What is Too Much Rode?

[Mike OReilly]

Originally Posted by robert sailor

I don't have a dock to go back to but I do have a wife that is a clean freak so it's bucket time for me. Every time I go through a clean up a start planning a deck wash at the bow but then I get a few weeks of clean sand and I put it out of mind. This has been going on for years

That’s funny … I’m been doing the exact same deck wash mental dance for years as well Robert. It’s a project that’s perpetually on the ‘to-do’ list, but never rises high enough to actually get done.

A bucket, long brush, and a bit of up-and-down sloshing of the chain, has been sufficient for me so far. Probably helps that my windlass is manual, so I’m rarely moving that fast. But one day I’ll get to installing the deck wash system … maybe .

[boatman61]

I just raise the hook till the end of the shanks just clear of the water, lock off the chain on a cleat then start out off the anchorage.. usually by the time I've cleared the boats its washed clean.. engage TP go forward and haul her up and secure.

[robert sailor]

Originally Posted by boatman61

I just raise the hook till the end of the shanks just clear of the water, lock off the chain on a cleat then start out off the anchorage.. usually by the time I've cleared the boats its washed clean.. engage TP go forward and haul her up and secure.

That's my normal way of doing it as well but quite often, especially on the Rocna the mud sticks like sh*t to a blanket and I could motor or sail for hours and it would still be there no way to win. When I know I'm in mud and several hours before leaving I bring the chain up in sections and leave it for an hour then another section and leave it. Usually the action of the chain hanging from the bow to the bottom will clean the chain over time so by the time I'm ready to go my chain is almost straight up and I've only got the anchor to deal with. In some ways if I had to do it over again I may have bought a Spade.

[Mike OReilly]

Originally Posted by boatman61

I just raise the hook till the end of the shanks just clear of the water, lock off the chain on a cleat then start out off the anchorage.. usually by the time I've cleared the boats its washed clean.. engage TP go forward and haul her up and secure.

Yup, common approach here as well. Although I don’t really worry about mud or weeds on the anchor; it’s the chain than I try to get clean. Letting the chain hang, as Robert mentions, works well.

Sometimes though you get that icky sticky stuff that just won’t let got. And a few times I’ve had slimy weedy slime interwoven in the chain. The only method I’ve found that works is a brush (which is when I starting planning for a high-pressure wash down system ).

I usually don’t worry about mud on the anchor. Just leave it there, and it usually falls or gets washed off while underway. If not, it’s usually dried out enough that it’s easy to knock off before re-anchoring.

[a64pilot]

Originally Posted by boatman61

I just raise the hook till the end of the shanks just clear of the water, lock off the chain on a cleat then start out off the anchorage.. usually by the time I've cleared the boats its washed clean.. engage TP go forward and haul her up and secure.

Bingo,
However the Rocna will always point pointy end into the current, so to get it to stow, I reverse until I get about 2 kts, then hit the cockpit switch to stow it.
If it’s in the water and I’m underway in reverse, it is oriented correctly every time, saves me having to go back to the bow and messing with it with a Boat hook.

[Jim Cate]

Originally Posted by a64pilot

Bingo,
However the Rocna will always point pointy end into the current, so to get it to stow, I reverse until I get about 2 kts, then hit the cockpit switch to stow it.
If it’s in the water and I’m underway in reverse, it is oriented correctly every time, saves me having to go back to the bow and messing with it with a Boat hook.

And for Fuss, who was commenting on his Rocna landing upside down in soft mud and not flipping into the proper "dig in" attitude... If you let the boat gain just a bit of sternway before dropping the anchor, it will orient itself properly for landing every time, using the hydrodynamic forces that A64 is mentioning.

At least it works with our Manson...

Jim

[Lizzyfish]

You can never let out too much, conditions dictate everything.

[boatman61]

Originally Posted by Mike OReilly

Yup, common approach here as well. Although I don’t really worry about mud or weeds on the anchor; it’s the chain than I try to get clean. Letting the chain hang, as Robert mentions, works well.

Sometimes though you get that icky sticky stuff that just won’t let got. And a few times I’ve had slimy weedy slime interwoven in the chain. The only method I’ve found that works is a brush (which is when I starting planning for a high-pressure wash down system ).

I usually don’t worry about mud on the anchor. Just leave it there, and it usually falls or gets washed off while underway. If not, it’s usually dried out enough that it’s easy to knock off before re-anchoring.

Aww.. I just flap the chain as I pull it in and pluck the weed off as it comes to hand..

[robert sailor]

My question is why are you so called experienced sailors hanging out on this site today when you should be sailing. We have a good excuse..cold front going through with the normal north winds, squalls and rain..what's yours????

[Franziska]

Keep also in mind that different folks and different boats need different rode and have different rode on board.
A multi might use a long spectra rode with little chain feeder.
A circumnavigating mono of the full displacement type might have full chain.
Both have their valid reasons for it.
I always think an anchor marker is a great add on to use.

[Adelie]

Originally Posted by robert sailor

My question is why are you so called experienced sailors hanging out on this site today when you should be sailing. We have a good excuse..cold front going through with the normal north winds, squalls and rain..what's yours????

I’m at work posting off my phone.

[Mike OReilly]

Originally Posted by boatman61

Aww.. I just flap the chain as I pull it in and pluck the weed off as it comes to hand..

Normally yes, but last season I was anchored downstream of Montreal for two or three days. When I hauled up, the chain was woven with this slimy, yet tenacious, weedy crap. Think of long strings of unbreakable thick snot

Originally Posted by robert sailor

My question is why are you so called experienced sailors hanging out on this site today when you should be sailing. We have a good excuse..cold front going through with the normal north winds, squalls and rain..what's yours????

My excuse is the boat is in Newfoundland. And just to make it harder, I am 6,000 km away in BC right now.

Year-round sailing … the dream that is perpetually somewhere over the rainbow

[Adelie]

Although I’m not there now I’m a Seattle boy and I sailed there year round.

Having raced up in the straits of Georgia, I think sailing up there is year round too.

[a64pilot]

Originally Posted by Adelie

I’m at work posting off my phone.

Yes, that work thing definitely sux, I had to quit.
Just couldn’t get anywhere before I had to head back and go back to work.
I haven’t missed it yet.

[Tayana42]

Work? I don’t know how I ever found time for it.