Tips for preventing anchor rope knotting?

[vodzurk]

Hi all,

Probably a dumb question, but is there a standard way of storing 50m of anchor rope? I only got the rope 2 weeks back and am about to batter the chain link in for the anchor... But even dragging it out of the locker ended up with clumps that took me 15 minutes and a lot of jetty space to untangle.

I'm concerned that if we need to use it in an emergency, I don't want it tangled.

I mean... Rolling it around hand/arm only does about a third of it.

I dread the thought of pulling it back in too... 5kg anchor + ~6m chain + 50m of rope is gonna be a pain just to get in the locker from the jetty, nevermind heaving it up wet.

Gotta head to wilkos next to get a holdall just so I can carry the bloody thing back to the boat! Am thinking pre-coiling it in the holdall, might be the way forward.

Any tips or advice?

 

[Sandyman]

My anchor rode is 100M of 18mm 3 strand on a drum which is located in a locker directly aft of the chain locker.

 

[Gin]

Hi all,

Probably a dumb question, but is there a standard way of storing 50m of anchor rope? I only got the rope 2 weeks back and am about to batter the chain link in for the anchor... But even dragging it out of the locker ended up with clumps that took me 15 minutes and a lot of jetty space to untangle.

I'm concerned that if we need to use it in an emergency, I don't want it tangled.

I mean... Rolling it around hand/arm only does about a third of it.

I dread the thought of pulling it back in too... 5kg anchor + ~6m chain + 50m of rope is gonna be a pain just to get in the locker from the jetty, nevermind heaving it up wet.

Gotta head to wilkos next to get a holdall just so I can carry the bloody thing back to the boat! Am thinking pre-coiling it in the holdall, might be the way forward.

Any tips or advice?

If you are coiling the rode as you stow then that is the cause of kinks and perhaps knots- the clue perhaps is in your words concerning coiling it around your hand/arm- try flaking it which as far as I'm aware is the standard way of putting it back into an anchor locker.

Whether you coil clockwise or not I find that 3 strand rope will always kink and leave you with a tangle- flaking without tension or twist and , even better, using a figure of eight motion as you lay it down into the locker has always worked for me without an issue

 

[BoyBlue49]

I never had a problem with 50m of chain.

 

[prv]

I never had a problem with 50m of chain.

I did - the bow of the boat was being dragged down, and not rising properly to the waves.

Some boats have to carry mostly rope.

Pete

 

[rogerthebodger]

Hi all,

Probably a dumb question, but is there a standard way of storing 50m of anchor rope? I only got the rope 2 weeks back and am about to batter the chain link in for the anchor... But even dragging it out of the locker ended up with clumps that took me 15 minutes and a lot of jetty space to untangle.

I'm concerned that if we need to use it in an emergency, I don't want it tangled.

I mean... Rolling it around hand/arm only does about a third of it.

I dread the thought of pulling it back in too... 5kg anchor + ~6m chain + 50m of rope is gonna be a pain just to get in the locker from the jetty, nevermind heaving it up wet.

Gotta head to wilkos next to get a holdall just so I can carry the bloody thing back to the boat! Am thinking pre-coiling it in the holdall, might be the way forward.

Any tips or advice?

This is how I store mine

I also have 70 metres of 10mm chain in my chain locker so I don;t use the rope rode too much.

 

[Homer Simpson's Lovechild]

Don't ever coil a rope you want to run out without kinking. The rope should be loosely flaked or "fankled" into the bag or locker as it falls.If you must be neat you can lay the rope down in a figure of 8 . Never do that wrapping round your arm thing- that's how housewives used to coil the washing line. When I was bosun at sea doing that would invite no end of ridicule. If we had to coil steel wires rather than spool them on a drum , every other turn had to be a "Frenchman" or sort of half hitch. Make sure your rope is free of kinks to start with by laying it out straight and then store away towards a loose end.

 

[fergie_mac66]

A new rope wants flaking end to end more than a few times each time working any kinks out . Afriend bought 25 metres of three strand for his canal boat, he had coiled it round his elbow and hand it took 30 mins of flaking, faking,fankling until all the kinks were gone .

 

[vodzurk]

Don't ever coil a rope you want to run out without kinking. The rope should be loosely flaked or "fankled" into the bag or locker as it falls.If you must be neat you can lay the rope down in a figure of 8 . Never do that wrapping round your arm thing- that's how housewives used to coil the washing line. When I was bosun at sea doing that would invite no end of ridicule. If we had to coil steel wires rather than spool them on a drum , every other turn had to be a "Frenchman" or sort of half hitch. Make sure your rope is free of kinks to start with by laying it out straight and then store away towards a loose end.

What's flaked/fankled? Just fed in?

 

[duncan99210]

What's flaked/fankled? Just fed in?

That's about it. Tie the end of the rope to the ring/u bolt/eye bolt in the anchor locker and feed it into the locker into a heap. Then tie/splice the end to the anchor or anchor chain. When you drop the anchor the rope will flow out of the locker without any tangles. That's flaking a rope.

 

[alan_d]

Don't ever coil a rope you want to run out without kinking. The rope should be loosely flaked or "fankled" into the bag or locker as it falls.

