Preventing a heap of chain in the anchor locker

laika

laika

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There is no hatch to access the chain locker on my Westerly Oceanlord from the deck. The only access (other than the hole the chain goes down) is from the forepeak. When we're bringing up a reasonable amount of chain on the windlass it tends to build up into a heap necessitating a trip (or two) down below to flatten things out.

We're trying to think of ways to avoid this (a cone stolen from a passing inebriated student and fixed under the chain hole?) but suspect ours isn't the only boat with no deck access to the chain locker. How do others avoid this problem?
 
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laika said:
suspect ours isn't the only boat with no deck access to the chain locker. How do others avoid this problem?
Click to expand...

I cut out and rearranged locker partitions so that my chain locker is now tall and narrow instead of wide and flat. The chain will now all go in from the deck without help from below, although I would have liked a little more height to have it pull itself in more positively.

Not an avenue open to all.

Pete
 
I find the children are particularly good at this task when Lady OldBoots hauls away on the anchor. Keeps them free of the old winches workings as well, win win really.
 
Do a search under Chainlocker and you will find lots of threads on this subject.
In fact it came up quite recently.
 
I fixed a wooden bar angled from back of locker downwards to the forefoot( if you see what I mean!) . The chain slides forward and splits/spills to each side. Works most of the time,but keep the wood clean and waxed or painted to make the chain slides. Works for me,up to 40metres 10mm chain.
 
laika said:
There is no hatch to access the chain locker on my Westerly Oceanlord form the deck. The only access (other than the hole the chain goes down) is from the forepeak. When we're bringing up a reasonable amount of chain on the windlass it tends to build up into a heap necessitating a trip (or two) down below to flatten things out.

We're trying to think of ways to avoid this (a cone stolen from a passing inebriated student and fixed under the chain hole?) but suspect ours isn't the only boat with no deck access to the chain locker. How do others avoid this problem?
Click to expand...

We had this problem with our Westerly until I had the chain re galvanised. It now seems to slide over itself much more easily and flattens out instead of forming a peak.
Before that I used to poke down through the hole that the chain dissappears ,with a thin stick.
 
I posted on this subject a few weeks back. My problem is caused by wanting to carry 80m of chain just in case ...
One suggestion, that Im going to try, is to put a bulkead/partition slightly off-middle of the locker. That way the 40m that is infrequently used can be fed into small section of the locker and the regularly used portion is free to drop into the larger one.
 
Thanks for the replies. The thread Sandyman is probably referring to is possibly this one which I hadn't previously found. No kids to send below unfortunately and the lofrans device looked interesting but a little out of budget. We'll further explore stick-based approaches although there's not a lot of room down the side of the 10mm chain for a "targeted" poke with a stick of any size and we're a bit concerned about chain collapsing on itself and getting jammed when we're letting it down (as has happened). Other than that I'll see what I can fabricate (or appropriate :-).

Re-galvanizing the chain? I do need to get my anchor re-galvanized but I'm not sure about the chain: it's dull (not smooth and shiny) but not rusty. Would re-galvanizing really help? From reading other threads I'm getting the general impression it shouldn't impact the chain's strength too badly but it's a lot of cash to just make it a bit shinier.
 
Several models of Moody also have this problem. Instead of several trips below to push the pile over, I now control the windlass with a radio remote (£16.70 ebay) from down below so I can even the chain out as it's hauled. When the last 10m marker comes in I go up top and use the deck switches.
 
laika said:
There is no hatch to access the chain locker on my Westerly Oceanlord from the deck. The only access (other than the hole the chain goes down) is from the forepeak. When we're bringing up a reasonable amount of chain on the windlass it tends to build up into a heap necessitating a trip (or two) down below to flatten things out.

We're trying to think of ways to avoid this (a cone stolen from a passing inebriated student and fixed under the chain hole?) but suspect ours isn't the only boat with no deck access to the chain locker. How do others avoid this problem?
Click to expand...

Chain piles up in the way you describe as a consquence of vigorous pitching and tossing. It does not develop if you sail in flat water all the time. It is vigorous movement that causes chain to cluster link to link in groups that causes the pile to lock.

The solution is to have a shipwright' s screwdriver ( a beast about 12" to 15" long) with the flat end finished to a blunt point like a poker.

