Bertram33 User Forum

Hello all,

I bought recently a 33 bcf, having the Maxwell Freedom 800.
The windlass was not working, completely stuck, and therefore after attempting to deassembly, I remove it by cutting the upper part.
In parallel, I ordered the Lofrans X2, since previous experience with it was great.
Unfortunately, the X2 cannot fit in the existing holes; the existing are too big.
Most importantly though, the thickness of my deck is extremely big, reaching the 10cm.
The newer Maxwell RC8 fits on the same holes of the old Freedom 800, however it comes in two versions: 1 for normal thickness, 2 for bigger ones.
The problem is that Maxwell wants 16weeks for delivering it.
And now my questions to the community:
1. Is this thick deck common to all 33 BSF, or something has been done in mine?
2. Do you have any other proposals on how to relatively quickly resolve the issue?

PS: one of the options I'm thinking is to buy the normal version (it comes in a couple of weeks), and install the long shaft from the old windlass. From the manuals seem to be the same part.

thank you in advance!

On my 1978 FBC the piece I cut out for the windlass was about 31mm thick. Instead of a vertical windlass have you considered going to a horizontal type windlass? Everything sits above deck. You might have to get longer studs. To cover the existing holes you could use a piece of starboard as a pad.
Good luck
Al

Hi and apologies for my late feedback.

I ended up ordering a new Maxwell, equivalent model having the exact same footprint.
So installation is simple.
the only point that i will put some attention, is to make an insulation between the aluminium deck area that the windlass sits on and the windlass itself. of course for avoiding corrosion between the two different metals.

Greetings!