Surprise is fitted with non-selftailing winches on the coachroof. I want to replace the starboard winch for an Antal XT30.2 selftailing winch. I know from other posts involving the replacement of clutches that the starboard side is difficult to reach because of the inner mould in the rear cabin ceiling. I inspected the port side, which is easy to reach. It shows that the nuts are not really fixated. When carefully loosening the screws of the starboard winch some nuts seem to stay in place but others rotate with the screw.
Long story to come to the conclusion that the starboard coachroof winch can only be replaced by making a hole in the inner mould ceiling.
Has anyone done this before? If so, what tools were used? Was a larger piece removed so it could be used for future replacement if necessary? How was the cutout replaced … or covered with an other kind of ceiling?
If pictures are available I would appreciate to have them shared.

It’s a pity Parker didn’t use a laminated aluminum plate as on my previous boat.

I had to do a similar job on P31, when replacing the starboard Genoa winch, I drilled out a hole sufficiently big enough to access the nuts, then made up a disc of spare roof lining (used a bowl as template) and used contact adhesive to fix in position, making up a wooden disc was an option but as had some left over lining used that.

Hope this helps

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