Chain hawser pipe

While working in the anchor locker I installed a anchor hawser pipe to lead the chain and or rope lower in the hull. I have read a lot about getting the chain weight further back in the hull to help improve the ride. The previous owner had all the chain and rope high and really as forward as it could go. With this change it now dumps down right at the forward flat of the hull. I could run it back further but it would have to be pulled. I don't want to have to have someone below deck pulling chain every time we hoist anchor. As you can see I ran some light weight rope through the pipe to make sure it all ran through on its own. I figure the bigger rope is heavier so it should "flow" as well as the lighter rope.

The Westsail drawing says to run 2" pipe but I ran 3" to make sure the eye at the chain/rope connection does not get hung up.

Here is a picture of the pieces I used for the pipe. It is all 3" PVC drain pipe. The top piece that attaches to the deck is a toilet flange. I made a plywood piece that will get epoxied to the hull then the toilet flange will get screwed to that. You can see I cut some of the flange off because it was hitting the bowsprit bolts. Then there is about 24" of straight pipe then a 45 degree elbow, then a 12" straight.

 

The area that the chain gets diverted to does lead to the low bilge. That way any water that comes aboard with the chain can drain into the low bilge. Plus there are holes on port and starboard sides for air flow.

This pipe is not permanent yet as I want to see where I mount the windlass before I epoxy all the piping in.  

 

Chain Locker Bulkhead Part 1

It appears that the bowsprit sucked up water which drained to the samson posts which in turn went into the chain locker bulkhead.

 I have been trying to figure out how to repair the bulkhead without having to replace the whole thing. Bud Taplin during his survey said to just cut to the tabs and attach the new plywood to that as that area is still sound. That is what I am going to do but I want to be sure I make it look as nice as possible. 

I figured I should cut out all the rot then I would know what I have to work with. This is what I ended up with.

Looks like its time to clean the lens on my phone!

What I have done so far is to make a template of the sides of the hull in cardboard. I will not be able to put in one big piece of wood because I just can't physically get it in this space. So I will have to do at least two pieces of wood. The samson posts are bolted to the bulkhead. So the bulkhead is tight to the samson posts. This means I can't double up the plywood on the backside of the bulkhead as this would not allow my samson posts to come down from the deck. I guess I could cut a piece of plywood to cover the opening as you see in the picture above. My concern is that the samson post get some of it's strength by being attached to the bulkhead. So instead of that I might fiberglass in a 2x4 near the bottom of the samson posts to the hull and bolt the post to that. I think that would actually be stronger than it was before.
While in this area I want to split the chain locker in two and run a PVC pipe down from the deck to below the V berth to allow the chain to be stored below the shower pan. This detail is shown in the Westsail factory manual that came with the boat. I want to try to keep as much weight out of the front of the hull as possible.

As soon as I figure out what I want to do I post again about this...so stay tuned for more exciting chain locker bulkhead drama!