Welcome Aboard!

These pages will cover the restoration and upgrades I have done to a 1979 Choate 40.
I acquired the vessel in poor condition at a reasonable price and so far have put twice that amount into her.
From the evidence I have found, she had been de-masted, run aground several times, slightly flooded, run hard and put away wet.
Fortunately, she had new standing rig with a used mast from a Catalina 40 and a recent head job on the motor.
The rest of the info I'll segregate into pages for detailed information.

Thursday, December 22, 2011

The Anchor Windlass

Since the boat was a racer, it never had a windlass.

It came with and old (1943) Navy 35# Danforth type anchor, which is still in real good shape. It had about 20' of 5/16" chain and about 100' of 7/16' rode. I don't like Danforth types in the PNW bottoms but think they're OK for sandy bottoms.

First part I installed was a bow roller for a 15kg Claw type anchor, which I purchased after the first season. I made a larger bow plate to cover the full length of the bow roller. And I had to cut away part of the framing to fit it in around the forestay chainplate.

Next was to locate the windlass so the chain flowed straight down the bow roller. Then drilled a tooling hole and grind away the nonskid.

 On the underside I epoxied 4 layers of 1/8" G-10 sheets so it would bend to the radius of the under-deck  using the hole as a guide. Also used a board to hold the sheets up against the underside until it cured.

On the topside I epoxied 4 more sheets, cut to size to match the windlass, again using the tooling hole for alignment. Cut the center hole and mounting holes. And laid in a fillet around the edges.

The balsa core was now exposed so I ripped out what I could. Then using the drop, wrapped in tape, I plugged the hole and taped up the underside.

The filled the holes with epoxy filler all the way to the drop, creating a solid section right under the capstan. After it cured I had to grind it flat to match the windlass. When epoxy cures, it shrinks, which sucked down the edges a bit.

Next was to fair it all in and seal it all up with FG and epoxy.

 After sanding, I installed the windlass and traced out the hawse pipe opening and cut it out  

Then deburred and finished sanded for painting.



Here it's all mounted with the electrical panel and battery. The battery is charged by #6 wires that runs from the running batteries, by the motor, thru a combiner mounted on the panel.
At the bottom of the chain locker I've installed a cheap plastic threaded valve for draining any water accumulation. The entry to the locker is partly covered with a removable board so access is easy, if need be and I can still get my hands in incase of a jam, or.....

The panel has a up/down switch with fuse, the combiner, 100A breaker, and a battery test button with meter.

The windlass is a cheap Anchorlift. I went one size up from the recommended size but should have gone up one more, these are weak. I had to replace the motor after the first use, fortunately under warrantee. I may end up buying a Maxwell in the future.


I purchased 60'of 5/16" chain with 300' of 5/8" multiplat rode and use a 15kg Claw (Bruce clone) anchor for most anchorages. I do carry a 10kg Delta w/extra chain and rode, and the old Navy Danforth.

I've attach a sacrificial board made of decking material for the chain to ride on 

The bow roller up to this date..................

June/2013 added a bail to the bow roller.


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