to go down to the locker. The bigger rot issue was between the 2” & 4” hole only in the cored bow hull only not the pulpit.
I was able to pick any rot and did a complete dry out of the good core that was solid. We have since done the repair with 1” puck. These pucks were a plastic air tight honey comb structure in cased between 2 layers of fibre glass. These 2” & 4” pucks were 1” thick so we did only one lift at a time mono pouring epoxy resin allowing it to pour in between the deck layer voids till we got back to gel.

We are trying to mount a Lofrans 1500w X3, it’s only good for a 3” thick deck and getting a shaft is not looking very good at the moment.

1st question?
Any one run into a certain brand/make of Windlass that fits well to a thick deck and or shaft options available?

Right now the Lofrans I purchased lines up pretty good over the old holes and base plate will cover them both cleanly. The new holes however will go through my new hole plugs I epoxied in, but will also cut into some wood deck again exposing raw wood.

2nd question?
Do they make a stainless tube to go through the deck that I can seal so the water off the chain doesn’t touch the wood again and rot?
Or any idea of preventing water penetration?

 

[Lepke]

All screw and bolt holes will eventually leak. When I drive screws, I put some epoxy down the pilot hole first. The epoxy sticks better to the screw than fiberglass and core wood and seals the hole. Bolts need a long lasting sealant under the heads and whatever they are holding. You can epoxy the sides of the holes or buy a ss tube. There are metal companies online that sell stainless cut to size. Here's one: https://www.onlinemetals.com/

 

[Okydowky]

All screw and bolt holes will eventually leak. When I drive screws, I put some epoxy down the pilot hole first. The epoxy sticks better to the screw than fiberglass and core wood and seals the hole. Bolts need a long lasting sealant under the heads and whatever they are holding. You can epoxy the sides of the holes or buy a ss tube. There are metal companies online that sell stainless cut to size. Here's one: https://www.onlinemetals.com/

What would be your thoughts of using SCH40, SCH80 PVC pipe for a sleeve? Obviously getting the appropriate ID diameter pipe for specified hole sizing from winch manufacturer.

Or make a Teflon sleeve?

 

[Comodave]

If the deck is that thick I would look at a horizontal shaft windlass. Then you just need long mounting bolts/all thread.

 

[Doug]

2nd question?
Do they make a stainless tube to go through the deck that I can seal so the water off the chain doesn’t touch the wood again and rot?
Or any idea of preventing water penetration?

We had welder fabricate a stainless steel pipe to direct our anchor rode from the windlass through the deck to the locker.

 

[Okydowky]

I have considered a horizontal, but having to off set it to line up chain to the bow roller I wouldn’t cover the old holes. I would rather not have try and match texture and gel at such an obvious place.

 

[rslifkin]

When I did my windlass replacement, I looked at the Maxwell RC8 and RC10 before settling on the HRC10 horizontal. I remember the limit being something like 4 inches for the standard version, 6.5 or 7 for the extra deck clearance version. My deck and pulpit is almost 8 inches thick total, so I had to go horizontal with very long mounting studs.