Then all you have to do to free the pile is to open the chain locker and use the screwdriver like you would a crowbar to loosen the clusters.

Usually just four five leverings frees the whole lot.

I discovered that it is the top layer of chain that locks. Once you loosen that, the whole lot will rattle out smoothly. I have 217 ft of 5/16" chain in my locker. I free it every time in advance and never have any problems. My chain locker is identical to yours. I have a 45lb CQR.

I also regulaqrly squirt plenty of lubricant into the locker spraying as much of the chain as possible.
 
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I have not tried the traffic cone, but these occupy volume in the chain locker and so wouldn't work, I suppose, with larger amounts of chain. We use 100 metres of 12mm chain and it nearly fills one side of our divided chain locker. No room for a traffic cone.

Short of using stainless chain, I don't think there is any good solution besides flaking the chain by hand. When raising the anchor, I stand inside the chain locker, standing on the bulkhead which divides the locker. I flake the chain with one foot as it comes up.

If you don't have access to your chain locker from the deck, this is a significant design flaw IMHO. Although now that I think about it -- I spent a couple of weeks on a 90 foot Swan which had the same problem. When we raised the anchor on that boat, a crewman (often me) was stationed belowdecks at the chain locker to flake the chain. Maybe you could try the same technique. Would be a good job for a child, I suppose.
 
Dockhead said:
I have not tried the traffic cone, but these occupy volume in the chain locker and so wouldn't work, I suppose, with larger amounts of chain. We use 100 metres of 12mm chain and it nearly fills one side of our divided chain locker. No room for a traffic cone.

Short of using stainless chain, I don't think there is any good solution besides flaking the chain by hand. When raising the anchor, I stand inside the chain locker, standing on the bulkhead which divides the locker. I flake the chain with one foot as it comes up.

If you don't have access to your chain locker from the deck, this is a significant design flaw IMHO. Although now that I think about it -- I spent a couple of weeks on a 90 foot Swan which had the same problem. When we raised the anchor on that boat, a crewman (often me) was stationed belowdecks at the chain locker to flake the chain. Maybe you could try the same technique. Would be a good job for a child, I suppose.
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I don't agree with you that not having access from deck to chain locker is a design flaw. I think a flush deck with just a hawse hole is preferable from the point of view of preserving full watertight integrity. Mind you, my locker is not self draining. But there again, I never sail without the hawse properly packed. You never know what heave ho you may inadvertently encounter.
I am talking deep sea rather than coastal, of course. And also a 90 ft Swan is not exactly intended for coastal sailing but for deep water venturing, so obviously that is an additional reason that reinforces the design spec, I suggest to you that you may consider.
 
VO5 said:
Chain piles up in the way you describe as a consquence of vigorous pitching and tossing. It does not develop if you sail in flat water all the time. It is vigorous movement that causes chain to cluster link to link in groups that causes the pile to lock.
Click to expand...

On the contrary, if it's flat calm when I haul in the anchor the chain makes a neat cone that stops me putting the last 5-10m away. If it's pitching then the cone doesn't form so readily and I can put it all away in one go. Agreed, if there's a pile of chain it will readily fall over when pitching, causing grief later.

VO5 said:
I also regulaqrly squirt plenty of lubricant into the locker spraying as much of the chain as possible.
Click to expand...

What sort of slick that does that create in an anchorage?
 
This was exactly the problem we had on our Westerly Oceanranger. Ours was caused by a flat area just below the access hatch in the forepeak and was unpokable from above. The other consideration for us was anything permanently fixed would block the access hatch. We have cured it by cutting a piece of ply big enough to cover the flat area and wedged it in to create a steep slope towards the bottom of the locker. This works a treat and we are now going to fix it in place this winter on a hinge arrangement so we can have acces into the locker and also remove it completely if we need to.
 
Its the galvanising on the chain that makes it rough. HAd the problem in Turkey on a Charter Boat. Boat next to us had 75m of chain no problem at all. Stainless :eek: sprayed with silicone oil at the beginning of the season.
 
A wooden broom handle to occasionally push the pile of chain fwd into the main chamber usually works for me. Investigating the traffic cone has made its way onto my to do list however!
 
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