LIfting the anchor singlehanded.

[EdWingfield]

You are a bilge keeler in a muddy anchorage.

Lift the anchor by hand leaving the muddy anchor dangling in the water.

Either temporarily grab a vacant mooring and sort out the mess, or if a rising tide go slowly to the weather shore and gently run on to the mud. You'll have a few minutes working time before floating off.

 

[TQA]

As many others have said get a BIG anchor winch, all chain rode, set up to self stow the anchor and the chain. Remote control it from the cockpit. I single handed for some years on a 38 ft steel ketch.

When I bought it nearly everything electrical did not work. Getting around to fixing the anchor winch was one of the better decisions that I made. It was set up with a switch and some kind of solenoid in inside the casing. I bought a car starter solenoid which I mounted next to the battery in a dry location and a push switch plus enough cable to allow me to go from the cockpit to the bow.

I would shorten anchor from the bow, raise the main, walk back to the cockpit raise the anchor and watch it self stow then sail off. OK OK every now and then it went pear shaped and I needed to start the engine.

 

[Poignard]

In my dark days as a motorboater I was single handed most of the time, I used an alderney ring and float on the anchor, there are differing types on the market but all with the same idea. Have not tried it on a yacht but cant see why it wouldnt work, have a lok here
http://www.anchoryanka.com/anchor1.htm

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Paragraph 1 of that website reads:

Your boat must be capable of making a headway of 6-8 knots against the wind or tide in your chosen area for which you are pursuing your activity.

That lets me out, and probably most other yachts whose owners post on here.

Shame, because it's a clever idea.

 

[Poignard]

Have a lead weight [20 -30lb] on a length of line, which is led over the bow its inboard end brought back to the cockpit (via a block to keep it off the coach roof varnish) and belayed there.

Haul in on the anchor cable until it is up-and-down.

Drop the lead weight to the bottom.

Weigh the main anchor and get it on board.

Meanwhile let the boat lie to the lead weight, which is now acting as a temporary mud anchor. The weight will keep her head to wind or tide, whichever is strongest, long enough for you to get back to the cockpit.

Walk back to the cockpit, motor or sail slowly ahead and haul in the line with the lead weight as you go. Belay it when the weight is just trailing in the water (so as to wash the mud off it).

When in open water, walk forward and get the weight inboard.

If you can't be bothered with acquiring a lead weight you can lie to a small kedge with a rope cable and follow the same proceedure.

 

[Scotty_Tradewind]

Have a lead weight [20 -30lb] on a length of line, which is led over the bow its inboard end brought back to the cockpit (via a block to keep it off the coach roof varnish) and belayed there.

Haul in on the anchor cable until it is up-and-down.

Drop the lead weight to the bottom.

Weigh the main anchor and get it on board.

Meanwhile let the boat lie to the lead weight, which is now acting as a temporary mud anchor. The weight will keep her head to wind or tide, whichever is strongest, long enough for you to get back to the cockpit.

Walk back to the cockpit, motor or sail slowly ahead and haul in the line with the lead weight as you go. Belay it when the weight is just trailing in the water (so as to wash the mud off it).

When in open water, walk forward and get the weight inboard.

If you can't be bothered with acquiring a lead weight you can lie to a small kedge with a rope cable and follow the same proceedure.

What a simple clever idea

I emptied most of the weight out of my boat so I could keep up with others. Are you suggesting I now put some of it back in? ;-)

 

[Searush]

For the life of me I can't see the benefit in that palarva. Just haul up & down, make sure everything is OK & then heave anchor free & well clear of bottom, cleat off chain & move to clear water. Then engage auto pilot or heave-to to sort out foredeck. Seemples. Tch!

