How do all you cruisers keep your boats from walking all over the place
when using brait or nylon at anchor? Chain lays on the bottom and pretty
much holds you in one place but line lets a boat roam at will. How do you
prevent that?
Gordon

--

Ask not for whom the terrorist bell tolls; it tolls for thee, and thee, and
thee--for decent, innocent people everywhere.

On Fri, 9 Dec 2005 08:01:16 -0800, "Gordon"
wrote:

How do you
prevent that?

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

I use chain. :-)

The boat still wanders but to a lesser extent. I can actually track
the swing arc on my chart plotter when sufficiently zoomed in. In
addition to the chain rode, I use a nylon hook line which acts as a
shock absorber. After setting up the hook line I let out additional
chain sufficicent to create a loop touching the bottom. This deepens
the chain catenary and creates some friction with the bottom near the
bow of the boat. It still wanders.

Probably the best answer for a non-chain rode is to send down a kellet
(weight or secondary anchor) on a messenger line. If nothing else
this will shorten up your swing radius.

Wayne.B wrote in
news
I use chain. :-)


Us, too! There's a whole "CHAIN LOCKER" full of it up under the
windlass...(c;

I've got all chain also but it would be nice to get rid of 300+ # in the
bow. This is in a 32' Gulf pilothouse and the weight is enough to put the
bow down a couple inches so rain water gathers on the deck inside of running
out the aft scuppers at dock.
Gordon.

"Larry" wrote in message
...
Wayne.B wrote in
news
I use chain. :-)


Us, too! There's a whole "CHAIN LOCKER" full of it up under the
windlass...(c;

"Gordon" wrote:

I've got all chain also but it would be nice to get rid of 300+ # in the
bow. This is in a 32' Gulf pilothouse and the weight is enough to put the
bow down a couple inches so rain water gathers on the deck inside of running
out the aft scuppers at dock.
Gordon.

We've led ours down into the bilge

Or you could just put some other heavy stuff aft.

"Larry" wrote in message
. ..
Wayne.B wrote in
news
I use chain. :-)


Us, too! There's a whole "CHAIN LOCKER" full of it up under the
windlass...(c;



grandma Rosalie

Gordon wrote:
I've got all chain also but it would be nice to get rid of 300+ # in the
bow. This is in a 32' Gulf pilothouse and the weight is enough to put the
bow down a couple inches so rain water gathers on the deck inside of running
out the aft scuppers at dock.
Gordon.

"Larry" wrote in message
...

Wayne.B wrote in
news

I use chain. :-)


Us, too! There's a whole "CHAIN LOCKER" full of it up under the
windlass...(c;

I have 280 feet of chain but the PO rigged the cable locker so there is
a hawse pipe that leads down under the forward berth. The original
cable locker (forward of the berth and higher) is now where the spare
rode (rope with 20 feet of chain reside. The setup works very well and
keeps the weight low and farther aft.
The boat is a Truant 33 Pilothouse (similar to the Gulf)

Gaz

Gary wrote in news:wYDmf.85849$Gd6.46791
@pd7tw3no:

I have 280 feet of chain but the PO rigged the cable locker so there is
a hawse pipe that leads down under the forward berth. The original
cable locker (forward of the berth and higher) is now where the spare
rode (rope with 20 feet of chain reside. The setup works very well and
keeps the weight low and farther aft.
The boat is a Truant 33 Pilothouse (similar to the Gulf)



In the Amel ketch, the chain locker is forward of the forward watertight
bulkhead, at your feet in the vberth. It has a drain into the bilge,
somewhere in the bottom of it because when you flush it it runs the bilge
pump and water comes out the forward compartment shutoff valve from the
2nd watertight compartment, the head and v-berth forward of the salon's
forward watertight bulkhead, so I'd think the chain goes very deep into
the hull and piles up in the V of the bow down low. There are two huge
lockers on either side of the anchor chain windlass that are very deep,
deep enough so when you stand in them it's up to your thighs so all that
chain must be stored down centerline very deep between them.

Maybe, because it is so deep, it doesn't destabilize the trim up forward,
being under the waterline or almost.

Gordon wrote:
I've got all chain also but it would be nice to get rid of 300+ # in the
bow. This is in a 32' Gulf pilothouse and the weight is enough to put the
bow down a couple inches so rain water gathers on the deck inside of running
out the aft scuppers at dock.
Gordon.

Are you sure you need all that chain? Where do you cruise? Do you
have a powered windlass?

My previous boat came with a lot of chain (90-100 feet), plus heavy
nylon and a heavy anchor. After I downsized I was much happier. Now
I don't hesitate to haul and reset the anchor. On my current boat I
have an electric windlass, but I still feel better with only 50 feet
of chain, which I can easily haul by hand.

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.

"Gordon" wrote in
:

I've got all chain also but it would be nice to get rid of 300+ #
in the
bow. This is in a 32' Gulf pilothouse and the weight is enough to put
the bow down a couple inches so rain water gathers on the deck inside
of running out the aft scuppers at dock.


My captain solves this problem by moving "a few tools", actually more
like a portable shipyard, a "little aft"...(c;

She ain't fast, but she's solid....