Chain question

[irwinsailor]

I am about to order a new Lewmar V4 windlass ,anchor chain and rope. I am leaning to 200' ACCO 3/8" G40 with 200' of 3/4" three strand nylon. I am also thinking of all chain. and yet another thought is 200' of ACCO G40 1/2" chain with 3/4" nylon. My boat is 61' and weighs 32 tons. my main anchor is a 88lb. Delta . What is the best setup for cruising the caribean?

[irwinsailor]

Everything will be coming from Defender. They have the best price's. My local West marine store whats to match the prices but I don't see any reason to reward them for over pricing in the first place. Most of Wests prices are at least double that of Defender.

[irwinsailor]

I have just been informed that the windlass can not be used with 3/4 nylon and 3/8 chain. It needs 5/8 nylon to be used with 3/8 chain. It can be outfitted for 7/16 chain and 3/4" nylon. I'm starting to think that all chain will take care of this problem. 7/16 chain is Special order .

[Talbot]

I have seen some posts on another forum about problems with the Lewmar windleas and water. Personally I prefer the Lofrans.

I also dont much like using rope through a combined gypsy. These normally prefer 3 strand, but are still very hard on the rope. I reckon octoplait is much better as a combined rope due to its ease of storage and much kinder handling characteristics. I have a drum on my system which I use for the rope, and will haul up on the drum until I have enough to be able to transfer to the gypsy.

BTW is a chain question anything like a chain letter?

[irwinsailor]

This question is mure like a Chain Store. I did not think about the windlass being hard on the line. That is one more reason for a all chain rode. Where did you read complants about Lewmar?

[Talbot]

IIRC they were in the now defunct forums at sailnet, but I would not swear to that. Furthermore, I suspect that they would have been a much smaller windlas than you will be fitting.

[CSY Man]

My boat is 61' and weighs 32 tons.

Wow, that is a heavy boat!

Or is the tonage 32 instead of the displacement...?

I have a combined rode, but have never used the nylon portion.

(215' 5/16" G4 chain, spliced to 250' 3/4" 3 strand nylon)

In everyday anchoring situations we get close enough to the beach or shore, to drop the hook in 10 to 15 feet of water.
Even with a good scope that only requires 75 to 100 feet of chain.

To use all 200 feet of chain ya are anchoring in depths of 30 feet or so. Probably not snug or protected in if that far from shore.

(Talking island cruising here, NOT some extreme situations anchoring of a rock cliff in the Azores.. )

Therefore, in eveyday anchoring ya never put the nylon in the water don't need a combined gypsy to haul the entire rode up.

The only reason I have 250 feet of nylon behind the chain is for hurricane conditions, or deep anchoring of a that rock cliff in the Azores, but never needed the nylon yet, hopefully I never will...

[irwinsailor]

CSY, the travel lift scale put the boat at more than 32 tons.

[CSY Man]

CSY, the travel lift scale put the boat at more than 32 tons.

Hmm, not good...Is the hull and the core water logged?

Aye, the travel-lift scale indicates that my boat, the CSY 33 weighs in @ 27,000 lbs.

(Without the beer and the fat girls.)

The CSY factory says 15,200 lbs displacement for the 33.
Tonage is 14 Net and 16 Gross however.

The travel-lift manufactor says the strain gauges are within + - 15%.


Quite a discrepancy on all of the above.

[Jon D]

CSY Man once whispered in the wind:
Hmm, not good...Is the hull and the core water logged?

Aye, the travel-lift scale indicates that my boat, the CSY 33 weighs in @ 27,000 lbs.

(Without the beer and the fat girls.)

The CSY factory says 15,200 lbs displacement for the 33.
Tonage is 14 Net and 16 Gross however.

The travel-lift manufactor says the strain gauges are within + - 15%.

Quite a discrepancy on all of the above.

WOW - - last time I looked the Moody was just a hair over 30,000 on the lift. That's with full tanks etc..

[irwinsailor]

My hull in fine. Everything about my boat is fine. It is a big boat that is very custom and has many extras. A Formosa of the same size weighs about 25% more than my boat.

Does anyone know anything about Samson 2 in 1 super stromg anchor line? My thought today is to buy 200' of 3/8" G40 with 300' or 5/8" braided line. The 5/8" braided is stranger than 3/4 nylon 3 strand.

[Pblais]

Based on your anchor I think the 3/8 is short for the strength required for a comprable match. I think a delta that big needs a bigger chain.

I would run numbers on strength of each part and figure out what works. In another thread 1/8th of gross displacemnt was tossed out as a good working load requirement. Seems logical to me.

Next add up all the weight and see if that is something you can live with too. Once you get into 1/2 in chain you are talking some heavy loads with that big hook on the end. The windlass gets to be an issue. Less chain and more rope may be the answer. You are getting int numbers that say it is impossible for you to pull up the hook by hand.

I'm like the CSY man and normally I stay shallow enough that I don't get the rope wet.

[Jon D]

Gunnar

I think you light on the line as well. I'm running 3/8 H4 spliced to 3/4 mega braid for my non chain rhodes..

[GMac]

32t's is far from heavy for a boat that sze. 50t would be heavy.

Downside of double braids for anchoring. As soon as you nik the cover you get big strength loss. 2 in 1, and most other polyester/nylon Dbl braids, takes 50% of the load on each the cover and the core.

3/8" G40 absolute minimum. Pesonally I'd use a 1/2", it's not a small boat.

Surely you have a winch or you a monster of a bloke?? You sure will be soon if you don't have one :-). Don't get him angry anyone :-)

[irwinsailor]

The windlass that I want can handle 7/16" with a optional gypsy. I think that the 3/8 G40 will do the job and all the charts show that it should do the job. I have given up in a chain rope splice I will be going all chain. My head aches from figuring this out. I had no idea it would be such a problem. Just think what the guy from Defender is thinking!