Hunter 42 CC Passage anchor mess

[Muaddib1116]

From your pictures it looks like some sort of nonskid adhesive tape has been applied in the chain locker. Is there some of that nonskid in the slot the chain needs to slide down?

[K1MGY]

Non-skid is only on the deck. None in the chain locker area. But that raises an idea to apply a teflon surface.. maybe there's a paint for that

[Scubaseas]

Originally Posted by K1MGY

Non-skid is only on the deck. None in the chain locker area. But that raises an idea to apply a teflon surface.. maybe there's a paint for that

They make UHMW adhesive backed tape.

[Jim Cate]

FWIW: If you want to try the friction reduction path, I'd suggest not using s/s but a slippery plastic instead. Ideally teflon, but a polyethylene cutting board would be an easily acquired material to try out.

Jim

[K1MGY]

Originally Posted by Scubaseas

They make UHMW adhesive backed tape.

https://www.amazon.com/TapeCase-423-...5390470&sr=8-5

Very tough and abrasion resistant, say's the Amazonians.

This, and the cutting board idea are both worth the try.

Thanks!

[Scubaseas]

UHMW plastic is also available in sheet goods and shapes. You can form it fiarly esasily with a heat gun. Same goes for Starboard being in sheet and being fairly easily thermoformed. Starboard isn't as "slick" as cutting boards or Nylon. For slippery you want UHMW plastic. Good luck!

[Goodxcharly]

I would probably give it more time and see if you can work around to what you have.

From the photo it looks line the chain is sitting on nylon rode.

If so. Go all chain which would deepen your chain locker so there is more chain pulling on the windlass alleviating the bunching up problem.

I deal with the same thing on a 36 Catalina. I just knock the pile over and down it goes.

[Cynara]

I don't think the builder designed it that way. No matter how many shid plates it will never work properly. Find a similar boat and see what it is supposed to be like

[paulcossman]

Hi Kimgy,

I have a 1991 model Hunter Passage 42 with the identical anchoring system. It is undoubtedly the worst-engineered part of the boat.

First, let me suggest you turn to hunterowners.com for advice on this and MANY related issues on the Passage 42. There you will find many entries from me on this and other issues specific to your boat. I have cruised it for many years, having crossed the Pacific 4 times and sailed about 60,000 miles on our S/V Sabina.

Here are a couple of short notes on the anchoring system. First, you need not cut fiberglass to get to your windlass. Access is via the forepeak cabinetry at the forwardmost point of the cabin. Removing several screws gets you complete access, including the four bolts that hold the windlass in place.

I replaced the Lewmar VWC 700 with a VWC 1200 for more hauling power. It fit into the same place with a minor alteration for the larger diameter windlass mainshaft. That changes nothing but your power and the ability to have a bi-directional power foot-switch.

I have spent many scores of hours trying to figure out how to improve the system, and I have concluded that it really cannot be done in any reasonable way. I have lowered the anchor and raised it in all sorts of conditions, including one time when I was repeatedly completely underwater--with the entire bow underwater in waves--while raising the anchor in a bad wind shift at Minerva Reef (300 miles off Tonga). And I have done so, on occasion, while single-handed.

The best way to do this is to manually flake the chain forward into the anchor locker as you winch it aboard. I stand upright with one foot on the switch and the other foot planted on the port side of the deck just outboard of the anchor locker and up against the toerail lip. I take the chain off the loose part that will lie on the fiberglass channel as it comes off the winch. I then toss short (3 foot or so) sections forward into the chain locker as it comes in. I carry 100 meters of 10 mm high-test chain (and a 60 lb CQR anchor).

For deploying the anchor, I manually let the chain run through my hands while the windlass cathead is partially engaged so it runs at a slower pace. When anchoring in 30' or less I can control it easily just by hand. When in depths of 30 to 65 feet, I will keep the clutch partially engaged on the cathead to slow deployment (at greater depths and therefore greater weight).

