The original ground tackle for Aegir-Ran comprised 200′ of 5/16″ BBB chain and a 45 lb CQR anchor. I wanted to upgrade to 3/8″ BBB and a 55 lb Mantus M2 anchor. Unfortunately, I could not get a 3/8″ BBB for the original Monica Marine 500 windlass. Futhermore, the windlass is about 50 years old, and probably due for replacement. I chose a Lofrans Tigres horizontal windlass. While the replacement windlass is similar to the old one, its footprint is somewhat different. The old windlass partially sits on bow sprit.
It overhands the bow sprit about an inch on the port side, and a block of wood was glued/screwed to the bow sprit to accommodate the overhang. The Tigres windlass overhands both the port and starboard side, but mostly the latter. Furthermore, the spurling pipe on the Tigres is integral to the windlass. This is a bit of a problem because the Tigres is designed to be mounted directly to the deck. To accommodate the Tigres, it was necessary to build a base. I began by removing the old windlass. This was challenging because the base of the windlass was glued to the bow sprit. I drove thin metal paint scrappers between the windlass and the bow sprit. Eventually it was freed, effectively breaking away some of the wood.
The wood spacer (shown on the port side of the bow sprit was also removed with a chisel. The hole in the deck for the old spurling tube was filled with a piece of recessed 3/4″ marine plywood and the wood was patched with epoxy and fairing compound (West Systems 407).
A spacer was constructed using the CAD file for the Tigres windlass. The spacer was constructed of waterproof 12 mm birch plywood using the serviced of SendCutSend.com. The plywood was epoxied together to the desired thickness, then glued to the bow sprit using West Systems 402. A small spacer was also made for the port side, the wood was fiberglassed, and fairing compound was used to smooth the surfaces.
stainless steel insert was made for the spurling tube using a piece of 2″ round tubing that was partially fattened and flared.
The tube was carbosiled into the chase.
The deck switches were installed and the bow sprit was spray painted with Awlgrip.
The new windlass had to be mounted in a way that it can be removed from studs (as the bolts are long and cannot be lifted out past the windlass). It may be necessary to remove the windlass for repair as the Sampson post prevent the back of the case to be removed.
The solenoids were located in the anchor locker and the wires were relocated away from the spurling tube.
The windlass is powered by the two 100 amp lithium batteries that were installed under the V-berth when the bow thruster was installed.