Wells Marine Arch

I have had many request for information on the instillation of my Wells Marine Arch. I installed the arch on my Catalina Morgan 440 Hull #48 "TRIXIE" last spring and summer. In the fall of 2008 I got to test it out with a four month cruise from the Panhandle of Florida to the southern Exumas (Georgetown) in the Bahamas. It worked perfectly! It is so nice Just drop the dingy in and just go. The year before I took my dingy on the foredeck and keep the outboard on the rear rail. We keep the dingy on the arch with the outboard still on the dingy. I put two cargo straps across the top of the arch around the dingy, and snuggled it up against the top rear rail during the gulf and gulf stream crossings. It never moved and had no problems with 12' seas on the gulf crossing (that is a whole other story for another time). I would have changed the design next time by angling the arch about 3 degrees more and moving the forward feet about 4 inches forward. Another thing was I had to remove the bottom two rails on the arch to install it, it sure would have been a lot easier to just not have them put on. It all depends on how you plan to have it installed. I keep my entire factory rail and just added the arch to it. Wells marine suggested that the rear rail be removed and incorporated into the arch, but I did not have a place here in bogy land that could do that. I did have wells marine build it with the pads different than there normal so it would mount on the boat like the rail and where there was a lot of strength. Here are some pictures and info on my project. If you want more information do not hesitate to send me a note. laroux@catalina440.org

Wells Marine Stainless Fabrication, Inc. sailboat radar arches

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