Thanks Stu,
I spent some time with that installation and it does help in some areas. The anchor locker in this article is different and seems to be stronger with the protrusion for the anchor located on the bulkhead. My installation looks hinky, in that something was done post production. The corners in the rear of the anchor locker have been reglassed in a way that appears to try to correct a mistake in construction. The surveyor looked at it when I got the boat but just indicated that he was satisfied with whatever had been done.
Do you think that there is any concern in opening the protrusions minimally as I described?

The Beckson plate is a good idea as long as I have the area to attach it and still mount a support. A 4" plate requires 6 sq. inches. Not at the boat so not sure. I am assuming that the inside of the anchor locker is only a liner and not for structural support; I'll verify that with a call to Catalina tomorrow. If so there should be no problems with opening the protrusions enough to attach some backing plates and nuts.

Mike,
Thanks for your post, it really explains a lot; nice to be able to resurrect some history on my boat for your experience. If you look at my picture, each side of the fiberglass bulkhead is translucent. The reason is that someone put a massive silicon bead on each side probably to cure the problem that you had with leaking and that you solved by glassing. The corners of the bulkhead inside of the locker were roughly glassed. Apparently the silicon and glass repair worked since I have not had any water in the time I have had the boat.
I will post some pics when I install the structure that I have in mind; I think that it is similar to what you have in mind.

Nelson,
I'll take pictures of everything and post them. Since my anchor locker is configured a little differently than the pictures that I have seen in the various articles, what I do is going to be a little different.
As part of the installation i am going to cut away the anemic anchor rollers that came on the boat and replace it with a decent anchor roller. There is a good article on this on the C34 site.
[url]http://c34.org/wiki/index.php?title=Windlass_installation_w/_bow_roller_...
Also shows a really nicely crafted windlass installation,
My plan is to bring the wiring back to the two house batteries. I haven't given it any more thought than that; if you have ideas would appreciate it. The windlass came with an up/down solenoid, and a 135 amp isolator breaker. The wiring diagram in the manual looks pretty straight forward. Will use the recommended 4 awg for the power runs. [COLOR="Red"]Wrong[/COLOR] (When I posted this, I was not considering the run in both directions: I ended up using 2 awg)

Sorry for the delay in following up on this installation. It has taken longer than expected; part of the problem is that my boat is 3 1/2 hours away. Throw in the holidays and things slow down. I have finished installing everything with the exception of putting things back where they were. I have included some pictures and some explanations of what was done and why.
To review I wanted to do a new install of a windlass, and chose a Maxwell RC8, which is a vertical windlass sized correctly for the C36. My boat had not had a windlass previously. The windlass was to be installed in the anchor locker and completely covered when the doors were closed. I examined accounts of many installations on both the C34 and C36 sites.
Most of the accounts described removing the paneling on the inside of the V-birth to reveal a stout plywood sheet attached to the anchor locker fiberglass bulkhead. When I removed my paneling, there was nothing other than the fiberglass bulkhead, it was not very thick and was definitely not adequate to provide any support. (Picture below) I considered adding ¾” plywood to the interior, but this would have required that I refit the woodwork in the v-birth. Also, given that the bulkhead was not molded to the anchor locker, it would not have given me the needed strength. It made more sense to add a support to the inside of the locker which could also be the foundation for the support of the windlass. This was especially important on my installation since the anchor locker is pretty sparse structurally compared to other installations that I viewed.

I decided to use 3/8” aluminum since I had almost a half of sheet on hand and it could be easily cut for the most of parts that I would need. (All cutting was done with the skill saw and a metal cutting blade.) I have included a rough sketch below that I did early in the process. I would mount a substantial plate to the fiberglass bulkhead inside of the anchor which would be backed by two aluminum bars on the inside of the vbirth. (Pictures below) This would strengthen the fiberglass bulkhead considerably. From this plate I would extend two perpendicular arms to the triangular shaped inside the anchor locker, attached with aluminum angle. These arms would provide horizontal support to the bulkhead and counter the forces of the windlass. Additionally, the arms would provide a platform for a plate on which the windlass would mount. It became apparent that measurements were pretty irregular from one side of the anchor locker to the other and everything would have to be carefully fit. For this reason I decided not to try and fabricate a single piece and weld it, but to put the structure together in parts that would be bolted together. In this way I could fit all of the parts into the anchor locker and make adjustments at the boat so they fit perfectly. This fitting was done over the course of a few trips. (I'll add some more info and and pictures in a followup post)

In the picture below, the arms are attached to the aluminum plate on the bulkhead and extend out to the triangular protrusions. Each attachment is a piece of angle attached to the arm, providing both forward and lateral stability. I cut an opening in each protrusion in order to attach deck plates allowing me to put in backing plates and to attach nuts. (Stu’s suggestion) The two arms provided a platform for the mounting plate on which the windlass attaches.
The next pictures show the whole structure on the workbench inverted. If assembled into a single unit it would not have been possible to install the platform. By being able to break it down, installation was easy and could be fitted to the somewhat irregular shapes. I used stainless bolts, and used lanolin on all of the surfaces where it made contact with aluminum. Most of the holes were drilled and tapped. (A drill press made the job much easier) The following picture is the whole structure assembled in the upright position. The position of the windlass was determined and the openings were drilled with hole saws. The small hole is for a footswitch, but I changed my mind and have installed a pendant instead..
Everything was sanded, acid etched, painted with zinc chromate, primed and finally painted with rustoleum semi gloss. The following two photos show the painted platform installed.

