Old money or New

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Sea Hustler

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Not perhaps a truly 'classic boat question' but some advice would be welcomed please.

I am buying a 54 year old boat, she is built like the proverbial brick out house and has a displacement of 2749Kilos or just a little over 3 tons. Although the sales blurb says she comes with 90 ft of anchor chain and a similar length of additional warp, what it does not say is that the anchor chain is rustier than a very rusty thing that's been left out in the rain for a very long time to rust, so new anchor chain then.

My question is, she has a manual windlass which is also 54 years old, I therefore assume that the Gypsy is imperial rather than metric. as all chain these days is measured in new money, i.e. mm's, will it fit an old money Gypsy i.e. imperial measure, or am I looking at needing to replace the Gypsy if possible if not the entire windlass.

Hope someone can answer that for me.

Thanks
 
I’ve been through this one, it’s a bit of a minefield. There’s DIN, ISO and imperial. Chain can be bought as 10mm, 8mm but also 3/8ths, 1/2” etc. Best advice I can give, which is often heard, is to take the gypsy to the chain supplier and try various size chain on the gypsy. Alternatively buy a short length of the chain that you believe should fit and try it around the gypsy. Jimmy Green Marine of Beer, Devon have been helpful in this regard. And welcome to the forum.
 
Robih said:
I’ve been through this one, it’s a bit of a minefield. There’s DIN, ISO and imperial. Chain can be bought as 10mm, 8mm but also 3/8ths, 1/2” etc. Best advice I can give, which is often heard, is to take the gypsy to the chain supplier and try various size chain on the gypsy. Alternatively buy a short length of the chain that you believe should fit and try it around the gypsy. Jimmy Green Marine of Beer, Devon have been helpful in this regard. And welcome to the forum.
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Thanks, that sounds like a plan, appreciate the advice.

First thing will be removing countless coats of Hammerite Paint and see if I can get the windlass back to working order.
 
MV Lucy lu said:
Not perhaps a truly 'classic boat question' but some advice would be welcomed please.

I am buying a 54 year old boat, she is built like the proverbial brick out house and has a displacement of 2749Kilos or just a little over 3 tons. Although the sales blurb says she comes with 90 ft of anchor chain and a similar length of additional warp, what it does not say is that the anchor chain is rustier than a very rusty thing that's been left out in the rain for a very long time to rust, so new anchor chain then.

My question is, she has a manual windlass which is also 54 years old, I therefore assume that the Gypsy is imperial rather than metric. as all chain these days is measured in new money, i.e. mm's, will it fit an old money Gypsy i.e. imperial measure, or am I looking at needing to replace the Gypsy if possible if not the entire windlass.

Hope someone can answer that for me.

Thanks
Click to expand...
Whereabouts in the country are you , if I may ask?
 
I have found Boat Gear Direct (used to be called something like E.Y.E. Marine) at Levington, near Felixstowe, who specialise in supplying chain and mooring equipment to be helpful and good service.

I have a vague recollection that some (only) of the metric sizes (of the right variety DIN, ISO or whatever) may match the imperial sizes in practice. (Note that the variation in standard sizes are not just the thickness of the chain links, but also, in some cases, their link lengths.)

There may well be a marking on the gypsy of your windlass (stamped or raised lettering) indicating its chain size.

Do not buy new chain until you've got your windlass working!

If you find you can't get your windlass working, your problem of finding matching chain goes away!

Note that the received wisdom used to be that great chain weight (+size) was important, but its now recognised by most (lights blue touch paper and retires!) that this is not supported by evidence. So it's likely that, given your boat's age, it is likely to have chain which would now be considered unnecessarily large in size and weight for the boat size. If you are not stuck with getting chain to match your existing windlass, you can probably safely reduce the size of chain from what you currently have. This will save weight - in the end of the boat where it matters most - and cost. I reduced the chain of my 2.4 ton 23 footer from 8mm (5/16") to 7mm (just over 1/4"), but if I had my time again I would have got 6mm (just under 1/4").

Most people could manage (as I did) hauling the chain and anchor by hand with that size of boat. A windlass is, though, a real boon. There are few new manual windlasses sold these days, and they tend to be not much, if at all, cheaper than electric winches (though you do have to add the cost of electric cabling etc. and have sufficient battery/alternator capacity to power them).

Your 2,749 kg displacement, by the way, is only 2.7 imperial tons (= 2.749 metric tonnes, = 3.03 USA short tons). (In practice the actual displacement of the boat probably varies somewhat from, and is most likely higher than, the design displacement.)

What's the boat?
 
Thanks for your informative reply, I will add it to my data base of knowledge going forward.

Math was never my strong suit so you are probably right about the Tonnage LOL.

The boat is a Husky 24 Hustler, she needs some work but Im pretty sure its all doable (says he, ever the optimist).

Mike
 
MV Lucy lu said:
Hi, Im in the South East-ish
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Ok
I have 90ft of 3/8 bbb chain and an Anchorman horizontal windlass ( you could Google it )-all good , needs a good home , a few quid to the RNLI would be good .
And it’s all good, working sound order .

But , we’re in East Sussex and it is heavy !
Probably a little bit overkill for a 24 ft but not too overkill imo
 
Could be perfect as the boat is current in Essex and I will be making numerous trips to her in the coming week. Where did you say it was on T’internet
 
Link http://slspares.co.uk/pdf/Website Manuals/Instruction Manuals/Anchorman Manual.pdf

Might be just the thing for a Husky 24 , straightforward to fit and takes up very little foredeck space and has the chain hawse pipe and mounting bolts . You might want a wood pad to put it on , it’s better that way..

The chain is unused and of course good but sat in the bilge of my last boat for 20 years .

Happy to see it all go to someone who can use them

Pm ( personal message ) me as and when you wish ,
 
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