Windlass

You know when you scratch the surface and then think: “WTF were they thinking?” - that was my reaction to the old windlass. I can only describe the hole and fixing for the windlass as “hacked”.

I pulled this out, cut it all away, and then added a lot of reinforcing around the windlass. All holes are reinforced and sealed with epoxy, hopefully you can see the details in the photos.

The windlass and gear is now hopefully oversized for the boat. I didn’t want to push this - our plan was full-time liveaboards with a family, so I didn’t want the boat budging in a storm.

The chain locker also got some fibreglass reinforcement, and several coats of paint. The bitter-end is rope attached to the hull, and there is an emergency knife fixed in the chain locker if the worst happens and the anchor & chain needs to be released from the boat. The chain locker also has the handheld windlass controller.

I also started to learn rope splicing, so a home-made snubber that attaches across the 2 hulls. No idea if it’s any good, but it’s included!

The older 8mm chain (very rusted) and anchor are still with the boat, as is a very small anchor. No idea what spares you would want, but should be enough for dual anchoring if needed.

New Setup

• Lofran X2
• Dedicated deep-cycle lead-acid battery
• Handheld controller
• 80m (I think) of 10mm chain
• 33kg Rocna