FreedomYachts.org

Just bought a Express 39 would like to install a Maxwell VWC 1500
concerns anybody known deck thickness?
Thinking 150ft G4 5/16 chain or should I go to 3/8
Can the 39 handle the extra weight of 3/8


Regards

Don

dhood6606''at''yahoo.ca

I have the same windlass on my F44. Deck will probably be balsa cored, around 1" thick. You need massive reinforcement below decks (large 1/2" aluminum plate, preferably laminated to the deck) and take out core material and beef up the area around bolts and shaft hole to prevent compression of the deck.

Congratulations on the 39 Express. Have had White Wings for 14 years and love it still. The deck was 1 1/4 thick, balsa cored and dry when I installed my windlass. I used 1/4 plate on bottom and 1/4 on top, removed about an inch of core around each cut and sealed with West.
Replace windlass last year after ten years of use and found no problems in the deck during change. The only thing that happened over the ten years was that I could no longer fit by the mast to the forpeak and had to have the mast lifted to make the windlass change.

I have 180 ft of 5/16 G-4 attached to a 66 # Bruce as primary. a Fortress 22 on 60 ft of 5/16 G-4 and 180 ft of 5/8 nylon as secondary all hung in front of mast without a problem. I know the Bruce is oversized but I sleep well at night. You will find that the 39 likes to sail at anchor, if you find a way to stop it other than a wide set on two anchors please post.

Pete

Thanks for your feed back So the 180' 5/16 chain and the 66lbs bruce isn't too much weight
in the pointing end. I thought(hoped) an almost 20,000 lb boat would settle down at anchor.
My Elite 30R (for Sale) 5600 lbs never stops sailing up to the anchor then turns broad side then repeats on the other tack.
This summer at anchor in she did her dance and we were heeling 30 to 40 degrees
(almost spilled my Rum) We had gust 60 knots Confirmed, by to other boat at the anchorage

Thank you both for you coments

Don

You will find that the 39 can handle both sizes of chain, but I would prefer to stay with 5/16 chain and use a decent sized anchor (on my 39 I have a 72 pound Delta).
To stop the boat sailing at anchor, which we were having a problem with during a storm one day, my wife quickly whipped up a riding sail, about 3 feet a side. It worked really well, and I put it up in stronger wind or when we anchored close to other boats.

Thanks for the input

I have been enjoying your Web site

Marno,
that riding sail sounds very interesting. Could you post a picture or sketch for us please? I recently tried making up a yoke, if that is the right term, to sit Fyne Spirit at about 45 deg to the wind but it was ineffective. I had an H28 (long keel boat) that I would anchor by the stern and that was very effective. I have not tried that with F39 yet. I also fitted a new Anchormate 1500 watt windlass this year. Took the mast out to do it. I noticed the fore deck was about 80mm thick with two layers of core between three layers of laminate. Is that standard F39 construction or is it on the heavy side? We also up graded from 35 to 50lb Delta with 10mm chain and was looking forward to better sleep until I read about your 72lb Delta. Do you sail with that on the bow roller or stow it elsewhere?

Best regards,

Gday,
The riding sail is very basic in shape (took my wife about 10 minutes to sew, plus some time to put in the grommets.

I tied it off to the end of the mizzen boom, to the yoke on the mizzen,, and the top of it was held up by a halyard.
Yes, the anchor stays on the bow roller all the time, it would be too hard to move.... It did drag in some shingles in Spain (after being there for about 3 days), apart from that, we have been very comfortable knowing it is down there.

Thanks Marno,

Very helpful. I will have a bash at making one soon.

Best wishes,