On my B36(2002) I found it easier to remove the panel from the port side first, don't know why, it just was. I had to do this about four times during the ten years I owned the boat. First to replace the badly corroded signal wires for the up/down control of the windlass, next was to inspect the damage and repairs carried out following the activity of a bunch of male idiots from the east coast of Scotland who chartered the boat and had a collision, next was to replace the cable for the forward nav light, and lastly when I took the Lofrans Cayman windlass off in order to examine the under side of the machine. Anyway, that aside the port panel came off more easily than the starboard, maybe something to do with being right handed gave me an easier pull that way.
I notice that the aft part of your chain locker is all constructed from GRP, while mine also had a thick plywood backing, both to the rear and undersides, and later I added stainless steel to the inside of the chain locker shelf. I’ve not got the photos anymore, but they will be somewhere here within the various threads in the forum.
You might find that the up/down control wires are already in place, but if not I’d suggest that you go down the route of laying them in ready for a manual control system, even if you intend using a radio control system, the manual back up might get you out of a jam if the radio system fails. Use tinned copper wires, to prevent corrosion of the wires themselves. If I remember correctly the up down control cable needed three internal cores, all of which when in use carried positive current. One carried the positive current forward to the hand controller, while the two others were energised with positive current going back to the windlass solenoid, but only when up or down was actually selected.
Good luck with the project.
