I have a vertical maxwell with drum and usually pull the boat forward
on the catenary of the chain. As I see the splice approach, I use the
slack in the catenary to get a foot or so of chain placed around the
gypsy, then often need to twist the end of the rode and splice into
the hawse pipe, then power up the chain. In strong conditions I use
the engine to create the slack I need to get over the splice.