E381 Anchor Locker - Part 1

Sometimes you have to work with what you are given to start with. In my case my boat came with a Lofran Royal manual windlass with a 3/8" gypsy already installed on the deck just aft of the anchor locker lid. However, the boats anchor rode was 20ft of 3/8" on 200ft of 5/8" rope rode stored in the anchor locker pan with a danforth style anchor. I discovered last season that the 3/8" chain was actually too large for the anchor bow roller and would bind on occasion normally when weighing the anchor, in addition the windlass had never been used as the chain stripper was still mounted preventing the chain from looping back into the anchor pan. I decided I would convert my ground tackle to all 5/16" HT chain and modify the anchor locker. I've looked at the other E38 owners on the forum who have completely removed the anchor pan and carried out major glass work to separate the anchor locker from the V berth forward bulkhead. I'll be honest this looked like a lot of hard work that I just wasn't up for!

Looking on the web I came across the following sailing blog of an HR owner who has a deck mounted Lofran Royal windlass and how he installed it to drop the chain through his anchor locker lid. http://hallbergrassyrasmusownersassociation.blogspot.com/2011/11/ It gave me the idea I needed to modify the E38 Anchor Pan.

Last year I installed a Rocna Vulcan 20 (44lbs) anchor on the bow, and last month I purchased 275ft of 5/16" HT chain (1/2 pail) at the Defender sale, a new 5/16" HT gypsy wheel for the windlass and some other odds and ends. More story to come in Part 2.