Alternative Anchor Hauling Method

[fjwiley1]

Aww come on Boatie this is really good reading.....I'd say everyone reading has the Big grin a goin......


Life is Good if ya keepa Smilin......






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[fjwiley1]

Thumbs up Atoll........


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[noelex 77]

You can just use a chain hook with a line to the halyard winch. Cleat the chain and repeat.

In practice to can usually pull up the chain by hand and only need to use the winch for the last section.

After a few years of the above an electric anchor winch has some appeal even to KISS sailors

[KISS]

Originally Posted by SV Lift

I should have expanded more earlier. Basically you're proposing a really, really long snubber. And it would probably work most of the time. A shorter snubber you can keep off the seafloor which allows a simple chain hook and the weight of the chain will keep it in place. You would need a more secure attachment (eg rolling hitch) which makes retrieval harder.

Gotcha

My point was that as the boat circles around the anchor it will twist the two lines together. A swivel would reduce this, but that's an entirely different discussion (I'm in the anti-swivel camp).

I remember reading some threads here about anchor swivels; evidently their WLL is typically less than the WLL of the chain on any serious ground tackle, so they're a weak point, right?

Re twisting...it's hard for me to exactly envision how this would happen. If they're in contact, some twisting is definitely possible, but I'm wondering whether it would really be a problem. If the ENDS of the two lines (chain and rope) remain fixed vis a vis one another, then any twisting should come untwisted when they're tensioned, right? I don't see how you could get a knot. Think about how one manually braids a rope: you have to twist the ends of the fibers. If you keep the ends fixed, and just twist the middles around one another, they'll unravel as soon as you pull the fibers taut. Or perhaps I'm missing something...

[Panope]

I would trade all the sail handling winches for one anchor windlass. Would that be simple enough?

Steve

[KISS]

Originally Posted by noelex 77

You can just use a chain hook with a line to the halyard winch. Cleat the chain and repeat.

In practice to can usually pull up the chain by hand and only need to use the winch for the last section.

That was my original plan - and I know that's doable. The only disadvantage is that it's slow. What I'm suggesting here is an adaptation - how to use the halyard winch to haul anchor, but without having to keep hooking and unhooking each section of rode. If it won't work, then I'll go back to hook/re-hook method or, alas....a windlass.

[KISS]

Originally Posted by Panope

I would trade all the sail handling winches for one anchor windlass. Would that be simple enough?

Steve

There's only one manual anchor windlass in production (Lofrans Royal) and is way undersized, has a mere 50kg WLL (!)

Could get an old one, but I'm concerned about where and for how long I can find spares. I'm thinking, if I buy an old manual windlass, more than likely I'm going to end up in a some remote area with a old broken windlass and no way to get spares = back to square one.

Whereas, manual rope winches are ubiquitous, cheaper, and have much higher WLL than the Lofrans Royal. I can get the small Harken winch new, anywhere for ~$700 with a 1200+lbs WLL.

[fjwiley1]

Sounds like you have made up your mind regardless of wise advise offered by Many experienced Cruisers who have extensive anchoring skills.

Good Luck




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[carstenb]

if you try these ideas you'll see the folly of your ways

[KISS]

Originally Posted by fjwiley1

Sounds like you have made up your mind regardless of wise advise offered by Many experienced Cruisers who have extensive anchoring skills.

Good Luck

Other posters in this thread have offered advice, which I'm considering.

You, however, didn't offer any advice, just snark.

[Stu Jackson]

Originally Posted by KISS

What if the 35 pounder is set hard, and the wind and current is working against me. Can I still pull it up by hand? It seems to me that the weight of the ground tackle itself is fairly trivial compared to the holding power of the anchor (any anchor) coupled with the force of the wind/current on the boat.

It see3ms you're still in your "fascinating" mode and reinventing the wheel. Have you considered buying a book on anchoring?

The wind load on a boat in high wind is pretty tough to work against, and impossible by hand. One must assume that the anchor is well set or else the boat wouldn't still be there.

If it is dragging, then you NEED to get it up quickly.

I often (weekly) anchor out, and sometimes wait too late until the afternoon winds come up before rousing myself to get the hook up. I sail singlehanded a lot. Without using the engine, the anchor would be impossible to get up in winds beyond 12 knots. I know, I've tried it, using chain hooks on line tied to the anchor chain run back to the jib sheet winch. It is very difficult and time consuming. I have a 34 foot boat with a 22# Rocna, 35 feet of chain, 1/2" rode. Usually anchored in all of 12 feet of water.

As mentioned before in you KISS thread, you really oughta get out there and try it first. If not on your own boat, go with someone else. It'd answer a lot of your most unusual questions.

[fjwiley1]

Kiss...just as info, I have a 39' Ketch with 100' of 1/2" chain and 200' of 3 strand. I have a manual windless. I always ays use a chain snubber.


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[savoir]

Originally Posted by SV Lift

They are going to get horribly twisted together every time the tide or wind changes.

Correct

[KISS]

Originally Posted by Stu Jackson

If it is dragging, then you NEED to get it up quickly.

If it's dragging, then I don't have to worry about wind force on the boat, or anchor holing power; I'm just working against the weight of the tackle. Right?

I often (weekly) anchor out, and sometimes wait too late until the afternoon winds come up before rousing myself to get the hook up. I sail singlehanded a lot. Without using the engine, the anchor would be impossible to get up in winds beyond 12 knots. I know, I've tried it, using chain hooks on line tied to the anchor chain run back to the jib sheet winch. It is very difficult and time consuming. I have a 34 foot boat with a 22# Rocna, 35 feet of chain, 1/2" rode. Usually anchored in all of 12 feet of water.

You mean without motoring up on the anchor?

If your job sheet winch can't pull up your boat to the anchor in windy conditions, does that mean a manual windlass couldn't either? What about an electric windlass?

If so, then an engine-less boat simply cannot haul anchor in these conditions?

[onestepcsy37]

I think you're making too much of all this. I have a 20000lb boat, a 45lb manson anchor, and usually put out 80ft of 3/8" chain. All by hand, in and out. I've got a manual windlass but rarely use it. And I'm an old guy in average shape.

Hint; let the "cat" do it.