Ancillary Systems
Electrics, instrumentation, mooring, etc.
I have fitted a fused mini siren with an on/off switch to the + & – wiring of my automatic bilge pump. To my thoughts, the auto bilge should not normally run under normal circumstances. And if it does while sailing or motoring, it probably won’t be heard. With the siren wired in, it will give you an early warning of water being where it shouldn’t be.
Barry Powling ‘Khamsin’
The anchor chain locker is generally a damp and hostile environment especially for any electrics, i.e. the windlass. After hosing down the anchor chain, despite Maxis having self-draining lockers, the chain & warp are left in a shallow pool of water, which unless you have the time to leave the locker hatch open, will take ages to dry out.
A simple wood grating, can be made of rot proof treated timber {I used 1″ x ½″ slats for a garden trellis}
The next time you are at anchor, lay the grating at the base of the locker, so that the chain etc. will lie on top when hauled in.
This I find gives an airing effect under the chain and dries the locker that much quicker.
Barry Powling, Khamsin {Brittany France}
An alternative to a wooden grating has been used by Peter Stonestreet on his 1000. He cut the corner off a plastic bottle crate. By careful sizing, the tetrahedron fills the bottom corner well.
We had asked for 60 metres of 10 mm chain and a 20 kg Bruce anchor to be fitted to our new Maxi 1100 which is berthed in the Clyde. Unfortunately, the stemhead fitting was narrower at one end than the other and the chain jammed there repeatedly. The chain also jammed in the windlass several times, every time we let it out to anchor, although it could usually be retrieved without jamming. To add to all of this the windlass was not powerful enough to lift the chain and anchor if the anchorage was deep or weedy!!!!!
The stemhead fitting was removed, straightened out and replaced. It now seems that the windlass itself jammed because it was installed too far aft and we are now faced with fitting a more powerful windlass and making sure that it is installed correctly. A warning to others who might be contemplating beefed up ground tackle for the MAXI 1100! As we had to anchor virtually all the time that we were out, often in pretty awful conditions, the inability to get the chain down in less than 5 minutes was a dreadful problem!
Laurie Prescott