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#1
posted to rec.boats.cruising
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another anchor question
I guess I'm still stuck on the anchor question... for people who
aren't really strong in the upper body... I can see why you might not want to rely on an electrically driven winch to raise the anchor, because if you did and ran out of battery, you'd be stuck. So... what about a manually operated winch? I was at the Home Depot and saw a hand crank winch. Wouldn't that work? |
#2
posted to rec.boats.cruising
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another anchor question
On 4/1/2011 5:35 PM, Jessica B wrote:
I guess I'm still stuck on the anchor question... for people who aren't really strong in the upper body... I can see why you might not want to rely on an electrically driven winch to raise the anchor, because if you did and ran out of battery, you'd be stuck. So... what about a manually operated winch? I was at the Home Depot and saw a hand crank winch. Wouldn't that work? Without a picture or a better description, it's impossible to say. My first reaction was that it probably can't stand up to a salt water environment. Generally speaking, and if you aren't in a crowded anchorage, you can use your engine to 'creep up' on the anchor. That is, the boat slowly moves forward and you take up rode as it goes, That's not very strenuous. At some point, the anchor breaks loose and from there you can rather easily get it on board unless you have an all chain rode or are very weak. Unless you are a really minimalist sailor, running out of battery has some severe consequences you should guard against - much more than a heavy rode. If you want an electric windless - fine. Then just assure that you will not run out of battery so you can start your engine and then run the windless. |
#3
posted to rec.boats.cruising
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another anchor question
"Jessica B" wrote in message
... I guess I'm still stuck on the anchor question... for people who aren't really strong in the upper body... I can see why you might not want to rely on an electrically driven winch to raise the anchor, because if you did and ran out of battery, you'd be stuck. So... what about a manually operated winch? I was at the Home Depot and saw a hand crank winch. Wouldn't that work? I searched the Home Depot website and they didn't show any winches at all except for one little electric winch so I don't have a clue what you might have been looking at. Anyway, something not built specifically for the rigors of salt water and salt air will, in very short order, turn into rubbish on the foredeck of a sailboat. |
#4
posted to rec.boats.cruising
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another anchor question
On Fri, 01 Apr 2011 16:35:51 -0700, Jessica B
wrote: I guess I'm still stuck on the anchor question... for people who aren't really strong in the upper body... I can see why you might not want to rely on an electrically driven winch to raise the anchor, because if you did and ran out of battery, you'd be stuck. So... what about a manually operated winch? I was at the Home Depot and saw a hand crank winch. Wouldn't that work? Jessica, your alter ego, nom d'plume, explored this issue exhaustively on rec.boats last year. Why replow old ground? |
#5
posted to rec.boats.cruising
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another anchor question
"Wayne B" wrote in message
... On Fri, 01 Apr 2011 16:35:51 -0700, Jessica B wrote: I guess I'm still stuck on the anchor question... for people who aren't really strong in the upper body... I can see why you might not want to rely on an electrically driven winch to raise the anchor, because if you did and ran out of battery, you'd be stuck. So... what about a manually operated winch? I was at the Home Depot and saw a hand crank winch. Wouldn't that work? Jessica, your alter ego, nom d'plume, explored this issue exhaustively on rec.boats last year. Why replow old ground? Why insist upon engaging in delusional/paranoid behavior? Why not give the girl a little respect? |
#6
posted to rec.boats.cruising
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another anchor question
On Fri, 1 Apr 2011 23:01:04 -0400, "Wilbur Hubbard"
wrote: Why insist upon engaging in delusional/paranoid behavior? Why not give the girl a little respect? Respect has nothing to do with it. There is absolutely no question that "Jessica" and "Nom d'Plume" are one and the same, almost certainly someone's sock puppets, quite possibly yours. |
#7
posted to rec.boats.cruising
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another anchor question
"Jessica B" wrote in message
