Installing a Lewmar H3 anchor windlass on Stops

This project was almost 5 months in the making, well it took 3 months for Lewmar to send the windlass over from England! The boat had an old Goiot manual windlass that was ok, but wouldn't really work for any extended cruising. So looked all the different options, and actually liked the Lofrans (italian made) windlasses. These seem really sturdy and was I getting a great deal if I shipped directly from england. The only problem is that it didn't fit in my teeny weeny anchor locker. In fact the only windlass that fit with enough power turned out to be the H series from Lewmar. Practical Sailor recommended the H3 over the H2 so went with that option and ordered online.. 3 months later (!!!), I picked it up from the fedex depot.. and the install began..

Here is a picture of the old windlass, which was a pain to remove because two of the aft bolts had been fibreglassed over. Had to break to fibreglass to get access to them (!!)

Having removed the old windlass, I used the cutout to position the windlass and the holes required around the already big hole that existed for the old windlass

Drilling a hole through 1.5 inch fibreglass and tri-ply.

Drilled the rest of the holes, prepared the surface and dropped the windlass into place.

The anchor locker lid has a structural fibreglass beam which touched the windlass and prevented the lid from closing fully. Had to use a Dremel tool to shape a cutout from the fibreglass beam to allow it to fit

Wiring the windlass from inside the locker was a real pain. Had to build a special rubber cover with a draining hole to seal the wiring hole and prevent water getting in. Covered the wiring with protective loom and led it back to a hole I drilled into the bulkhead. To seal the bulkhead hole which went into the forepeak, I ended up gluing a piece of rubber pipe to the enlarged hole, passing the wire through it and then filling the pipe with sealant. Tested it with a high pressure hose and it worked it. It was fully watertight!

Finally! the new windlass installed in the anchor locker. Now comes the wiring inside the boat and getting new anchor rode for the new windlass..