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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I eventually did something comparable. I was able to remove two bolds from the old winch. With a 5mm drill barely gripped in the drill I was able to drill both holes from the top through the inner mould. By measuring carefully I identified to remaining drill positions.
I drilled 22mm holes. The first two went fine. The starboard front bold was so close underneath the mold that the drill almost immediately hit the bold. I cut off the tip of the drill and then was able to finish all holes.
Remember not all bolts have equal length … right … ? So I had to change positions of two bolts.
To losen the bolts I got help from my friend Ducktape.
All in all it took about 2 hours to replace the old Antal winch for the new selftailing two speed Antal XT 30.2 winch.
Note: The holes are exactly in the same positions.