... I guess I'm still stuck on the anchor question... for people who aren't really strong in the upper body... I can see why you might not want to rely on an electrically driven winch to raise the anchor, because if you did and ran out of battery, you'd be stuck. So... what about a manually operated winch? I was at the Home Depot and saw a hand crank winch. Wouldn't that work? I missed the earlier part of this thread, so I don't know how big a boat you're talking about but I'm going to assume, since we're here in rec.boats.cruising, that you're talking about a cruising boat rather than a day-boat of some kind ... A long time ago I had a little twenty-eight-foot cruiser, and my anchor gear was half-inch rope and a thirteen-pound Danforth anchor, with maybe six feet of chain between the end of the rope and the anchor for chafe protection, and I just hauled it up hand-over-hand in mild conditions, or sometimes in heavier conditions put it over my shoulder and walked back down the side deck to haul it aboard. Worked like a charm, and the weight and complication of a windlass would have been wasted on that pretty little thing. If yours is a boat in that size range, you probably don't need the weight or the complication. If you have a winch on the mast to hoist a sail with, you can wrap the rope around that and crank it in with the winch handle or lead it back to the cockpit and do the same with what will probably be a more powerful winch. For a bigger boat, things may get more complicated, although even there the cockpit winches, possibly being geared, might serve you well. So, anyway, assuming you've got a bigger boat... There are good-quality manually-operated windlasses that are designed for the marine environment. They work fine, but they might be a bit slow in operation. At least they won't run out of electricity. For electric windlasses - and for manually-operated winches too - the kind of thing you find at Home Depot or Harbor Freight has no place on a boat. They won't hold up in that environment - rust, corrosion between dissimilar types of metals, etc. Don't even consider them, unless the boat is used only in fresh water and is carefully maintained. In that environment you might get away with it, especially on a rather small boat. So, Jessica, if your boat's already got an electric windlass, use it and be glad you've got it. Plan carefully around your electrical consumption and maintain it meticulously. If it doesn't have one, and you want to save yourself some work, and it's a fairly good-sized boat of more than thirty feet, put a good-quality electric windlass on it and enjoy it. Or, if you use all-chain, at least a good-quality manual windlass, although you'll work a little harder at it. In either case, you might end up in some rough conditions and really appreciate what it can do for you in getting the hook up. Inshallah, it might make the difference between getting away from a lee shore or going on the beach. If, through bad planning or bad luck, you end up without enough power to run an electric windlass, there are other ways to get it up; for instance: Once, on a forty-one foot sloop of some twenty-six thousand pounds displacement that I owned (and still own, in fact) after my pretty little twenty-eight-footer, my girlfriend and I used to get the hook up in fairly mild conditions, without using much upper-body strength, this way: up at the bow I put the rope over my shoulder and just walked back to the cockpit along the side deck. When I got there, my girlfriend wrapped the rope around a cockpit winch to hold what we'd gained and I headed back up to the bow to pick it up again and bring back another thirty feet of rope. Bye and bye, we broke the anchor out of the bottom and I hauled the last of it up hand over hand. Now this worked fine with 5/8" rope with about twenty-five feet of 3/8" chain and a thirty-five pound CQR anchor, but I would work up a bit of sweat getting the last of it up. After all, I was probably dead-lifting about sixty or seventy pounds of steel. But I was young and tough back in those days. Even then, if it had been all chain, it would have been very heavy work indeed, probably heavier than I could manage. We actually had a manually-operated windlass, but in mild conditions it was just faster to walk it back as I described than to turn the handles on the windlass and slowly crank the line in. If it had been my girlfriend doing it by herself, with her lesser body strength, she would have just cranked it in with the windlass. And if it had been all-chain, so would I. And that's a factor: if you're using an all-chain rode, you just about have to have a windlass. It can be manually operated, or it can be electric, preferably with a feature that allows you to operate it manually with a lever or something when you're out of power (and it'll happen eventually). However, the manual option will probably be rather slow and will likely be hard work. So there you have it. No magic bullets, but some things that have worked for me, and worked well. Best regards, Tom |
#8
posted to rec.boats.cruising
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another anchor question
On Apr 2, 12:09*am, "Tom Dacon"
wrote: "Jessica B" *wrote in message ... I guess I'm still stuck on the anchor question... for people who aren't really strong in the upper body... I can see why you might not want to rely on an electrically driven winch to raise the anchor, because if you did and ran out of battery, you'd be stuck. So... what about a manually operated winch? I was at the Home Depot and saw a hand crank winch. Wouldn't that work? I missed the earlier part of this thread, so I don't know how big a boat you're talking about but I'm going to assume, since we're here in rec.boats.cruising, that you're talking about a cruising boat rather than a day-boat of some kind ... A long time ago I had a little twenty-eight-foot cruiser, and my anchor gear was half-inch rope and a thirteen-pound Danforth anchor, with maybe six feet of