Install Anchor Winch

As the anchor winch was shot, we fitted a new one - the South Pacific PRO CV1000. This windlass is a direct replacement in that it will be set up so that the rope and chain are handled in the same way - manually fed into the locker.

The main problem with fitting this is that there was a big brass bracket through-bolted to the deck right where I didn't want it. Not only that, it was completely seized in. The only option was to cut it out and that's where the Dremel came in.

Having cut the fitting out, I was left with a great big hole where I didn't want one. I also needed to extend, make good and shape the existing hole. This was done with epoxy resin, glass fibre matting and various epoxy extenders (glue and filler). This was the result...

Took a lot of effort to get here but things are coming together. The structure of the deck has been made good ready to accept parts.
The result of the initial preparation was fairly unsightly and I could have spent a lot of time making it good with various potions. I forgot all that and covered the lot with a stainless steel sheet. Not only does this cover the mess, it will also help spread the winch loading on the deck. Like everything else here, the screw-holes were drilled over-size and filled with epoxy.

This stainless-steel plate is more to hide the repairs to the deck than anything else. It has been screwed down on to Sikaflex 291T and has holes ready for the winch studs.
Having prepared the area and masked it off, the winch is dropped onto a bed of Sikaflex. The nuts are snugged up, masking tape and excess removed before waiting 24 hours for the mastic to go off. Next day, the nuts are tightened to compress the Sikaflex.

That's the winch dropped in. Again it's Sikaflex 291T for the sealant.
As there was a wiring option for an up and down switch, I decided to fit both. These were fitted through the deck with the usual epoxy treatment for the through-holes and the screws.

The finished above-deck parts. As well as the winch, there is an up and a down foot switch.
There are 2 ends to the electrics; the forward parts and the aft parts. The forward parts get their own control box. This consists of a solenoid that switches high current to the winch to rotate it for up or down, a low-current up/down switch, and I replaced the supplied low current fuse with a circuit breaker (so that I don't have to hunting around for fuses if something pops).

Here's a circuit diagram of the forward control box.

Forward winch wiring. The yellow shaded parts are inside the control box. Main power comes in from the left.

Below-decks components. The winch and foot switches are obvious. I made up a box for the other components and wired it all up in the usual way.