anchor wash down and autopilot

[keaislandsailor]

What do you all think, is an anchor wash down needed? Boat is on hard and I can do it now. How many times do you think I’ll say, ‘I wish I had installed’?

Also, which Autopilot manufacturer do you recommend that is compatible with a new Garmin Chart plotter? The boat is 52’ and 50,000 lbs

Thanks!

[billknny]

Is a wash down needed? No of course not “needed”. But how useful it is depends... on where you sail. On you boat size. On your crew. On your own personal balance of complication vs convenience.

If you sail in the Bahamas anchoring in sand you’ll never use it. In the Chesapeake with it’s sticky mud it can be a real time saver. But you can always use a brush on a stick.

[Bill O]

Depends on where you intend to anchor if you need a wash down pump. When we anchor up rivers and some bays, many times we encounter heavy mud. Here we use a wash down pump to clean off the mud packed chain and anchor. High pressure sprayer (vs. high volume) is your friend here. We currently use a Jabsco hot shot for our salt water wash down pump and been working well for the last several years.
If you are only doing weekends maybe a canvas bucket would be good enough for now as a temporary solution.
We use a pypilot as a controller for our below deck AP pump interfaced to an ARM computer running OpenCPN. http://phoenixketch.blogspot.com/201...autopilot.html

Think the pypilot could interface w/Garmin, but not 100% certain. Could ask on the pypilot forum if it would work for you.


Bill O.

[keaislandsailor]

I was thinking of using the 300 gallons of fresh water via water maker more useful by having the fresh water wash down forward near anchor. Kill two birds with one stone, good idea or no?

[billknny]

Are you asking if you should use watermaker-made fresh water to wash off your anchor chain as you pull it up?

That seems unduly wasteful when saltwater is good enough and is free... But if you have the power to spare and want to run your utilities like a superyacht, have at it.

Even with a watermaker, fresh water is precious on a normal cruising yacht. We have 1000 liters of fresh water tankage, and work hard to keep it full so if our watermaker died we'd not be cramped in our style. Cleaning anchor chain in a muddy area can easily take 100 liters or more of water.

[slug]

Originally Posted by keaislandsailor

What do you all think, is an anchor wash down needed? Boat is on hard and I can do it now. How many times do you think I’ll say, ‘I wish I had installed’?

Also, which Autopilot manufacturer do you recommend that is compatible with a new Garmin Chart plotter? The boat is 52’ and 50,000 lbs

Thanks!

Anchor wash down depends on your area of operation

If you commonly anchor on soft sticky mud bottoms a wash down in needed
The wash down is normally two small ID diameter pipes welded to the underside of the stem head chain roller fed by some kinda seawater pump

[keaislandsailor]

You must have been reading my mind. The inspiration for this idea did come from watching a 130ft ketch leaving the dock from Nelson’s Dockyard in Antigua. I thought the anchor wash down was amazing.

I appreciate your advice. My crew does consist of my 3 young daughters and wife, all with long hair and love baths. Luckily, this boat has a small tub. So, advice taken, thank you.

But, since we are on the subject of super yacht luxuries, is there anything that you would add to have some similar amenities that are more crew oriented luxuries, of course, within a reasonable budget?

[garychurch]

Luxury and budget are an oxymoron for boats.

[sailcrazy]

We have a salt water wash-down on our 43' monohull. Over the 20 years we've sailed her, from The Philippines and Asia, to the Medd, to now the NE Caribb, we've probably used the wash-down a dozen times! BUT....those dozen times would have been a real PITA without it. I'm glad it's there, and would certainly put one in if it wasn't there. Luxury (at least for us)things we've installed over the years: a small inverter to run the computer printer,TV, and DVD player, another small inverter to plug the laptop into, a
MIFI that gives us WiFi almost everywhere we're at, and lots of Hella fans in the salon and the bedrooms, when it gets hot and quiet at night-without needing to start the genset and put the aircon on. But the best we added, was to remove the built-in seat for the Nav Sta, buy and install a 12v Cool-Box, and build the seat around it. We use it for beer, soda, wine, juice, etc-all the big stuff you want cold but absolutely clutters the refer. And LED under cabinet light strips and a LED rope-light for lighting the cockpit at night.FWIW

[MJH]

Originally Posted by keaislandsailor

What do you all think, is an anchor wash down needed? Boat is on hard and I can do it now. How many times do you think I’ll say, ‘I wish I had installed’?

Also, which Autopilot manufacturer do you recommend that is compatible with a new Garmin Chart plotter? The boat is 52’ and 50,000 lbs

Thanks!

It wouldn't have occurred to me to install a windlass and not put in an anchor washdown. Put it in and think of it as an investment and freedom to sail/anchor anywhere.

Keeping as many systems together with one manufacturer as possible does not speak to buying the best overall equipment package but it does make the troubleshooting easier with only one manufacturer to call...I don't care what you install you will eventually have problems with it.

That said, giving some thought to the financial viability of the manufacturer might also speak to the long term serviceability of the product. There are too many marine manufacturers that fail after you buy their product or get gobbled up by the big boys after a short run of success making parts and service unobtainable.

Good Luck.

~ ~ _/) ~ ~ MJH

[joelhemington]

Originally Posted by keaislandsailor

You must have been reading my mind. The inspiration for this idea did come from watching a 130ft ketch leaving the dock from Nelson’s Dockyard in Antigua. I thought the anchor wash down was amazing.

I appreciate your advice. My crew does consist of my 3 young daughters and wife, all with long hair and love baths. Luckily, this boat has a small tub. So, advice taken, thank you.

But, since we are on the subject of super yacht luxuries, is there anything that you would add to have some similar amenities that are more crew oriented luxuries, of course, within a reasonable budget?

Combo washer, dryer and a dishwasher (dishwashers use less water, do a better job and make a great place to store dishes under passage.

[skipmac]

Originally Posted by billknny

Is a wash down needed? No of course not “needed”. But how useful it is depends... on where you sail. On you boat size. On your crew. On your own personal balance of complication vs convenience.

If you sail in the Bahamas anchoring in sand you’ll never use it. In the Chesapeake with it’s sticky mud it can be a real time saver. But you can always use a brush on a stick.

What he said. Never used one in the Bahamas. Really wished I had one pretty much every time I anchored along the US east coast.

[Scubaseas]

Wash down pump is a blessing when needed. My old boat was plumbed for both salt and fresh (double back flow valves and a selector valve) so you can do the heavy rinsing of mud on chain/anchor or bird poop on deck and switch for fresh rinse for deck, dodger and any dive gear, dogs, crew. Can also double as a back up pump when the pressure water system dies if you keep all the pumps the same manufacturer.

[cat34shamrock]

I travel with a battery powered pressure washer. It works well for me. FWIW I purchased as a factory reconditioned at a much reduced price.

https://www.worx.com/20v-hydroshot-p...aner-wg625.htm

[SV__Grace]

Here in the PNW we use our anchor wash down every time we raise anchor as the chain gets embedded and brings up mud that I prefer not to have in my anchor locker. The sticky mud on the anchor is hard to get off with the wash down hose itself so we typically leave it in the water as we start under way and it's typically clean before we leave the anchorage. Brushes and buckets are just too cumbersome and ineffective against sticky mud. If you anchor primarily in sand you wouldn't use it much, but it also comes in handy for rinsing the deck.