Mud weights and kedges anchors just increase the work to do, the mess to sort out & the risk of tangles, KISS (Keep it simple, stupid)

 

[Clyde_Wanderer]

For anyone of you with a manual windlass I would suggest cutting the opperating handle to half its length, this speeds up the winching process by reducing the stroke and doesent make a lot of difference in the pressure required to opperate it.
C_W

 

[Cliveshep]

For the life of me I can't see the benefit in that palarva. Just haul up & down, make sure everything is OK & then heave anchor free & well clear of bottom, cleat off chain & move to clear water. Then engage auto pilot or heave-to to sort out foredeck. Seemples. Tch!

Mud weights and kedges anchors just increase the work to do, the mess to sort out & the risk of tangles, KISS (Keep it simple, stupid)

I'm with you, it's bad enough hauling the weight of an anchor, let alone a weight sufficient to hold the boat whilst you stow the anchor, and you're still moored, but this time to a bloody great lump of metal you have to haul and find a home for.

The OP should save up his pennies and get a remote electric winch installed and save his back and cut the risks of drifting all over the show whilst he sweats trying to hand haul. There really is no other sensible option if he is to stay in control of his vessel at all times.

 

[Poignard]

For the life of me I can't see the benefit in that palarva. Just haul up & down, make sure everything is OK & then heave anchor free & well clear of bottom, cleat off chain & move to clear water. Then engage auto pilot or heave-to to sort out foredeck. Seemples. Tch!

Mud weights and kedges anchors just increase the work to do, the mess to sort out & the risk of tangles, KISS (Keep it simple, stupid)

_________________________________________________

Well obviously you would not need to do this when you have adequate room around you and no lee shore to worry about.

The original poster asked for advice on what he might do when the anchorage is congested, as they are in some parts of this country.

And I don't see that relying on an electronic gadget is keeping it simple. One length of rope plus one weight seems pretty simple to me.

 

[AntarcticPilot]

I'm with you, it's bad enough hauling the weight of an anchor, let alone a weight sufficient to hold the boat whilst you stow the anchor, and you're still moored, but this time to a bloody great lump of metal you have to haul and find a home for.

The OP should save up his pennies and get a remote electric winch installed and save his back and cut the risks of drifting all over the show whilst he sweats trying to hand haul. There really is no other sensible option if he is to stay in control of his vessel at all times.

An anchor winch is on my list of "nice to have" accessories - I had a thread a little while ago looking into practical issues about fitting one on my Moody 31. It is moving up my list, as my wife-to-be is very small and lightly built, and I have a history of back trouble.

But one thing I am not at all sure of is that there is a significant benefit to an electric winch. My reason is simple - the power requirements are large (as much or more than the starter motor, with a longer period of operation), and you end up running high amperage cables from one end of the boat to the other. Also, the number of faults with electric winches reported on here - most of which seem to be down to the use of inappropriate materials - is a bit of a downer!

However, the problem is that there are very few manual winches on the market at the moment. Plenty of electric ones - but I don't use shore power, and of course at an anchorage it isn't an option anyway. I rely entirely on two 110 Ah batteries for power needs - and my only charging option is the engine. A few minutes operation of an anchor winch would make a significant dent in my electrical storage capacity.

So, any recommendations for manual winches? I know Lofrans do one, but all the others seem to be out of production.

 

[Refueler]

For the life of me I can't see the benefit in that palarva. Just haul up & down, make sure everything is OK & then heave anchor free & well clear of bottom, cleat off chain & move to clear water. Then engage auto pilot or heave-to to sort out foredeck. Seemples. Tch!

Mud weights and kedges anchors just increase the work to do, the mess to sort out & the risk of tangles, KISS (Keep it simple, stupid)

Totally agree ... I read through some of the suggestions and thought ... Why ? There's enough work and hassle without adding extra lines / weights and stuff to the equation.

I would guess that OP is not so much worried about good weather when handling can be undertaken reasonably, but when weather / circumstances start to get untidy ! That is when simple ... no extra ropes / weights etc. are needed ... last thing I'd want is something getting caught under the boat or delaying my getting things under control.

