Anchor warp reel

[zoidberg]

I've cherished the seamanlike ideas that flowed from Dick Everitt's pen all these years.... I've even used a double handful of them!

I'm now looking to store and deploy anchor - and kedge - warps on plastic drums, and I'm trying to 'reinvent the wheel' - or rather, a robust demountable rack arrangement to hold these reels, on deck, when in operation. Limited space and stowage volume indicates something which can be readily 'foldable/stowable' but capable of re-assembly reasonably swiftly.

Any bright ideas, preferably accompanied by a pic or sketch....?

 

[William_H]

Yes you would be trying to reinvent the wheel. (however a wheel of not very good style). The problem as I see it is that while the reel holding the warp is a neat solution to beat tangles etc. the reel itself takes up a lot of space. On my little boat, it has an anchor hatch ie a box in the bow with a lid on it. I find that the warp an be flaked into the box not coiled or twisted but just fed in. The in board end of the warp is attached to a saddle in the bottom of the box. When I get to the chain this is similarly flaked onto the rope followed by the anchor sitting on the chain. I have a slot cut in the lid of the hatch so that the rope can emerge with the lid closed. A horn cleat takes the actual lod of the warp at the desired length. Plus of course a fair lead.
If I carried a kedge I would stow the warp in a similar way in an old sail bag. A bit like I keep a throw line in a bag. A hole in the bottom of the bag allows the warp to emerge to be attached to the boat. The rope is shoved in the top hand over hand so that it comes out without kinks or twists. In a bag of course it is stowed in the most efficient way. Depending on the anchor weight it could also be stowed in the bag with some chain. I stow all my sheets in a similar way in a bag. I get dismayed when keen crew when packing up want to coil the sheets. That just leads to tangles. I just feed the sheet in by the hand full. ol'will

 

[Catalina36]

I looked at doing exactly this about 50 years ago when I had a 17 foot Lysander, but gave up on the idea because I just had nowhere to stow the drum.

 

[Skylark]

Ankarolina, made and in common use in Sweden for stern/kedge uses webbing as the rode, takes up little space. I had one fitted to a boat that I bought in Sweden and regret not removing it when I sold it.

 

[Stemar]

Most of my rode is octoplait and it comes out of a hawse pipe no more than about three times the diameter of the rope. I've never had an issue with it tangling, and it feeds back in under its own weight almost as well as the chain does. I can't see how a reel would improve on that, but the pipe is near the middle of the chain locker and high enough that everything can flop down. OTOH, a friend's Starlight drops its chain about 18" onto a slope. He keeps a lump of broomstick to poke the chain every few metres, or it's sure to jam. A reel would be a great idea, but I can't see how it would work with a chain rode and a windlass.

A kedge is another matter. On a bigger boat than mine, I'd look at one of these

Mooring Reels | Ankarolina | Proboat

 

[rogerthebodger]

Here's my anchor warp reel made from stainless steel rod shaft lock and folding winding handle.

 

[Wansworth]

Had two reels on my27 footer really good if having to run off a ledge singlehanded..

 

[Neeves]

Most of the options have been outlined in the above posts.

The experts in this field would be high latitude yachts, Patagonia for example, and the Balts who anchor bow in and deploy stern anchors. Each group has developed preferred options though a lot of the options are either identical or use the same equipment. Many of the techniques would not be out of place in other locations. Most think anchoring is 'one anchor deployed off the bow' - others find that idea either limiting or unsafe.

I think without exception high latitude yachts and the Balts are instantly recognised by the extent of their ground tackle - that is alien in many other locations.

The limits are those of your own imagination.

The Balts have yachts many of which don't have an anchor on the bow at all - but deploy their anchor of the stern/transom. They have devices that look not unlike a bow roller to deploy - I have wondered what they call them, 'stern rollers' ? or do they call them 'bow rollers but located at the stern'?

The simple economy solution is a robust (and cheap) garden hose reel or maybe a tradies, electric, cable reel or even a plastic reel fromm a chandler to which you add some form of (wood, fibreglass, bracket).

You must be able to buy this sort of thing in the UK. I know a lot of these come out of China but these seem pretty robust - but may be more grand than you were considering.

