MacGregorSailors.com

Well it's a year later but I finally got around to doing the mod.

I opted to cut the well around the vertical walls, extend the walls on the well using G10 + carbon fibre along with general reinforcing around the area and then glue back in. This way the interior remains unmodified as I could attach the bolts before reinstalling the whole anchor well. Still have some tidying up and painting to do, but so far it works well and makes for much easier single handed anchoring. If anyone is interested in doing a similar mod, the original fibreglass well is quite thin. There is ample depth below it for a drum winch so I made it deep enough to be able to close the hatch. There are some winches on the market smaller then the one I used that might fit with more room I would imagine.

The wiring also fit behind the lining on the interior down to behind the galley which was nice.











Before anyone comments about the anchor swivel the setup was just to check the fit. I've since added a shackle to allow pivoting without risking pronging it open.

I hope it helps anyone looking to do similar!

I bought a Lewmar 700 with 60 ft of 1/4 inch chain and 300 ft of 1/2 inch 8-plait to go with my 35 lb Mantus M1, but I did not get it installed before it got too cold to do fiberglass. Now this is a job for spring, 2025. Thanks very very much for posting these photos. Extremely helpful.

Very fine looking job. Now we wait for the sea trials!

Nice work. I've seen other implementations, however, this seems more streamlined.

Hi Matv!

Great looking job!
Nicely done!

It looks like you really gave some thought into what you planned and implemented.
Really a nice job of workmanship.
Congrats!

Best Regards,
Over Easy

Great project! Well done!

Thanks all!

Sea trials have been going great and it has proved worth the effort + cost already.

A bonus is that I setup a wireless remote (easy to add to the solenoid) which is great when backing up on to the shore and moving the boat in and out without being in the boat for unloading the family or luggage.

Your setup looks very good.
Could you send through a photo of your anchor on the bow anchor guide
I would appreciate if you could list details of:
Bow anchor guide
Anchor
Chain size & length
Rope size & length
Where you located the anchor winch switches.

Thank you

Anchor - Sarca Excel No 3
Bow Sprit - Lone Star CX-415

The rest is from this bundle:
https://bellmarine.com.au/product/viper ... much-more/

Originally I made my own roller with G10 but was worried about the strength of glue so I swapped to bolting the original from the bundle but drilled a lower hole and made my very small own roller so I didn't need cut further into the anchor well lid as the chain sits low.

Bell Marine do a smaller winch which is called the Bell Marine Viper “S” Series 1000 Micro. I intended to get that model but accidently got the Rapid and then realised I could make it work in the area with the recessed section and would have the benefit of fitting extra line so didn't bother swapping it.

Also in hindsight the chain, shackles & rope from the bundle are too small for my liking (the 8mm rope is only 1000kg breaking strain according to website) so I'll probably swap that and would have been better not getting the bundle.

I have the switches down behind the galley where my batteries are. I considered wiring the switch to the pedestal but I use a wireless remote switch so there wasn't much need.

Thank you for your reply.
I am wanting to do something similar but will need to learn about the fiberglass modification

matv.

If you haven't already done so, please add your project in the Mods section, others may be interested in seeing and learning what you have done.

What is the diameter of the drum?