hawse-pipe - Gurus, need your advice

[Morgan Paul]

[vacendak]

[Pblais]

I still would get rid of the first bend (morgan paul). Bends are places to hang up the chain. It's only the entry and exit ends of the pipe that get tricky. Chain has to flow both directions. The pipe as drawn is too small. The diameter would need to be larger than one link. Links don't stay where you want them

Perhaps just modify only the top of the locker to line it up under the windlass. Nothing says the side of the locker can't be anything but straight. You still have access to the foreword part of the boat to get access. Make the top of the locker extend to meet the bottom of the windlass and remove the whole pipe. Use the side of the locker with perhaps a piece of stainless sheet metal to avoid abrasion of the locker. You then require no pipe at all. There is no better pipe design than no pipe required!

[craigsmith]

[Alan Wheeler]

Nicely done Craig. I assume the winch is some way back from the bow? It must be good getting that weight of chain back down the boat somewhat.

[craigsmith]

Thanks Alan, you planning on copying it?

***



It's a 15m boat... it's not that far back. But the chain ends up below the waterline.

[Pblais]

Craig,

Nice pipe! The rollers at the ends are a plus too.

[vacendak]

thank you, Craig

mind if I borrow this idea ?

[Pblais]

That would be from Peter Smith's custom boat.

[Steve Pope]

Now someone is talking about a problem I have (thanks Craig I like the look of your layout, what is the deck cover?) I need to get the chain further back into the boat, currently it is in the bow locker overhanging the water with the windlass forward of that. The original setup had the windlass on the cabin top approx 2 1/2 metres in front of the mast with the chain coming down into the saloon area. Some later owner changed it to the present setup. I need to make a compromise between the two with either the chain being ducted back horizontally yet still able to run or offsetting the windlass and having 4 1/2 metres of chain on deck with a relatively straight chain pipe. Has anyone seen systems that will work for my predicament??

[Pblais]

If you look at the setup shown by Craig you can see that they used a few pulley blocks to reduce the friction. The real trick is you need enough of a drop to keep the chain pulled tight against the gypsy else it slips going in either direction. Going in an out the links can catch on anything that is a sharp angle. It's not uncommon for a link to rotate 90 degrees from sitting in a pile and suddenly hit something and snag on the way out.

The inclinded tube with pulleys on either end is about as fancy as you can get. The longer the drop you have to work with the more gravity you can take advantage of. The goal has to be straight, short, steep, and with the longest fall.

[Alan Wheeler]

Thanks Alan, you planning on copying it?

Do you think you can post the drawings somewhere ;-) :-)

No, althought it would be a great idea, I don't think my guests would like the chain stored in their forward cabin. It looks like your Dads boat is quite a big one.

[roverhi]

How do you do those drawings and post them. Always wanted to be able to do that at sometimes it takes hours to compose a post that would easily be explained by a drawing.

Pblais is saying just angle tube that the chain runs in. Otherwise a straight piece of tubing without the bend into the chain compartment. The bend that you illustrated will just add un-necessary friction. I doubt that the chain would hang up but it could. We hung on the hook for a year and a half with a 90 degree bend in the chain run without a problem in the out go.

I would caution you to make the chain locker as deep as you can. Without the necessary weight of chain hanging in the system, the chain will back up. Really a pain in the butt to have to run below and re-arrange the chain, btdt. I'd also make it wider so it is under the windlass. The wider it is, the more room for the pile of chain to flatten out reducing the height of the pile and increasing the hanging weight of the chain.

If I'm reading your intentions right, you won't have easy access to the chain pile so getting to self feed will be really crucial.

Aloha
Peter O.
Pa'akai O'o
Pearson 35 #108

[Alan Wheeler]

If I can add to all the above great info. From experiance, you want your chain to flow as cleanly and smoothly as possible. If you don't and you get a bunch up, it is entirely possible to have a wrap around or some form of a jam with the gipsy. The amount of force the gipsy can apply is freightning and WILL cause damage. Trust me, I have been there and had that happen. And it always happens at the worst possible time. I have since re-engineered the chain system and it works a treat.
One idea to make the chain quiter and slip easier is to line the inside of your pipe with a teflon plastic material. Although this will mean you need a larger diameter pipe. Thye next best thing is to use Bronze. Bearing bronze would be easy to get and is good at corrosion resisitance and easy to machine. Impossible to bend, so it would be a straight pipe. Bronze is "slippery" to steel, so the chain would slide. Do not use Galv pipe, it will wear and rust quickly. SST would be your cheapest easiest to shape choice offering the greatest resistance to corrosion.

As to the chain hitting the side of the Ply boat, I would coat the sides in pleanty of Epoxy resin and then do a final coat using Epoxy Carborundom (spell?). This produces a very wear resistance surface. Or if you want to get a little techy, use a layer of Kevlar matt. This has excellent wear resistant ability.

[GordMay]

y

Originally Posted by Alan Wheeler

... The next best thing is to use Bronze. Bearing bronze would be easy to get and is good at corrosion resisitance and easy to machine. Impossible to bend, so it would be a straight pipe. Bronze is "slippery" to steel, so the chain would slide. .

I've bent lots of Everdure pipe, a remarkably difficult (inconsistent, and prone to kinking) copper alloy, by bending the pipe on a fixed die set (pipe "hickey") machined to fit the exact outside diameter. A Mandrel is sometimes inserted inside the pipe or tube to prevent collapse during the bending process, though (with care) this step can be omitted.
Bronze might also be bent in this fashion.