Chain to rope splice on anchor rode?

[Marathon1150]

We have 200' of 3/8" chain spliced to 300' of 8-plait rode. Initially, we had a manual windlass and the splice passed through the stripper slot easily. When we upgraded to a Lewmar H3 windlass I discovered that the splice would not fit through the narrowest spot where the gypsy and body of the windlass meet. Lewmar advised that this slot is fixed - i.e. not adjustable.

I redid the splice in an attempt to make it thinner and now it will usually move through the windlass but I don't view the process as being dependable and though it is reasonably easy to get the rope out of the windlass, it is not easy to get the chain back in, thus making it difficult to manually bypass the choke point when bringing in the rope and then the chain. I have only ever done this at the dock and I can imagine that doing this in a boat experience even moderate seas in an anchorage would be very challenging.

I have heard of people who keep the chain separate from the rope and only attach the rope when necessary. On those occasions where the rope needs to be used to achieve a suitable rode length, they run out the chain to almost the bitter end, have a fine and simple to detach piece of line to prevent the chain from leaving the boat altogether and then attach the rope to the end of the chain with a shackle. They then let the rope out manually. They reverse this process when pulling up the anchor.

How common is this technique? What are the risks associated with it if anybody has had experience with it? What are the alternatives?

Thanks in advance.

[Cat36Mahalo]

My 5/8” 8 plait to 5/16 chain runs smoothly thru my Lewmar Ocean Concept 2 winch no problems. My first splice wasn’t the best and it did cause pause.

[RaymondR]

On my previous boat I removed the pin from the toggle on the inner forstay and replaced the pin with a shackle. This allowed me to attach a block there through which I ran the anchor rode. Using the winch I could retrieve the rode pulling the splice all the way to the block and hook the chain just inboard of the bow roller. I could then unshackle the rode and shackle the end of the chain to the line which ran down through the hawespipe to the anchor locker. I had a switch handy to the locker which I could use whilst I pulled the chain back down the hawsepipe.

[Marathon1150]

Well so far I know of two boats using a technique that keeps the rope separate from the chain in order to facilitate getting the rode out and back. I wonder if there are any others using a not yet discussed approach to dealing with a rode that is not all chain and which hangs up where the rope to chain splice needs to go through the windlass. I'm using this rope to chain splice (8-plait version): BlueMoment - Articles

As someone in another thread mentioned, the chain tends to rust at the splice.

[Cat36Mahalo]

I used the Sampson back splice method where the 8-plait gets braided back on itself.

[chowdan]

Following as I also have 3/8 chain spliced to 5/8 8 plait rode. I havent installed my windlass yet, but it is a maxwell VW10-10. Hopefully it wont gave me troubles at the splice as the manufacturer recommended the rode/chain splice and they recommended the 8 plait over 3 strand

[noelex 77]

The transition between rope and chain be an issue. One problem I have experienced is that the rope to chain transition can be quite reliable and keep the grip under low load conditions, but does not work and slips at high load.

There are several different splices that can be used to connect the rope and chain. Google the alternatives and find the one that works the best for your set up.

If the gypsy loses grip during the transition the weight of the chain will drag out the rope at rather alarming speed.

The major tip is to have a means of securing the chain on deck so when the rope chain junction is reached the grip on the rode is not lost if the gypsy slips during the transition. A chain stopper is ideal, as it works as a one way clutch to hold the chain, but unfortunately the rope is often too thick to pass through a chain stopper necessitating removing the paw. A simple rope strop with a chain-hook is often a help.

Once the anchor/chain load is secured, it greatly helps feeding the bulky rope chain junction through the gypsy and hawser pipe.