Date: Sun Sep 30, 2001 9:46 pm

I added a windlass and also wound up with an extra "hole" where the old hawsepipe was.

I put one of those small round access plates with the pry-out cover over where the old hawsepipe was. At sea I install the pry-out cover. All the rest of the time (too much, alas) I install a solar powered ventilator (Nico Marine). This keeps air circulating in the anchor locker, a place that inherently gets wet and even sometimes a bit nasty. This was a very cheap operation since a former (alas) girlfriend had donated the ventilator....

As an aside, I've taken to removing all of the chain and rode from the locker once a year and giving the locker itself, and the chain/rode, a good scrubdown. The salt builds up in there, and since a lot of the chain rarely goes out it starts to corrode a bit.

Date: Sun Sep 30, 2001 9:11 pm

As my boat had been fitted with a Plath windlass when I got her as well as a secondary rode led through a hawse to port I have yet to have done much more than to add a 4 inch Beckson access plate to starboard. This plate was used to access the troublesome job of knocking down the chain pile the windlass would create and ultimately jam the windlass.

The elimination of the all-chain rode will likely see no further use of the old access plate. Now I know what to do about the low-tide odor that wafts from the rode locker. Brilliant Jack!

Now if the old girlfriend might send me such a gift. Better Still. Maybe I should just get a girl who understands the greater good of the boat. On second thought, maybe I'm just better off staying single. The last divorce cost me a very pretty Tartan 27 yawl.

Date: Sat Oct 13, 2001 7:43 pm

I removed the rodes today to clean the salt and sand out of there. Still sneezing.

The "floor" of the anchor locker seems very thick or even solid. The measurements indicate that the bob-stay tang is located just below this "floor". Have you ever investigated the thickness, utility or the possibility that the bobstay tang actually lives inside there?

I'm hoping to create a new anchor locker drain through this rather solid in imposing mass.

Date: Mon Oct 15, 2001 10:48 am

Are you going to create a drain hole so that the water drains into or out
of the vessel?  If you create a drain hole so its flows into the vessel
it will likely flow down on to the cabin sole and that would be a mess. 
You might want to test by pouring a little clean water off the bottom of
where the hole would drain and see just where it winds up before
drilling.  My best guess would be it would drain out onto the cabin sole.

Keep me advised of your progress.

Date: Mon Oct 15, 2001 9:26 am

My curiosity was certainly peaked when I too cleaned the locker out this weekend but did find an insignificant amount of wood rot at the junction of the locker's vertical bulkhead and the V berth deck. Easily repaired but it had been long well-hidden and encouraged by the seldom moved cushions.

Obviously, I am trying even harder to get the bow weight even further aft. This whole project began more out of my inherent curiosity/creativity and pressed even further by Wayne. He has just finished a renovation job in a hospital X-ray lab and had removed a large amount of thin, sheet lead and I had considered lining the lower part of the locker to create a slippery shield to help lead the chain (if I ever go back to all-chain") into the area below the V berth. The measurements now indicate that there will not be clearance enough to pass large amounts of chain to this area without a hawse pipe that requires modifying the cushions, the locker bulkhead and necessitates cutting off my feet to make room for this...

Our measurements do however seem to indicate that a drain for the anchor locker can be accomplished and the run-off led to the fwd. bilge if in fact this "floor" is breechable with a 3/4 inch tube without compromising integrity. As the question had recently come up regarding the bobstay tang I had hoped to be a bit more knowledgeable before my creative approach to eliminating this dampness problem.

I will make a couple of thin gauge test bores at the aft area of the locker "floor" to establish its thickness, solidity and possibly the location of the tang's presumed "web" beneath it. These test holes can be easily resealed with a thin epoxy mix drizzled into the holes.

The drain is planned to lead any water to the natural V of the hull, below the berth and then to the bilge via a collection drain about 2 inches aft of the small. center, vertical bulkhead. My boat was built with a very small step/locker at the junction of the standing/dressing area below where the bunk filler is mounted. So far the only thing that has been stowed there is my, never used, Coleman lantern. By changing its dimensions, a bit lower and longer, we will create an epoxy water dam in there, with a small bronze drain that leads to the most forward area of the void forward of the mast. We have been able to determine that the original sole was bonded to the hull just about two inches into the area below the V berth and that it is indeed hollow to a spot terminating just about the V berth's small, center vertical bulkhead.

I was finally able to thoroughly clean out that fwd. bilge and the 'stiff wire' idea cleared the drain hose quite well, thanks. Now this void gets epoxy primer/sealed and epoxy painted. I had purchased some plastic, ventilated, garage floor tiles that will then be fitted into place to help raise the "cargo" off the fiberglass off the hull and allow the new drainage passage to the aft bilge. These tiles area available at Home Depot and will line the lower areas of the settee lockers as well.

Date: Mon Oct 15, 2001 9:15 pm

For my chain rode I made an anchor locker by closing off part of the area below the v-berth filler. The anchor chain is lead to the deck through PVC pipe with several rubber joints. This allows the pipe to be moved out of the way when the v-berth filler is installed for sleeping purposes. It also puts the weight of the chain in a better location. I have been thinking of storing the chain underneath the sole opposite the head and in front of the fresh water tank.

Date: Sun Nov 4, 2001 8:11 pm

Another weekend has gone by and my learning curve has again been enriched. Hopefully the question of a few weeks ago regarding the bobstay tang may be answered by my discovery(s).

In the search for (1) the interior bedding and encapsulation of the bobstay tang, (2) a reasonable way to drain the anchor locker to the forward bilge and (3) a BETTER way to route the heavy power cables to the windlass I have made a few discoveries;

1. There is a marvelous and accessible chase for the heavy windlass cables in a natural void between the coachroof liner and the hull-deck joint that runs fore & aft. I picked the old standby route of, (through all of the starboard outboard lockers), to convenient pick up spot from just beneath the vanity in the forward cabin and ran them upwards and then into this very large natural chase-way into the anchor locker. Its well up and away from interference by the rodes. The same, well-protected chase will now house the navigation lights harness and the deck wash-down pump leads as well.

2. There is a glassed-in chase, presumably formed as the original rode locker's drain route, and has been masquerading as a solid, reinforcement gusset for the bow's crease in my boat but proves to be quite hollow. It is located in the space below the V berth deck and covering the natural vee where the bow is formed. It appears that it carries all the way to the forward end of the cabin sole where a very ambitious craftsman managed to glass-in and close off this perfect drain chase. The "floor" of the anchor locker is quite a thick piece of plywood with a thick layer of glass laminated over it. Although there appears to have been no original effort made to connect the "floor" and the chase to provide a natural drain, the retrofit seems quite easily do-able. The holes drilled previously, to route the power cables up to the windlass from their original route through the V berth stowage space, can be used to insert a custom, long, funnel-shaped fiberglass drain lead (coat an old, plastic transmission funnel with cloth and liberal epoxy a few times and pull out the funnel) into this natural chase and connect with a large diameter hose. A bit of labor will certainly open a passage through the 'sole-anchoring blob' at the forward/hidden end of the cabin sole and the drainage will naturally find its way aft with no further trouble. Needless to say the lower end of the vertical rode locker bulkhead will not be encouraged to rot, or allow further, rot inducing, leakage under the mattress cushions, from the standing water on the locker "floor" immediately forward of it.

3. In any case I do suspect that the anchor tang for the bobstay is located under this gusset/chase and may be better or precisely located with a few corresponding measurements and the gusset cut away for servicing or replacement of the bobstay tang and easily sealed/recovered with a fiberglass patch.