Savwinch Boat Anchor Winch l Australia & New Zealand

Know how: Expanding your Anchoring Repertoire

Jonathan

 

[duncan99210]

On my Hurley 18 and on my Bavaria 38 the anchor rode lives in a locker: via a hawse on the Hurley and open on the Bavaria. I see no need to change this.
I don’t have a kedge on the Hurley, don’t see the need for it as I rarely anchor beyond the occasional lunch stop.
On the Bavaria, the kedge is a Guardian stowed on a bracket on the pushpit. The rode is 5m of chain with 70m or so of octoplait. This lives in a large bucket (the two handled flexible plastic ones: about 25-30 litre or so, sold by B&Q for garden debris) in the locker which makes it easy to deploy and recover.
In addition to that, I have two 40m lines for anchoring with lines ashore. They’re retired climbing ropes and live in ripstop nylon bags: take the bag ashore, make the end fast and return to the boat with the line running free from the bag. Stops all the hassle of trying to make sure a coil runs free, means you’re not pulling the boat as you secure the line and it takes up minimal space.
I‘ve looked the Ankalina type reels and come to the conclusion that our current system is about as good as it gets in terms of ease of deployment, space saving and cost. It’s easy to move the bucket or bags to where they’re needed on the boat or ashore, line deploys tangle free from them and it’s a simple case of hand over hand into the bucket or bags to restow. And did I mention. It’s cheap as chips? I think I paid about £5 for the nylon to make the bags and a similar sum for the bucket.

 

[zoidberg]

Thanks to all.

FYI I removed the navel pipe on the foredeck, and sealed the 'ole. I've wrestled and cursed, over the years, with many others' chain and warp stowage - constantly beetling up and down to assist the 'self-stowing' chain to go where it is wanted and getting filthy in the process. That's bad enough when there's someone else on deck to mind the boat...! And seawater always gets below, sometimes in surprising quantities. Sizes, dimensions, weights mean I can manage anchor-handling and warp management without using a chain/anchor locker right in the bows.

I've decided I won't keep an anchor mounted permanently on the bow roller, but will bring one up when wanted or otherwise prudent to have it to hand.

 

[Wansworth]

Anchour can be launched from cockpit with rode leading forward and over roller,save staggering up the side deck with anchour

 

[PTB]

I've chopped the top off an old redundant fender and keep my kedge warp flaked in that. I've attached the fender in a corner of the stern locker for easy deployment .

 

[cpedw]

I've chopped the top off an old redundant fender and keep my kedge warp flaked in that. I've attached the fender in a corner of the stern locker for easy deployment .

How big was the fender? How much, what diameter is the warp?

Derek

 

[zoidberg]

I've chopped the top off an old redundant fender and keep my kedge warp flaked in that. I've attached the fender in a corner of the stern locker for easy deployment .

I rather like that idea, as I have a number of them. Thinking about 'how best', I'm considering keeping the bottom and the top-with-the-ring and cutting out a segment of the wall. A simple Softee Shackle in cheap cord will facilitate attaching it to the lines/p'pit when wanted.

 

[Neeves]

You cannot be very old - you have distilled ideas and come up with something original

Jonathan

 

[zoidberg]

I'm accused of 'childish' more often than I like!

 

[Refueler]

Ankarolina, made and in common use in Sweden for stern/kedge uses webbing as the rode, takes up little space. I had one fitted to a boat that I bought in Sweden and regret not removing it when I sold it.

I have one .... my 4 ton motorsailer sits to it as kedge in the Swedish Arch very nicely. Its not the rail mounted version but portable .. sadly the plastic handle was not quite up to the job ... but its still very good.

For a small boat with web rode - find a 3D printer user ............ they usually (I know I have loads of them) filament reels left over ... they could take a reasonable length of light webbing ... but not really for medium or larger.

Garden water hose reel - but then we are getting BIG and where to stow it ?

The Ankoralina as I have ... I have known people create from two discs of ply and a broom handle spindle ... with the excess broom handle cut to make two handles ... one each opposite side of the ply discs to give a winding ability.

 

[rogerthebodger]

I've cherished the seamanlike ideas that flowed from Dick Everitt's pen all these years.... I've even used a double handful of them!

I'm now looking to store and deploy anchor - and kedge - warps on plastic drums, and I'm trying to 'reinvent the wheel' - or rather, a robust demountable rack arrangement to hold these reels, on deck, when in operation. Limited space and stowage volume indicates something which can be readily 'foldable/stowable' but capable of re-assembly reasonably swiftly.

Any bright ideas, preferably accompanied by a pic or sketch....?

You might be able to scrounge and empty reel from the place you buy your anchor rode then just mount it on a spindle somewhere handy

 

[zoidberg]

Thanks, RogerS.

I did just that. And I really enjoy raising qwessies like this which generate a 'flurry' of others' good ideas. I file 'em all away. for I know I'll use some. Quite makes my day!

 

[PTB]

(How big was the fender? How much, what diameter is the warp)?

I've got 50m on 16mm octoplait . I'm pretty sure it was a size 4 fender, but I chose the fender to suit the warp .. it was really grotty but cleaned up ok for use in a locker.