My ground tackle refit

[AKA-None]

Originally Posted by Jammer

I have the rode fully assembled now -- markers painted and allowed to dry, 120' of 8 plait spliced to the end, proper HT shackle on the other end, and the whole works loaded into the car using a floor jack and blocking. More fiddling than I would have expected and I'm glad I got it done during the off season.

I still have some splicing to do on the snubber.

And now you’ll need to get it back out

Watch those potholes

[rslifkin]

Originally Posted by AKA-None

And now you’ll need to get it back out

Watch those potholes

That's the upside of installing a new rode in the winter. If you can get the car close enough to the boat, you just have to get the end of the rode up to the windlass, then let the windlass do the heavy lifting as you guide the rode out of the car to prevent damage (requires either 2 people or a remote for the windlass so you can operate from the ground).

[AKA-None]

Originally Posted by rslifkin

That's the upside of installing a new rode in the winter. If you can get the car close enough to the boat, you just have to get the end of the rode up to the windlass, then let the windlass do the heavy lifting as you guide the rode out of the car to prevent damage (requires either 2 people or a remote for the windlass so you can operate from the ground).

One word
Kinks as you unwrap the chain from the spool or isn’t that a thing?

[Jammer]

Originally Posted by AKA-None

One word
Kinks as you unwrap the chain from the spool or isn’t that a thing?

It's carefully flaked inside the barrel. I should be able to park the car under the bow and just run it in with the windlass as rslifkin describes. I'll do it while the boat is on the hard, though we're fortunate enough that our slip this year has parking right in front of the bow.

[rslifkin]

Originally Posted by AKA-None

One word
Kinks as you unwrap the chain from the spool or isn’t that a thing?

That's why you stand on the ground, not on deck. So you can monitor the process and stop to resolve any snags.

[Panope]

I did the "park vehicle under the bow" thing to load my chain, but getting the chain into that vehicle was even more interesting:

I found a good deal on the chain, but there was no delivery. I had to pick up in Seattle.

At that time, I had a one-man Air Taxi service that had me making multiple flights across Puget Sound to Seattle every day. I also had an "airport car" in Seattle.

So the process was:

-Load the (partial) barrel of chain into the "Seattle car" with a fork lift.
-Back the car to the airplane and carefully feed the chain, by hand, onto the floor of the plane with the weight spread evenly over a large area (light plane floors are flimsy).
-Fly plane across the Sound (empty leg - no passengers).
-Back another car to the plane and feed the chain back into the barrel.
-Back the car under the boat and feed into the locker with the windlass.

[Dockhead]

Originally Posted by Panope

I did the "park vehicle under the bow" thing to load my chain, but getting the chain into that vehicle was even more interesting:

I found a good deal on the chain, but there was no delivery. I had to pick up in Seattle.

At that time, I had a one-man Air Taxi service that had me making multiple flights across Puget Sound to Seattle every day. I also had an "airport car" in Seattle.

So the process was:

-Load the (partial) barrel of chain into the "Seattle car" with a fork lift.
-Back the car to the airplane and carefully feed the chain, by hand, onto the floor of the plane with the weight spread evenly over a large area (light plane floors are flimsy).
-Fly plane across the Sound (empty leg - no passengers).
-Back another car to the plane and feed the chain back into the barrel.
-Back the car under the boat and feed into the locker with the windlass.

That's crazy! You officially win the prize for the most exotic delivery of new anchor chain. The only thing which could possibly top that is delivery by dog sled, or maybe submarine


My own new chain would not have fit in a car -- 330kg worth. It was delivered from France by truck (for remarkably reasonable cost), whereupon the harbour brought the pallet to the quay near my boat's bow by forklift.


I just winched it on board with the windlass, easy peasy. After flaking it out on the quay to paint marks on it every 10 meters.

[Panope]

Originally Posted by Dockhead

That's crazy! You officially win the prize for the most exotic delivery of new anchor chain. The only thing which could possibly top that is delivery by dog sled, or maybe submarine

Chain delivery by hot air balloon would be the ultimate 🙂

[Jammer]

Today I made a groove in the bow roller.

It's a piece of MDS-filled nylon from McMaster-Carr. I had previously drilled the center hole but based on advice that a center groove reduces problems with chain twist, I cut the center groove today. The local makerspace has a machine lathe.

MDS-filled nylon is great stuff. I have it on the skids for my dinghy. Slides along hard surfaces with no marking or wear.