Advice on furler and anchor well

[britsailor007]

Planning to take my Beneteau First 38s5 cruising in the south pacific and want some advice. I am replacing my genoa furler and am wondering whether to take the furler drum out of the anchor well (see below) and block the furler deck hole as much as possible to prevent the anchor well from filling with water and potentially submerging the windlass and weighing the bow down.

The anchor does have a draining hole to the outside (not to the bilge) and I am planning to add another on the port side.

The easiest option is to install the new furler in the anchor well as it is now and add another draining hole. Any advice on what path I should take?

[tager]

You must not be using a laptop.

[KeelHaulin]

Design a deck plate that will enclose the hole for the furler drum; leaving some clearance for the torque tube on the furler. That way if you take waves over the bow you will only get water in through a small gap not a huge hole in the deck. The plate should be fastened so that you can open it when access is needed to the furler; but will be very secure while sailing. You should add a second drain in the deck locker.

You might want to re-consider this particular boat for offshore work. With this sort of design at the bow; one wonders what other "coastal" designs were implemented throughout the boat. Take a long, hard look at the boat before you get heavily invested in refit work.

[celenoglu]

Water in the anchor well is not a problem. Even if this well is completely full of water you will have no or very little effect to the boat. Even if the opening is large enough a single wave will not fill it. Most probably the water will be cleared from the avalable hole before the second wave attacks. Installing the roller inside the well or on deck is up yo your decision, but do not worry for the hole that will be left. A second hole on the other side of the available one might decrease possibility of water retension.

[St Anna]

I agree with most of what celenoglu says, but; It will fill up to the windlass and will drain far too slowly. You may be days or a week with the boat acting like a submarine and the front half under water on each swell. Keelhaulin has the simplest, cheapest solution but I would pull apart and ensure the electrics to the winch are waterproof!!

Is the furler drum easy to service?

My comments would be to shorten the luff and bring the furler out above the deck and reduce the 'hole' to no more than the drain hole size (and then plug as much water from getting near the windlass as possible).

Is that the anchor locker - Can you store 65+m of chain?? And lock it down??

Not trying to put any spanners in the plan, but the front of the boat is the most liveliest.

Keep us posted with what, how and when.
regards

[svHyLyte]

In as much as you already intend to replace the furler, it would be wise to move it above deck with some extension plates and fabricate a cover for the deck opening that will limit the amount of water that can enter the anchor locker. Based on some rough calculations the anchor locker is about two cubic feet which, when filled with seawater, would arguably add roughly 128# to the bow. Drains are all well and good but if you find yourself beating into a head sea, it it unlikely that your locker could drain before being refilled by the next sea.

For the sake of the exercise, block your exisitng drain with a cork, fill the locker with water, pop the cork and time how long it takes for the locker to drain. IF your going to add another drain of the same size, cut the time in half. If, as I suspect, a full locker takes more than 4 seconds to drain, (and remember that while the bow is buried in a head sea the "drain" will actually be admitting water, not discarding it), in a heavy sea--and you will have them sooner or later--the box simply won't be able to clear before its refilled.

The added weight doesn't sound like that much but it will significantly add to the pitching moment of the yacht increasing the bow's tendancy to pound and/or "pearl". Moreover, your Widlass might be water-proof to some extent but it wasn't designed to be continuously immersed and water under pressure will, eventually, makes its way into the works.

FWIW...

[puddinlegs]

Don't forget to budget for shortening the hoist of your jib... (or maybe time for a new one? Looks a little tattered in the photo.)

[tommays]

The anchor locker full of water CAN be a big issue

In the 2009 Around Long Island Race a Tartan 37 that had NOT sealed the locker had issues in the 40 knot 12' seas Start which ALLMOST sunk the boat and required a full CG/Police other boats standing by ect till they made it in and found the problem

Name: "Lorelei" - USA 52461
Design: Tartan 3700
Year: 1999
Length: 37
Hull: Blue
Spin: White
Rating: 126 (PHRF)

[Valiente]

Consider a small pump in the well that exits out the side.

[jrd22]

Like one of the posters above, I would seriously question whether this boat was designed and built for offshore use. Your chain locker, which houses the electric motor for the windlass will be full of seawater for days on end. The motor will be toast in no time. The hinges that hold the lid on the locker look pretty flimsy and if there is any way a wave can get under it, it will be gone, then you have a big open hole in the bow of the boat. You might be able to move the furler above deck and seal it somewhat, but frankly, nothing I see in the pictures looks like it was designed for offshore use. Sorry, not trying to be mean, just honest .