 

[Refueler]

An anchor winch is on my list of "nice to have" accessories - I had a thread a little while ago looking into practical issues about fitting one on my Moody 31. It is moving up my list, as my wife-to-be is very small and lightly built, and I have a history of back trouble.

But one thing I am not at all sure of is that there is a significant benefit to an electric winch. My reason is simple - the power requirements are large (as much or more than the starter motor, with a longer period of operation), and you end up running high amperage cables from one end of the boat to the other. Also, the number of faults with electric winches reported on here - most of which seem to be down to the use of inappropriate materials - is a bit of a downer!

However, the problem is that there are very few manual winches on the market at the moment. Plenty of electric ones - but I don't use shore power, and of course at an anchorage it isn't an option anyway. I rely entirely on two 110 Ah batteries for power needs - and my only charging option is the engine. A few minutes operation of an anchor winch would make a significant dent in my electrical storage capacity.

So, any recommendations for manual winches? I know Lofrans do one, but all the others seem to be out of production.

I have a manual winch on foredeck ... and TBH ... I rarely use it. Most use is to winch the boat about in the canal I moor. Stwoing chain is a problem as the spurling pipe is not directly below the gypsy take off, chain slips at times because you cannot have it actually IN the gypsy more than 40 - 50 degrees of its circumfrence ( I know some will argue with that and say they have 180 ... go back and really look side on ... you'll find that to get 180 - you need to have a near vertical drop off the gypsy....).

My foredeck looks neat and practical ... but in reality ? I still end up handing the anchor ....

 

[AliM]

"So, any recommendations for manual winches? I know Lofrans do one, but all the others seem to be out of production. "

I also have been looking for manual windalsses to replace our almost knackered SL one. There are two in production - almost identical, the Lofrans Royal and Vetus Ursus. Vetus say they are discontinuing it in a few months.

The best recommedation (which came from a nice lady on the Vetus stand at SIBS) was to look on E-bay!

 

[Refueler]

"So, any recommendations for manual winches? I know Lofrans do one, but all the others seem to be out of production. "

I also have been looking for manual windalsses to replace our almost knackered SL one. There are two in production - almost identical, the Lofrans Royal and Vetus Ursus. Vetus say they are discontinuing it in a few months.

The best recommedation (which came from a nice lady on the Vetus stand at SIBS) was to look on E-bay!

The Royal I have on my foredeck has been there for donkeys years ... boat is mid 70's and I know previous owners never had to repair it .. I've serviced it once in the 10 years I've had it. Still works as good as the day it was made.

 

[Poignard]

Lofrans Royal windlass

I have one of these and it's quite useful but very slow, so usually it only gets used to break out the anchor or when there's a load on the chain and no-one in the cockpit to nudge the boat ahead with the engine.

Unlike Refueller's pictured above, I have located mine as far aft as I can on the foredeck so that I can sit comfortably on the forehatch to crank it, it also keeps weight out of the bow and leaves room for a strong samson-post and real cleats [not plastic toys], stainless-steel and through-bolted with s/s backing plates below deck;

The chain drops straight down from the gypsy into a chain locker between the forward bunks which holds 65 metres of chain. This gives about 100 degrees of wrap and the chain never slips. It also keeps the weight of the chain as far aft as possible.

 

[Cliveshep]

An anchor winch is on my list of "nice to have" accessories - I had a thread a little while ago looking into practical issues about fitting one on my Moody 31. It is moving up my list, as my wife-to-be is very small and lightly built, and I have a history of back trouble.

But one thing I am not at all sure of is that there is a significant benefit to an electric winch. My reason is simple - the power requirements are large (as much or more than the starter motor, with a longer period of operation), and you end up running high amperage cables from one end of the boat to the other. Also, the number of faults with electric winches reported on here - most of which seem to be down to the use of inappropriate materials - is a bit of a downer!

However, the problem is that there are very few manual winches on the market at the moment. Plenty of electric ones - but I don't use shore power, and of course at an anchorage it isn't an option anyway. I rely entirely on two 110 Ah batteries for power needs - and my only charging option is the engine. A few minutes operation of an anchor winch would make a significant dent in my electrical storage capacity.

