Windlass, to be or not to be...

[Zen]

The forum god says I should start a new topic, the old one is too old.

So I picked up a few items over the weekend from the Local boat salvage dude. A boom, a spinnaker/whisker pole and 100 feet of Anchor chain - 200.00 bucks for the lot! Nice!

So he says, you will need a windlass for all that chain, or can use your side winch. I do have a manual windlass if you want one. Hmmm I thought ok. He says I'll have to take it off the boat. I'll bring it by another time.
So I think about it some later and my original thought was only to have 25' of chain. But he just had 100 ft and it was a deal with the other parts. I'll thinking I do not really need that much chain, maybe I'll cut it into 2 -25ft sections and do a consignment on the other 50'.

What are your opinions on how much chain to carry on a 26-30 ft'er.  I suppose it would depend on the conditions but 100 ft seems like a lot for a 29 ft boat.

What say ye me hardties?

[s/v Faith]

I have ~ 60' of 5/16" ht on board.  It works out pretty well, and is not too difficult to manage without a windlass.  I should think that 2 100' lengths ought to be about right for you... but I know the anchorages are somewhat deeper out here so if you can carry all 200' it might be worth it....

  Why don't you give it a test and see?  If you wanted to go out and anchor, I am in the area I would be happy to give you a hand. :)

[Captain Smollett]

I too have 60 ft of 5/16" HT on my primary.  Pulling the chain is not that bad...not as hard has breaking the anchor free.  Most of the time, I drop all the chain (even if the water is not very deep), just to snub on nylon, so I usually have to pull the full length.  Sometimes I think a manual windlass would be a nice addition, but not anything I feel is a must-have.

Our boat was kept on a Bahamian Mooring variant for 18 months.  The two anchors were joined by a 60 ft length of chain.  Pulling THAT one up was a bit of work, but it was again more the pulling out the anchors that was the chore.  It took me two hours to recover my anchors, but I recall hauling the chain being hardly any effort at all.

To break out the first anchor, I did use a rolling hitch on the chain and one of my primary winches.  I'd winch it down tight, do my best to rock the boat and finally worked it loose.  Once the anchor was recovered, hauling the chain hand-over-hand to the second anchor was child's play compared to getting that first anchor aboard.

So, I'd say give it a go; I'd be surprised if the chain were THAT big of an issue, especially if you have a roller to help the process out.

[CharlieJ]

We carry 75 feet of 1/4 g4 on the main anchor. No windlass. Never felt the need. Laura can pull anchor and she's 5'2" and under 110 pounds.

On my tri I used to use 100 feet of 5/16- again no windlass.

Only time I ever wished I had one was the very few times I anchored inover 25 feet of water.

Try it without- I don't think you'll need a windlass

[Zen]

thx guys!  That was helpful  8)

[svsoutherncross]

We have 100' of 3/8" on our primary, and 50' of 5/16" on both our second bow anchor and our stern anchor. We do have a manual windlass, but most of the time I haul it by hand. It's just much faster. Our stern anchor we haul in by looping a dockline around the chain, up to a snatch block, then back to a winch if it's too hard to haul by hand.

That being said, a chain stopper will help immensely.

[marujo_sortudo]

I've heard different rules of thumb.

Earl Hinz says the chain should weigh as much as the anchor. (He did write the Bible on anchoring.)

I've heard others say the chain should be as long as your boat. (This seems the most popular opinion.)

I've seen others say you only need a few feet of chain (<10'). (Came from some pretty salty, old sailors, up here in Maine, but seems less popular elsewhere.)

Chain weight has been shown to substantial assist setting especially light anchors, e.g. Danforths and Fortresses.

It's always good to sail with and without the weight up front to see how the boat handles.

[CapnK]

Zen - I took a 100' length of chain, had it cut into 3 pieces @ 40'-30'-30'.

I spliced the 40' onto my main rode (3 strand, 100'), and keep the other sections handy either for lengthening the chain part of the rode, or to add to other nylon rode if there needs to be more than 1 anchor out.

The extra sections of chain and extra nylon rode stay in a duffel bag that can be moved/stowed anywhere on the boat, and taken up onto the foredeck when needed.

Before I head out to explore the 'far parts', I'll have another 100' of chain available, probably in 2 50' pieces.

[AdriftAtSea]

I don't think chain length and anchor weight really have much to do with each other... since the weight of the anchor that is appropriate for your boat can vary quite a bit.  The aluminum Fortress might weigh half or less of what a CQR for your boat does... I think it makes far more sense to go by length.  In general, I think that a minimum of one BOAT LENGTH of chain is a good idea.  Twice the BOAT LENGTH is better, but anything over that is probably overkill for most boats in the Sailfar armada.

I'd point out that the Fortress website used to recommend only about 12-16' of chain and it seemed that more might interfere with the way the anchor set  IIRC..

I've heard different rules of thumb.

Earl Hinz says the chain should weigh as much as the anchor. (He did write the Bible on anchoring.)

I've heard others say the chain should be as long as your boat. (This seems the most popular opinion.)

I've seen others say you only need a few feet of chain (<10'). (Came from some pretty salty, old sailors, up here in Maine, but seems less popular elsewhere.)

Chain weight has been shown to substantial assist setting especially light anchors, e.g. Danforths and Fortresses.

It's always good to sail with and without the weight up front to see how the boat handles.

Zen?

I'd go with 60-65' of chain for your primary anchor rode, and 35-40' for your secondary anchor rode.

You probably don't need a windlass, though a manual windlass is a nice thing to have.  What you probably will want is a chain pawl.  This is a real backsaver when trying to haul up the entire 60' of chain and anchor, since it allows you to rest without having to hold onto the chain.