While not optimal, this has worked for the many many hundreds of times I have anchored over the last 3 decades.

Good luck, and don't forget to spend some time figuring out the hunterowners.com website. You will find it VERY worthwhile!

Cheers,
Paul Cossman
S/V Sabina
homeport: Anchorage, Alaska
now living/cruising New Zealand permanently

[Jim Cate]

^^^^^

Stories like this demonstrate one difference between a good cruising boat and a weekender. The struggles depicted above show incredible perseverance and ingenuity (and a startling indifference to personal hazards), all driven by an unsuitable design foisted off as a passagemaker.

Paul, I salute your determination!

Jim

[Cynara]

The more I read about the design problems on numerous boats I am estremly happy to have bought the boat we did. Of course we bought it new in 1977

[paulcossman]

Originally Posted by Jim Cate

^^^^^

Stories like this demonstrate one difference between a good cruising boat and a weekender. The struggles depicted above show incredible perseverance and ingenuity (and a startling indifference to personal hazards), all driven by an unsuitable design foisted off as a passagemaker.

Paul, I salute your determination!

Jim

Thanks for the kind words Jim. It is INDEED a hazardous anchoring situation. And the Passage 42 was INDEED designed to be a weekend condominium for sometimes-sailors. But to paraphrase those wiser than myself, you go to sea with the boat you have (or can afford), not the boat you want. I could have opted to work harder and longer to get a better boat, but to me the more hazardous route was ending up as another sailor who spends his/her life getting the boat ready but never leaving .........

Cheers,
Paul

[Cynara]

With a faulty and in certain situations a dangerous anchoring system your boat is not ready to go cruising

[Jim_B]

I have a 1992 Passage 42 and agree the chain drop design is not well designed for eay anchor retrieval.

I converted my windless to a wireless set up thus allowing easily ability to see what is occurring and to use a boat hook to "encourage" the chain to fall where it should.

Similar to other suggestions I've considered installing a channel/pipe to drop the chain in the center of the well allowing the weight of the chain to pull itself down. Haven't done that yet - it's on the "do list".

Everything is a compromise. Other attributes of this boat offset the chain set up.

[pbmaise]

I don't like to scare the OP, however, I am really concerned that I see no way to access the windlass gearbox. I replaced the oil seals on my Maxwell windlass. It wasn't super hard...I just had a full day searching in Phuket to locate the correct size seals. I found one size in one shop and another size in a different one. Can you get to the gearbox or is it sealed?

Note: It looks like a washdown pump was added on top. If it is not being utilized, I recommend removing it and making sure any holes drilled in the fiberglass are sealed.

I read the OP hopes to be able to lift anchor remotely. Based upon the current set up, I don't think it will happen. On my vessel....I almost always had to utilize two people even though my chain fell nicely into the chain locker directly below.


I found this post on a different forum....at https://forums.sailboatowners.com/th...-45-cc.113278/

Dec 23, 2009
#13
Viktor,like Terry, we have a 1991 Passage 42. I just checked out some video of your boat, and see that your windlass-to-anchor-well system is somewhat like ours in that it is a drop into a well that opens directly to the deck, and doesn't have an immediate vertical drop from the windlass. I carry 350 feet of 3/8" chain for my rode, and used to carry 350' of 5/16" chain, and I have always had to hand-tail the chain. I have anchored many hundreds of times in all different conditions, and have always thought it is a safety hazard to have to handle the windlass chain under adverse conditions. I'm sure we have all read the stories about sailors who have lost fingers in windlasses. As a result, I have spent MANY MANY hours pondering, reading, and talking to others about improving the system so that hand tailing is not required. It would not be an exaggeration to say I have spent over 100 hours to this end. My end conclusion is that any modification to set up a system that doesn't require hand-tailing on a boat like yours and mine would incur more expense and disadvantages than benefits. It would require substantial structural modifications, and I'm unwilling to do that.