So, any recommendations for manual winches? I know Lofrans do one, but all the others seem to be out of production.

Surely if your engine is running whilst you operate an electric winch you are not losing a significant amount of battery storage capacity? I too have a bad back, my wife will not do other than "ride" as she calls it or cook, the kids cannot so it has to be electric for me. I ran 25mm plastic conduit from one end of boat to the other, used 25mm2 cables from an electrical wholesaler, bought lugs and a crimper from the same place. Not tinned cable I know but so what? If you're worried about corrosion at the exposed ends spray them or varnish them after making all connections to seal them.

 

[AntarcticPilot]

Surely if your engine is running whilst you operate an electric winch you are not losing a significant amount of battery storage capacity? I too have a bad back, my wife will not do other than "ride" as she calls it or cook, the kids cannot so it has to be electric for me. I ran 25mm plastic conduit from one end of boat to the other, used 25mm2 cables from an electrical wholesaler, bought lugs and a crimper from the same place. Not tinned cable I know but so what? If you're worried about corrosion at the exposed ends spray them or varnish them after making all connections to seal them.

I guess it is that I am pathologically averse to equipment that consumes large quantities of electricity, and I don't like the idea of high currents running along wires the whole length of a boat. It would be awfully easy for something to go wrong in an unobserved bit of the cable run, resulting in a fire. And I worry about that scenario because it is exactly how one of our buildings in Antarctica got burnt down - an unobserved bit of a cable run, with the wiring slightly too tight so that the insulation was rubbing, resulting in a short circuit, and the result is history (search on Bonner Laboratory Fire). Also, the power losses in a 10 m (well, Ok, probably nearer 8 m) cable run are significant - power transmission at low voltage is inefficient anyway.

BTW when I referred to inappropriate materials, I wasn't thinking of the wiring. Many people have commented in threads on this forum about unsuitable metal on metal contacts, and inadequate materials in solenoids and relays. It seems to be a common mode of failure for electrical winches!

 

[Scotty_Tradewind]

I'm no expert but this cabling for a windlass has recently interested me.
With all this concern about cable length and volt drop from Antarctic Pilot, isn't it possible to put a dedicated battery for the electric windlass up front nearer the windlass, so that all you then have to do is run the short 'power' cables to the windless itself.
The charging and switching circuits can be run in lesser cabling back down the boat and/or, two way switch/control cables, to wherever required.

 

[DaveS]

I'm no expert but this cabling for a windlass has recently interested me.
With all this concern about cable length and volt drop from Antarctic Pilot, isn't it possible to put a dedicated battery for the electric windlass up front nearer the windlass, so that all you then have to do is run the short 'power' cables to the windless itself.
The charging and switching circuits can be run in lesser cabling back down the boat and/or, two way switch/control cables, to wherever required.

Yes, that's a perfectly sensible arrangement, and how I've arranged mine. I have a dedicated battery sited near the mast foot - a bit of a compromise between minimising the cable run and minimising weight at the boat ends. This system also means there's a spare battery available for more important things if one of the main batteries fails (there's a handle for working the windlass manually.)

One point to watch is that the charging circuit needs overcurrent protection (fuse or circuit breaker) at both ends since there are two sources of energy.

 

[Searush]

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Well obviously you would not need to do this when you have adequate room around you and no lee shore to worry about.

The original poster asked for advice on what he might do when the anchorage is congested, as they are in some parts of this country.

And I don't see that relying on an electronic gadget is keeping it simple. One length of rope plus one weight seems pretty simple to me.

My whole point, Parsifal, is that I described how I deal with tight or busy anchorages or when strong winds or tides make a rapid & controlled departure essential. I do carry a heavy angel for reducing swing and managing the chain catenary, but I would never use it in the manner you suggest. Too much hassle & no benefit in my view. You think otherwise - fine, so it goes & I'm cool with that.