chain to 8 plait around a gypsy

[Ian_Edwards]

Hi,

I'm thinking of adding some 14mm 8 plait nylon to the end of our 10mm chain. 14mm is the size of rope recommended by Quick for their 1000watt Aries windlass. I can do the 8 plait to chain splice, but has anyone had any experience of getting splice around the gypsy and down the hole. The Aries has a vertical shaft and takes the chain around about 180 deg and then drops it down a hole in the deck into the locker, which works well for the chain.

I'm concerned that the extra "bulk" over the 5 or 6 links of the splice will cause the Gypsy to jam and the splice will not go through the 90deg turn, to drop down the hole into the locker

Before I go to the effort of trying it I was wondering if anyone "out there" has any experience of this set-up?

And as a supplementary question, how well does the chain gypsy grip the 8 plait rope? My concern is that is if I ever need the rope it's likely to be blowing hard, so there will be a lot of load on the rope/chain rode and I don't want to get into the position of having to jury rig something to recover the rope before I can get the chain back on the gypsy.

Anyone tried this before???

 

[RupertW]

Hi,


And as a supplementary question, how well does the chain gypsy grip the 8 plait rope? My concern is that is if I ever need the rope it's likely to be blowing hard, so there will be a lot of load on the rope/chain rode and I don't want to get into the position of having to jury rig something to recover the rope before I can get the chain back on the gypsy.

Just gone to all chain after a season of anchoring and reanchoring with mixed chain and rope.

I found that it was difficult at first swapping from one to the other as the chain part didnt grip the rope at all which needed to be shifted across the windlass to the winch part. However on the way out I just made sure I surged it around the cleat after the change, before putting it onto the winch.

On the way back took more practice as I could secure the rope on the cleat but then had to
pull the chain up by hand for about a metre before I could drop it into place. I would usually call for a bit more forward on the motor to take the strain right off for a few seconds, but still had to drop it once or twice to avoid losing fingers.

 

[neale]

I'm thinking of adding some 14mm 8 plait nylon to the end of our 10mm chain. 14mm is the size of rope recommended by Quick for their 1000watt Aries windlass. I can do the 8 plait to chain splice, but has anyone had any experience of getting splice around the gypsy and down the hole. The Aries has a vertical shaft and takes the chain around about 180 deg and then drops it down a hole in the deck into the locker, which works well for the chain.

I'm concerned that the extra "bulk" over the 5 or 6 links of the splice will cause the Gypsy to jam and the splice will not go through the 90deg turn, to drop down the hole into the locker

Before I go to the effort of trying it I was wondering if anyone "out there" has any experience of this set-up?

And as a supplementary question, how well does the chain gypsy grip the 8 plait rope? My concern is that is if I ever need the rope it's likely to be blowing hard, so there will be a lot of load on the rope/chain rode and I don't want to get into the position of having to jury rig something to recover the rope before I can get the chain back on the gypsy.

Anyone tried this before???

I had this exact set up, albeit on a smaller scale. 300 watt Quick windlass. 6mm chain and 12mm octoplait. The windlass handled the splice very well indeed. The only problem I had was that the weight of the rope wasn't always enough to pull it down into the anchor locker, not helped by having a very shallow locker so no big drop. This meant it sometimes backed up and jammed at the windlass. As a temporary measure to offer a greater scope I would go for it. For regular use it might work or it might not, depending upon your set up.

I ended up doing away with the rope and went all chain in the end.

 

[sailorman]

Hi,

I'm thinking of adding some 14mm 8 plait nylon to the end of our 10mm chain. 14mm is the size of rope recommended by Quick for their 1000watt Aries windlass. I can do the 8 plait to chain splice, but has anyone had any experience of getting splice around the gypsy and down the hole. The Aries has a vertical shaft and takes the chain around about 180 deg and then drops it down a hole in the deck into the locker, which works well for the chain.

I'm concerned that the extra "bulk" over the 5 or 6 links of the splice will cause the Gypsy to jam and the splice will not go through the 90deg turn, to drop down the hole into the locker

Before I go to the effort of trying it I was wondering if anyone "out there" has any experience of this set-up?

And as a supplementary question, how well does the chain gypsy grip the 8 plait rope? My concern is that is if I ever need the rope it's likely to be blowing hard, so there will be a lot of load on the rope/chain rode and I don't want to get into the position of having to jury rig something to recover the rope before I can get the chain back on the gypsy.

Anyone tried this before???

I have an S & L Anchorman windlass & just keep my left hand pulling the rope fall into the drum when near the splice, until the splice is through the gypsy then just keep winding the chain up. i do not find any difficulties with the set-up.
in fact i have just spliced 50m of 18m/m anchor plait to 60m of chain all ready for this summers cruise to deeper waters

 

[Ian_Edwards]

photo

As you can see from the picture there is no direct safe access to the chain or rope, I would want to put my fingers and where near, if the chain or rode is under load or moving. So I can see no safe way of aiding the transfer from chain to rope or adding any additional tension to the tail of the rope to help it grip on the gypsy.
The chain drops down under the "Quick" on the gypsy and there is a "stripper" to stop it wrapping around the gypsy and jamming. The locker is very deep about 1.5m, so the rope should fall OK.

Interesting that after trying it people have revert to all chain .... given the cost of renewing the chain or even adding extra chain with a link .... that probably says it all!

 

[jdc]

Are you sure 8-plait is the right thing?

There are several issues here.

1. 100% chain or a mixture of rope and chain?

I think a mixture is often better than all-chain, and is lighter. I have 60m of chain and wouldn't want the weight of more but might occasionally need 100m or more of rode, so I do have rope spliced to chain.

2. Can the join go through the hawse pipe?

Are you sure that the winch manufacturer recommends 8-plait? I have a S-L Sprint, and they are categoric that you should use 3-strand not 8-plait.

I tried, and found the 8-plait rope-chain splice won't go through at all easily. I have to stop the winch and unscrew the cover over the hawse pipe. However a 3-strand rope-chain splice goes through much easier (taper the splice).

3. Will it be gripped?

Both seemed to work for me, but again S-L imply that 3 strand is better.

 

[Ian_Edwards]

jdc, thanks for the reply, I hadn't considered 3 strand, I've always associated 8 plait with anchoring, it handles well and doesn't get in a tangle as easily as 3 strand.

I've check both the Aries manual and the Quick catalogue and it's not specific as to the rope construction, although the in the little picture, it looks like 3 strand ... which may or may not mean something.

I've got 60m of chain at the moment and the internal discussion is whether to ebay the 60m and buy 100m of chain, which is expensive and more difficult to organise, or to just to splice on 40m of 14mm nylon, which is quit easy to do.

Part of the discussion is whether adding nylon is a good idea, it'll provide more shock absorbing, but we already use a chain hook and length of nylon to take the weight of the windlass and provide some elasticity. Or will the nylon be so difficult to recover with a load on it that I'll wish I hadn't bothered. The Manual does talk about a paw to keep the rope in contact with the Gypsy for light loads ..... which again, is probably a clue.

So I'm just trying to get a view from the forum on what other have found, before parting with the cash.

 

[Oldhairy]

I'm concerned that the extra "bulk" over the 5 or 6 links of the splice will cause the Gypsy to jam and the splice will not go through the 90deg turn, to drop down the hole into the locker

Anyone tried this before???

If the splice is too bulky it might help if you back-splice instead.

.