400FT Chain, 50FT Water Windlass BREAKS, what now?

[Simi 60]

Originally Posted by keyspc

Tie a large fender with a loop around the chain. Best of course is a stainless steel ring, this should slide easily down the chain.
Idea is to power away from chain about 20~30 degrees to windward making a big circle around chain, as chain tightens fender(anchor ball) slides up chain eventually hanging up in anchor then just run up wind and float down on it. might take a few tries
if chain is very far out in shallow water

Might work on toy anchors that don't dig in very well
Doubt we could carry a fender big enough to get ours out

[David Mathis]

Does this incident make you want to switch to 50' of chain with nylon three strand for the remainder of your rode? It's amazing how much easier the nylon comes up when retrieving by hand.

[sailingabe41ds]

Originally Posted by David Mathis

Does this incident make you want to switch to 50' of chain with nylon three strand for the remainder of your rode? It's amazing how much easier the nylon comes up when retrieving by hand.

Yes, until you are in an anchorage with 40 knot winds in San Miguel Island and you watch that rode stretch like a rubber band and get thinner and thinner and thinner and you pray in does not snap or that you do not drag in an area surrounded by kelp and rocks with nobody else around you with nearest help is 40 miles away. Then you wish you had all chain....

Abe

[rslifkin]

Originally Posted by sailingabe41ds

Yes, until you are in an anchorage with 40 knot winds in San Miguel Island and you watch that rode stretch like a rubber band and get thinner and thinner and thinner and you pray in does not snap or that you do not drag in an area surrounded by kelp and rocks with nobody else around you with nearest help is 40 miles away. Then you wish you had all chain....

Abe

If a rope rode is stretching to that degree, it's undersized. If sized properly, it'll handle heavy weather just fine. But as you pointed out, if you're in an anchorage with rock or coral, you need enough chain to have no more than 1 water depth (excluding freeboard) of rope out IMO. So if you need to anchor in deep water with rocks / coral, you need a lot of chain. If you cruise in places that only have those in shallow water, less chain is fine, as rope isn't an issue in a deep anchorage with a nice muddy bottom.

[AJA]

I can't remember where, but I saw a motorized winch handle advertised - pretty sure the company was european. Its like they took your drill idea and marinized it. An internet search should turn it up. It was selling for around $80