Tom,
Thank you for the correction. I went back and amended my original post. When I wrote that I was not considering the run in both directions; I ended up using 2 awg.

Sorry for stringing this out, but there is a limit of 5 pictures/post. I installed a piece of tubing through the upper starboard corner of the anchor locker into the vbirth to serve as a chase for wiring. This has to be fairly large to accommodate the large cable.
Pictured below is the windlass installed on the platform.
The electrical installation is complete and almost constitutes a second project; I will followup with another post. I've got to get some other work done today first....

I went with the manufacturer's specification on the wiring size. This is specific to the load of the windlass and the length of the runs of the cables. I should point out that I am only describing what I did on my boat and not providing advice to others. Since electrical is my weakest area (among others) I was particularly cautious about carefully following manufacturer guidelines in my installation.

Mike,
That's my plan for this weekend, along with flying a spinnaker for the first time.
I installed the windlass as close to the top of the anchor locker as I could and have the doors close, and even added a 1/2" starboard shim to raise it a little more and separate it from the painted aluminum surface. I still have the anemic little rollers that came on the boat, but plan to replace the starboard side of this set up with a much larger/longer bow roller. Larry's survey has been helpful in informing that solution. If there are problems with alignment, or "angle of attack", I can adjust for that when I add the anchor roller.

Mike,
I raised and lowered my anchor in the slip and everything seemed to work fine.
There is a slight downward angle from the anchor roller to the windlass, but it seems to be within working limits. I think that it helps that I installed the windlass as high as possible in the anchor locker The manual indicates that the feed to the windlass from the anchor roller should be on the same plane. This could be easily done by using a 1/2" starboard shim and sanding it at an angle with a belt sander. I am going to install a full sized anchor roller which should be a big improvement over the existing setup. What anchor roller did you install?

Bud,
If you used a 30" roller, what length extends beyond the the bow, not supported?
Mike, thanks for the info on Garhauer, didn't know that they made anchor rollers.

I’m going to try and finish up my notes on my windlass installation. The last step was the wiring; while pretty straight forward was time consuming. An excellent source for marine wiring and related products is genuinedealz.com. The prices are good, shipping is included and orders are shipped immediately. (No connection with genuinedealz)
Earlier in this description I indicated that I had used 4-awg cable. When I wrote that I had only considered the run in one direction. When I realized my error and doubled my runs, the table provided by Maxwell indicated that I should increase the cable size to 2 awg. Once my lengths were determined, I cut the wire and compressed lugs in the ends using an impact tool. I then soldered the lugs and covered with adhesive heat shrink tubing.
A big decision was the location of the solenoid. Since the cables are large and hard to maneuver, I wanted some space around it for working and I wanted easy access for the future. I decided to mount it in the open cabinet above the hanging locker in the v birth entry. I epoxied a plywood base and screwed the solenoid to it, and added a terminal block for attaching control wires. The terminal block was attached with a strong velcro to make it easier to pull out for access. Eventually, I will cover the solenoid installation up with a piece of paneling that can be easily removed The loss of storage space is only about 3” deep. (Picture)

In addition to the factory up/down control that I installed in the cockpit, I also added a pendant and wireless control. The pendant was suggested to me in a windlass installation article by Gary Teeter and I really liked the mobility that it provided over a foot switch. I wrote Gary and he was kind enough to send me some additional information. I also purchased a new wireless control on ebay for $60; it came with two fobs with brackets, which I installed in the nav station. (I will add neck lanyards so they don't go overboard.) It was a bit of overkill, but it was very inexpensive to do while I was in the process and provided me with multiple options for operating the windlass.
I installed a waterproof deck fitting in the anchor locker for the pendant. It is a 3-pole plug that is removed when not in use. The receiver for the wireless controller was installed outside of the solenoid location; I was concerned that when it was enclosed it might limit the signal.
Cables were installed in the channel in the upper starboard corner of the v-birth. These will not be visible when the wood trim is replaced. The breaker was installed under the seat in the small settee where the house batteries are located. Everything seems to work great. As I mentioned, previously, the next step is to improve the anchor roller setup.