Jeff wrote in news
Are you sure you need all that chain?

Yes, it's all chain and very handy in many situations

Where do you cruise?

Offshore from the Caribbean to Wilimington, NC, homeport is Charleston.

Do you have a powered windlass?

Yes, the Amel comes with a very heavy duty, one-way, single footswitch
windlass. Taking it apart to grease it and inspect its brushes/commutator,
I noted it has windings and hookups for both directions. The powered
roller furler had been replaced by the first owner with a manual furler,
leaving two 250A contactors with nothing to do in the v-berth port cabinet
next to the single 250A contactor for this windlass. So, I rewired the
windlass for dual directions and added another foot button switch for down
as well as the original up haul. I commandeered one of the furler
contactors to provide the other direction, pulling in extra wires from the
windlass to it.

Back in the center cockpit, the electric furler had a control on the
console to wind the headsail in and out. That was commandeered to also
power the now-bi-directional windlass by remote control from the helmsman's
seat, both up and down. In a blow, in your skivvies, you can adjust the
anchor chain rode from the comfort of the covered cockpit without going up
forward to fight with the damnable windlass clutch to pay out more chain,
now....really handy. One person can also singlehand the anchor in and out
in badweather once the anchor is free of its safety lock for sea. This is
nice when you're shorthanded. The chain has never jammed in either the bow
roller, windlass' deep chain grooves or in the hawsepipe into the deep
chain locker with all that chain pulling down on it through the hawsepipe,
so this works very well.

On Sat, 10 Dec 2005 13:39:28 -0500, Larry wrote:

you can adjust the
anchor chain rode from the comfort of the covered cockpit without going up
forward to fight with the damnable windlass clutch to pay out more chain,
now....really handy.

==========================

Handy perhaps, but not really a good idea. Every windlass
manufacturer that I know of recommends that the windlass be offloaded
at anchor, either with a mechanical chain stopper or a hook line.
Most serious cruisers that I know use a 10 to 20 nylon foot hook line
to get some shock absorption at the same time.

If you expose your windlass to shock loads and/or cyclic loading you
will eventually damage the gear train or shaft seals. Damage the
shaft seals and the gear train will follow.

Either way, chain stopper or hook line, you've got to go forward to
adjust the scope.

Larry wrote:
Jeff wrote in news

Are you sure you need all that chain?


Yes, it's all chain and very handy in many situations

Well, I was asking Gordon. Since the Amel is over 50 feet and
displaces about 20 tons, its not quite the same situation.

Gordon was asking about 300 feet of chain. I've anchored all over the
East Coast and can only think of a few places I've deployed more than
150 feet. Much of the time my 50 feet of chain on a nylon rode is
effectively all chain with a snubber.

Where do you cruise?

Offshore from the Caribbean to Wilimington, NC, homeport is Charleston.

Do you have a powered windlass?

....
In a blow, in your skivvies, you can adjust the
anchor chain rode from the comfort of the covered cockpit without going up
forward to fight with the damnable windlass clutch to pay out more chain,
now....really handy.

Do you leave the chain in the windlass as your primary stopper? I
didn't think that was recommended, especially in a blow. I always
transfer the load to a cleat, but on my cat I use a bridle, so I don't
do too many midnight adjustments. Even when I used all chain on a
heavier monohull, I usually had a snubber.

Jeff wrote in :

Well, I was asking Gordon. Since the Amel is over 50 feet and
displaces about 20 tons, its not quite the same situation.



Naw...we dream of the big Mari, but this boat is a Sharki 41 (39 if the
marina people are askin'...(c. They measured it.

It's not that big....just well made.