Trick to keeping chain Rode from getting tangled???

[CourageousME]

Teach me, oh wise ones... Navy44 with a Lewmar electric windlass. Ive got 150 feet of chain on my anchor. This spring I set it all out on the hard to re paint the 25' red markings..... now the past few times I have gone to set the anchor, after the first 25-30 feet it wont go out. gets all gnarly and tangled down below in the rode locker area. Is there a trick? Im new to this.

Thanks!

[model 10]

Maybe you need to let the whole rode un -twist in the water. You probably made a mess of it on the ground.

[thinwater]

I assume you loaded the chain back on the boat using the windlass in the normal manner?

[HopCar]

The chain may be piling up too high in the chain locker. Then the pile falls over on itself and you've got a tangled mess. Some people place a traffic cone in the middle of their chain locker which prevents the chain from piling up. A wooden pyramid would do the same thing.

[StuM]

Originally Posted by thinwater

I assume you loaded the chain back on the boat using the windlass in the normal manner?

I assume he didn't, hence the problem.

[Cheechako]

It can be a problem. You would think the wildcat would straighten it out, but may not. Take a bit of time pulling it up , especially once the anchor leaves the bottom. You need to let it untwist. I find in anchorages like here in the PNW where there is a lot of tide change and current at times that it is worse. This may be due to the boat circling on it's rode overnight while you are asleep. I became profoundly aware of this when I anchored with two anchors once. (Bahamian moor) The next am it was an impossible mess, must have had the two rodes twisted about 20 wraps!
This occurred at the little bahama island with the iguanas on it. I anchored in the gap where there was current.
On a couple boats I made a bronze bow roller with a groove in it that fit the chain, this helped to force the chain to unwrap when the anchor left the bottom. Once the chain gets past the roller twisted, it gobbles thru the wildcat and goes below twisted.

[nitpik]

My bet is that all that chain, after painting on the dock, was indeed put back into the chain locker hand over hand. If so, let it all hang off the bow in deep water, let it sort itself out, and then retrieve with the windlass.

[captmikem]

Put a traffic cone in your anchor locker, with the top directly underneath the feed.
I have done this on a number of boats and it works quite well.

M

[captmikem]

I see Hopcar already mentioned this, forgive the redundancy.
M

[David Mark]

Swivel on chain to anchor solved our problem , the anchor wouldn't let the chain spin coming of the bottom so would be twisted as it went into looker .

[demacsea]

The problem - and the solution - is discussed here:
Anchor Locker Woes...

[SecondBase]

Originally Posted by David Mark

Swivel on chain to anchor solved our problem , the anchor wouldn't let the chain spin coming of the bottom so would be twisted as it went into looker .

I have a swivel and zero observed issues from the low hundreds of sets. I always retrieve by hand for the exercise - only going to the windless if there is an issue. This manual practice may have built in the slow lift / spin out another poster suggested.

[CourageousME]

Originally Posted by StuM

I assume he didn't, hence the problem.

Well, ya know what happens when you assume right??

Actually, yes. I used the electric windlass to wind everything in but perhaps because I was on the hard, it never had the chance to in twist. I'll find some deep water soon and give it a go

[waterman46]

Wait, how can the chain be twisted at all, if the windlass is used to bring it in all the way and it stays firmly in the wildcat? We are assuming all-chain rode.

[thinwater]

The pile fell over.

a. The chain cannot twist in the gypsy. It jams, which you noticed.

b. The notion that a swivel can help has no basis. The anchor will spin as it is recovered, removing the twist. See "a." All a swivel does, if you are anchored for only a few days, is ensure that the anchor will not be lined up with the roller. I have no swivel, and it comes up right every time, because the chain is aligned and cannot rotate in the gypsy. Simple.

However, I have had jams when I knocked the pile over to gain access to something. It does not generally do this in use, since that is a more gradual fall, but if I forcefully push it out of the way, it can make knots.