Confined space for anchor chain

[foothillsailor]

SIMPLE SOLUTION:

Place or fit a flat plate or board at the the bottom of your anchor locker (could be 5/8 inch epoxy painted/sealed plywood) with one end raised at about a 30 degree slope (or less depending on your anchor locker) by a block of wood screwed to it on its underside---as chain falls into the locker then it will tend to fall over before it starts to pile up ---did that with my anchor locker after splitting it into 2 halves --one half holds 200 ft of chain plus 150 ft of rope rode, the other holds 100 ft of chain plus 200 ft of rope rode---has always worked for me

Would think this would work for you ---if it doesn't work then just remove the plywood false floor/panel that created the sloping floor ---simple and inexpensive and no harm done if doesn't work

MOPION
Gozzard 36
On the Hard in Mazatlan

[Cheechako]

Originally Posted by 1Sunseeker

Not easy in a shallow locker for the chain. As a single hander I have to go forward to the winch, drop to my knees, operate winch with my left knee while flaking the chain by hand as it is drawn up. Yes, I know I should not let the winch draw the boat to the anchor so I start the boat that way then dash forward and take up the slack. Sometimes back and forth. I can't think of a flaking mechanism working in a shallow locker. Be careful as the winch will grab your sleeve, neck chain, hair etc. and makes no compromise for carelessness. get help if you need it and good luck.

Yeah, one reason I changed a couple of my boats over to hand held pendant instead of footswitch.

[michaelratinter]

Aboard Blind Faith the flake is the captain with a boathook while the admiral stands on the winch button.

[a64pilot]

Originally Posted by michaelratinter

Aboard Blind Faith the flake is the captain with a boathook while the admiral stands on the winch button.

So who drives the boat up to the anchor?


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[michaelratinter]

A64,

So far, the winch does the job.

[mitiempo]

Originally Posted by michaelratinter

A64,

So far, the winch does the job.

Not a good plan for long windlass life.

[SSgtPitt]

[QUOTE=foothillsailor;2232237]SIMPLE SOLUTION:

Place or fit a flat plate or board at the the bottom of your anchor locker (could be 5/8 inch epoxy painted/sealed plywood) with one end raised at about a 30 degree slope (or less depending on your anchor locker) by a block of wood screwed to it on its underside---as chain falls into the locker then it will tend to fall over before it starts to pile up ---did that with my anchor locker after splitting it into 2 halves --one half holds 200 ft of chain plus 150 ft of rope rode, the other holds 100 ft of chain plus 200 ft of rope rode---has always worked for me.

YES!! A new simple project. Thanks for this.
My 1982 Cape Dory 36 has a rather small split locker in the V-Berth. I haven't yet found a solution but this will be a start.

[Terra Nova]

Relocate the windlass and/or chain locker.

[JPA Cate]

An engineer friend designed one for his windlass, while the windlass turns, this arm moves back and forth, and flakes the chain for him. i would think you could hire an engineer to design something similar for you. Maybe one of the engineers here on the forum would be interested.

Ann

[michaelratinter]

A64,

Just an, apparently failed, attempt at humor.

We usually have hand(s) aboard who can rake the chain locker while I motor forward. So, different strategies depending on crew size.

[Snowpetrel]

Lots of good ideas here, what I did was store half of the chain aft in a separate locker connected by a pipe. If I used over 40 meters of chain I had to flake it into the aft locker 5 meters at a time (if I was on my own) But usually 40 meters was enough chain for most anchorages, and as a bonus it kept weight out of the bow.

I could store all the chain aft for long offshore trips and all it forward with a bit of pile knocking down. Worked well for me.

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[onavegador]

On my catamaran was a electric vertical windlass and only 100 foot of chain. May be ok for southern Baltic but not enough for the Caribbean and the Pazific anchorages to name just two areas.
I provided the cat for the for my circumnavigations with 300 foot of 3/8 galvanized chain but when controlling the system I have seen that chain was building up under the windlass and blocked it.

The anchor locker was a compartment in a a big saillocker at the aft of this one. So I found a simple method to flank the chain. I drilled a 3 inch hole from the from the saillocker into the front of the chain locker. Through this hole I entered a solid stick of about 4 foot length (an out of use Icehockey stick of my son) on the end of the stick I screwed a cross section. To pull the stick automatically forward I fitted the stick with an elastic sandow.
So when heaving anchor I engaged the windlass with a cable remote and pushed the stick back to flank the chain who was falling in the anchor locker. The chain stowed neatly. When the anchor was near the bow (about 10 feet) I could go to inspect the anchor and stow it on the bow as this last ten feet did not build up so much in the anchor locker that they could block the windlass.
During most of the cruises I singlehanded and had never problems with a castling chain, the simple and cheap system worked very well.