chain between the end of the rope and the anchor for chafe protection, and I just hauled it up hand-over-hand in mild conditions, or sometimes in heavier conditions put it over my shoulder and walked back down the side deck to haul it aboard. Worked like a charm, and the weight and complication of a windlass would have been wasted on that pretty little thing. If yours is a boat in that size range, you probably don't need the weight or the complication. If you have a winch on the mast to hoist a sail with, you can wrap the rope around that and crank it in with the winch handle or lead it back to the cockpit and do the same with what will probably be a more powerful winch. For a bigger boat, things may get more complicated, although even there the cockpit winches, possibly being geared, might serve you well. So, anyway, assuming you've got a bigger boat... There are good-quality manually-operated windlasses that are designed for the marine environment. They work fine, but they might be a bit slow in operation. At least they won't run out of electricity. For electric windlasses - and for manually-operated winches too - the kind of thing you find at Home Depot or Harbor Freight has no place on a boat. They won't hold up in that environment - rust, corrosion between dissimilar types of metals, etc. Don't even consider them, unless the boat is used only in fresh water and is carefully maintained. In that environment you might get away with it, especially on a rather small boat. So, Jessica, if your boat's already got an electric windlass, use it and be glad you've got it. Plan carefully around your electrical consumption and maintain it meticulously. If it doesn't have one, and you want to save yourself some work, and it's a fairly good-sized boat of more than thirty feet, put a good-quality electric windlass on it and enjoy it. Or, if you use all-chain, at least a good-quality manual windlass, although you'll work a little harder at it. In either case, you might end up in some rough conditions and really appreciate what it can do for you in getting the hook up. Inshallah, it might make the difference between getting away from a lee shore or going on the beach. If, through bad planning or bad luck, you end up without enough power to run an electric windlass, there are other ways to get it up; for instance: Once, on a forty-one foot sloop of some twenty-six thousand pounds displacement that I owned (and still own, in fact) after my pretty little twenty-eight-footer, my girlfriend and I used to get the hook up in fairly mild conditions, without using much upper-body strength, this way: up at the bow I put the rope over my shoulder and just walked back to the cockpit along the side deck. When I got there, my girlfriend wrapped the rope around a cockpit winch to hold what we'd gained and I headed back up to the bow to pick it up again and bring back another thirty feet of rope. Bye and bye, we broke the anchor out of the bottom and I hauled the last of it up hand over hand. Now this worked fine with 5/8" rope with about twenty-five feet of 3/8" chain and a thirty-five pound CQR anchor, but I would work up a bit of sweat getting the last of it up. After all, I was probably dead-lifting about sixty or seventy pounds of steel. But I was young and tough back in those days. Even then, if it had been all chain, it would have been very heavy work indeed, probably heavier than I could manage. We actually had a manually-operated windlass, but in mild conditions it was just faster to walk it back as I described than to turn the handles on the windlass and slowly crank the line in. If it had been my girlfriend doing it by herself, with her lesser body strength, she would have just cranked it in with the windlass. And if it had been all-chain, so would I. And that's a factor: if you're using an all-chain rode, you just about have to have a windlass. It can be manually operated, or it can be electric, preferably with a feature that allows you to operate it manually with a lever or something when you're out of power (and it'll happen eventually).. However, the manual option will probably be rather slow and will likely be hard work. So there you have it. No magic bullets, but some things that have worked for me, and worked well. Best regards, Tom Hmmmmm, I always though Nom and Harry were one and the same just like Wilbur has all these aliases. It doesnt bother me except when they try to pull the "poor l'il female routine" and you know its some fat old slob at his computer. However, buy an old sailboat jib sheet winch (on -bay a dime a dozen almost) and mount it on your bow. Use it as an anchor winch. Yup, the chain will tear it up but so what, then get another. |
#9
posted to rec.boats.cruising
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another anchor question
Hmmmmm, I always though Nom and Harry were one and the same just like Wilbur has all these aliases. It doesnt bother me except when they try to pull the "poor l'il female routine" and you know its some fat old slob at his computer. However, buy an old sailboat jib sheet winch (on -bay a dime a dozen almost) and mount it on your bow. Use it as an anchor winch. Yup, the chain will tear it up but so what, then get another. Have I been gamed? I though this was an honest question, so I gave it my best. Tom |
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