ANDERSEN Below-Deck Electric Conversion Kit 24V for 46ST Winch

This is the ANDERSEN below-deck electric conversion kit sized for the 46ST winch, configured for 24V house systems. It's the kit owners spec when they already have a manual ANDERSEN 46ST winch on board and want to convert it to push-button electric trim without buying a complete new winch. The conversion kit gives you everything below the deck (motor, gearbox, controller, deck plate) plus the cockpit push button. Your existing 46ST drum, base, and self-tailing jaws stay in place.

The Compact Motor is the core of the kit. ANDERSEN's brushless DC motor design eliminates the carbon brushes that wear in traditional electric winch motors, which means the motor runs longer between overhauls (no brush replacement at periodic intervals), draws 30 to 50 percent less current than a comparable brushed motor for the same line speed and maximum pull, and operates more quietly. The controller is integrated into the motor housing, so there's no separate control box to find a dry location for, and the electrical install is simpler: positive and negative power cables to the motor terminals, plus the output cable to the push button.

Variable speed is the second advantage of the brushless platform. The motor responds to pressure on the push button rather than running in on/off mode like older electric winch motors. Light pressure produces slow line speed for fine sail trim adjustments, full pressure runs the winch at maximum speed for fast hoists and tacks. This is the kind of ergonomic upgrade that's hard to appreciate until you've used it for a season, after which going back to a single-speed electric winch feels primitive.

The mechanical interface is the stainless steel winch-to-deck connection plate that comes with the kit. The plate mounts under the deck and serves as both the structural attachment for the motor and the alignment fixture that keeps the motor's output shaft concentric with the winch drum's drive shaft. Drilling the deck holes and torquing the through-bolts is the bulk of the install labor. Once that's done, the motor connects to the deck plate, the drum drops onto the motor's output shaft, and the existing 46ST self-tailing jaws and drum spec stay unchanged.

The kit ships with everything needed for the install: the motor with integrated controller, the stainless deck connection plate, the IP67-rated push button switch with hinged safety cover, the wiring cable terminals, the installation manual with torque specs and electrical diagrams, and the documentation pack. You supply the deck cutout (or use the existing manual-winch cutout if you're converting from the same 46-size base), the through-bolts, the main DC cabling from your house bank to the motor terminals, and the appropriate breaker or fuse.

Compatibility verification is critical and we want to flag it explicitly. ANDERSEN 46ST winches have shipped in several version-number generations over the years, and the conversion kit is sized to specific generation ranges. Before ordering, find the production year, month, and version number stamped on the top side of your winch's deck flange (you'll see them when the polished drum is removed). Call us with that information and we'll verify that this kit fits your specific 46ST. The penalty for skipping this verification is real, an incompatible kit doesn't bolt up cleanly and the install becomes a return, so the five minutes of verification time is worth it.

Performance characteristics on the converted winch follow the rest of the ANDERSEN Compact Motor electric line: line speed at light loads is fast (sized for sail-trim ergonomics rather than just maximum-pull capability), maximum pull at heavy loads matches what the 46-size manual winch was rated for under handle power, and integrated overload protection in the controller stops the motor cleanly if the load exceeds the rated maximum, with automatic resume when the load drops. Thermal cutout in the motor protects against overheating with automatic reset on cool-down.

What this kit doesn't do: it doesn't convert above-deck-motor installations (this is the below-deck variant only), it doesn't change the winch's manual-mode behavior (you can still drop a standard ANDERSEN winch handle into the drum top and operate the winch manually when the electric drive is off), and it doesn't include any additional load-handling capacity beyond what the 46ST mechanical winch was designed for. If you need more pull capacity, the 50ST or 52ST size classes are the next step up, and ANDERSEN sells conversion kits for those sizes separately.

For 24V house bank installations, ANDERSEN sells the 24V version of the same kit under MPN RA2046214200. Choose the kit voltage based on your boat's electrical system, not based on the size of the boat.