Swan 57 - purpose of fitting/hole in cockpit floor

Hi All,

we are currently having a new teak deck fitted on Kairos and are therefore reviewing all deck fittings and fixtures in case they may be obsolete or could be improved. Needless to say that none of the original fixtures where affected as expected from an S&S-design ...

There is one fitting in the floor of the cockpit of which we aren't sure if this is original. It's locatedin the forward part of the cockpit, pretty much on the centre line, and looks like an opening for a tank - see pictures below.

The fitting covers a hole, which is pretty much over the centre of our generator installed between the after bunks.

We believe the hole is to aide with servicing/installation/removal of the generator as it could be used to feed a rope through for lifting the generator from it's foundations. We inherited a 4 cylinder, 12 kW Panda generator, not sure why we would need that much power but it works well; likely to be very heavy though.

Our yard thinks that the generator could be dismantled without the need to feed some lifting gear through the hole. I'm sure that's possible but think it would require much more effort e.g. some makeshift lifting gear below deck to do this ...

The fitting, being on the floor of the cockpit, does see a fair bit of water but has been tight so far.

Long story short, we are currently debatting whether to keep the fitting/hole or laminate it shut and cover ii with the new deck. After all, it would be a hole less in the boat ...

I'd be very greatful of your views on the following:

- is our assumption correct that this is for the generator only or is there another use we haven't considered yet?

- has anyone else got this featue? Is it original?

- what does the community think with regards to the fitting's importance for generator maintenance/installation?

Thank you very much,

Fair winds

Stefan - Kairos 57/043

Fitting with old teak deck still in place

Fitting and teak deck removed

Close-up outside; the 'bottom' visible is the wooden strip of the panel ceiling

Two more pictures ...

Stefan - Kairos 57/043

Hole from the inside, with wooden strip across from panel ceiling (easily removable)

Inside cover - sorry, not a very good picture due to limited space

Hi Stefan,

we dont have this hole in 57-007…

and no trace in the past, under teak.

Yves / Algol V

Thanks Yves!

That's good to know, so this fittig/hole seems to be not original for a start.

If I recall correctly from your refurbishment posts for Algol V your generator is also installed below the cockpit between the bunks in the after cabin.

And from your pictures it looks like you had no issues getting to the generator and installing it when you had all the work doneon Al, correct?

I think we might laminate the hole over on Kairos then; as our yard put it: you can always re-install the hole later if really required...

Thanks again,

Stefan - Kairos 057/043

Yes Stefan,

the generator is a 10 KvA installed between the two bed in aft cabin,

so exactly under the cocpit floor, no hole required to install or uninstall,

NSGS yard made a completely insulated and removable box around the generator,

who is already in an insulated box…

the generator is exactly in the axle of the boat (not on a side, as picture could make think)

in front of the generator, under the sofa comes the watermaker.

all these do not make Algol heavier, as we removed lead ballasts at this place, witch were here for a good boat balance, and we keep exactly the same weight balance.

The box around the box !!! (Not yet insulated, old picture)

The generator supports, just where the removed ballast were

The watermaker and generator, before boxes and insulations