anchor locker design | recessed windlass

[ssanzone]

i am starting to design the anchor / chain locker / bow roller.

is there any reason why i can not / should not install my windlass below the deck?

i have a pretty big and deep locker and could easily mount the windlass and roller below deck and free up a lot of space on deck.

what about partially below deck...

thoughts?

-steve

[belizesailor]

Be sure and consider how you will handle ground tackle when the windlass fails...some recessed installations are inconvenient.

Also, how you will clear jams and chain stacking up.

[roverhi]

Your windlass will love you for putting it in a dark, constantly wet, unventilated space. Should guarantee it will work for a few months or till the first time your bow ships water. Those deck anchor lockers have to be one of the dumbest idea any designer ever came up with.

[ssanzone]

rover,

makes perfect sense... i am not aware of this as a 'common problem'...
i am not the 1st to consider the idea... what do other do? suffer? curse? buy stock in windlass companies?

-steve

[gjordan]

Hard to put it where it will be wet often. Put it on deck like everyone else and make a breathable cover for it, and then dont forget to exercise it even if you are tied up to the dock for months at a time. Like a diesel, lack of use is more damaging than working it. I am usually a big advocate of simple, but I have had 2 manual windlasses freeze up on me after a 20 day+passage but my one electric windlass never gave me a moments trouble in 8 years of service. GO FIGURE????? ____Grant.

[ssanzone]

it is this amazing stephens windlass (thankfully not all brushed out like the pic) that i got for my old boat and paid 600 bucks to have the electric engine rebuilt.

i love it but it is kinda big for the bow of the current boat.

so... i am looking keep it but with a smaller deck footprint.

other creative solutions?

-steve