I’ve made the same change to my B39 2006- a very good decision!
The Lofrans windlass fitted into the anchor locker. I mounted it on a piece of chopping board cut to shape to keep the base from sitting in standing water- see other threads re base corrosion.
.
I used the existing wiring/remote control but fitted a new contactor (solenoid) on the inside of the fore peak bulkhead. From memory the Lofrans windlass has 3 wires, rather than the 4 wires to your existing windlass.
.
.
The Lofrans windlass is so much better than the Lewmar, it’s worth the effort.
“a very good decision”- Absolutely, my B36(2002) had the Lofrans Cayman 88, and the only problems I had with it were a very mild case of base corrosion, which hopefully was stopped when I lifted the machine out and primed and painted the underneath. The only other problem was with the Bavaria wiring loom already in place from the boat builders, where in those days they had used ordinary copper cabling. The signal cabling had corroded throughout its entire length after only eight years, such that the signal for up or down from the hand controller just didn’t make it back to the solenoid. Changing to tinned copper signal cable made all the difference and was still working ten years after I had changed to tinned wires. I also invested in an ebay £10 radio control system which while it might have cut out the need for a hand or foot controller, that system was left in place and was tested periodically.
The bit about the three wires is correct, you have heavy cabling to carry the current needed to run the windlass up or down, but need only a single negative and two positive cables, one +ve for up and the other for down. The same applies to the signal wires where again you only need three of them. In this case the signal wires all carry positive current, namely one positive from the solenoid to the hand/foot controller, and one wire for up and another wire for down to carry the positive current back from the controller to the solenoid where it then energises the up or down solenoid chosen before the signal current then reaches the negative return within the solenoid.
From comments read within other areas of the forum, the impression I have got is that the Lewmar windlass is a bit fragile and doesn't stand up to the wear and tear imposed on them, whereas the Lofrans is a very sturdily built machine with the longevity of the fabled brick built outside toilet !!