I am interested in your use of "fankle" as a synonym for "flake". I have only ever come across "fankle" in Scots usage as a noun meaning "tangle" or a verb meaning "to entangle", and the dictionaries I have looked at support this. Thus if my anchor rode was fankled I would be annoyed.

 

[Neeves]

I hate to say this to someone who has just bought new rope, but maybe someone buying new rope will take note. Anchor plait is much more forgiving.

If there was a good deal on the 3 ply - then its worth the aggravation (which will reduce with practice). And if you find the 3 ply too much and decide to buy anchor plait - the 3 ply makes excellent mooring lines and allows you to practice your splicing.

I've not used all rope but wasn't the old practice to lay it out zig-zagged, flaked, across the deck prior to deployment? Presumably this was done to ensure it ran freely.

Jonathan

 

[thinwater]

^^ Naw, not needed.

I occasionally lay out as much as 70 meters of rope. The windlass just drops it in there. No problems.

On my last boat the rope locker was a "cat bag" (6" hatch with bag hanging inside). I would take 2-3 quickly "coiled" turns at a time and stuff those in the bag, because it was a fast way (no windlass). Never a tangle. But NEVER coil the whole rope.

 

[PuffTheMagicDragon]

"Rolling it around hand/arm" is one of the worst thing to do to a three-strand rope!
Try laying it down in a figure of eight if you want a 'neat' result. If recovering from use just drop it into the anchor locker as you haul it in.
A good way of getting rid of the kinks is to tow the rope behind you for a while... making sure that you are in a clear area of water.
After buying new rope you should tie one end to a strong point (on land) and pull as hard as you can on the free end. Send 'snakes' along to the fixed end by jerking the end that you are holding repeatedly up and down. Repeat the pulling and the 'snaking' for as long as you can. Untie the fixed end and start retrieving the rope while laying it down in a figure of eight as above.
If the rope is not too thick and long you can do the 'eights' quite easily if you use your forearms as a sort of creel,or like a rugby referee (see photo below) putting the forearms under the loose rope and pulling, left-right-left-right, always gathering from underneath. Easier to do than to describe.

 

[prv]

Never do that wrapping round your arm thing- that's how housewives used to coil the washing line.

A friend bought 25 metres of three strand for his canal boat, he had coiled it round his elbow and hand

Says it all really - bloody ditch-crawlers

Pete

 

[Flica]

I've got 50m, 8mm chain attached to 50m 14mm octoplait.
In the 27 years of use (textile use infrequent) I've never had tangle problems when laying.

Flaking it away should stop the problem pf tangling and a change to octoplait give further relief.

I anchor about 100 time a year - so it's not something of which I have no experience.

 

[salar]

I have 200 metres of 14mm nylon 3 strand which I regularly use when anchoring for fishing. It is simply "stuffed" into the anchor locker from above as it is brought in. As long as what comes in next sits on top of what came in before, it will come out again in the same order even if it doesn't look to pretty down there.

 

[William_H]

Second the "stuff it in" approach. As said just attach the bitter end to the bottom of the locker stuff the rope in on top followed by the chain with the anchor sitting on top.
Indeed all the ropes on my boat, jib sheets spin sheets and down hauls are all stowed in a bag made of old sail cloth and are stuffed in as described. I used to attach the ends of spin sheet to the bag handles but it seems unnecessary. Sadly helpful crew do occasionally try to coil ropes and I try not to get grumpy at that. I tell them my boat would be marred by any form of tidiness. While in fact after 35 years there is a place for every thing when packing up.
To carefully flake the rope or lay in fig. 8s is ok but unnecessary. The correct word I believe is actually "fake" not flake.
For a MOB heaving line I made a longish sail cloth bag with the bitter end protruding from the bottom and the rope stuffed in closed off at the top by velcro but with end emerging.
OP mentioned buying a hold all which might be a way of stowing and handling anchor and rope in a similar way.
Cut a hole out for the bitter end to emerge so that you can attach it to the boat and put the rope in the anchor on top. olewill

 

[Neeves]

We have the opposite approach. We keep all our mooring lines in milk crates and each mooring line is neatly coiled so that you can take each out in turn. We have space to also store shore lines and spare snubbers - again all neatly coiled. We do something similar with our spare anchor rode which is 3ply nylon, 40m and chain 15m x 6mm. After using the spare rode, commonly from 'V' anchoring I take the trouble to neatly pack the rope inside but round the perimeter of the crate and the pack the chain into the hole that develops in the centre of the coil - leaving the shackle at the top. The anchor is packed separately, its far too big for the crate. We, or anyone else, can then deploy the rode from anywhere we like, bow, stern or dinghy without any chance of there being a tangle.

Our bow locker neatly takes 6 milk crates, 2 stacks of 3 and the spade rode is at the top. The anchors and fenders lie along side the crates in a space roughly the same size as the 6 crates.

Catamarans commonly have large bow lockers and I appreciate most monohulls will not have this space at the bow. Different solutions will be necessary. I'm sure there are many 'right' answers.

 

[Spirit (of Glenans)]

I am interested in your use of "fankle" as a synonym for "flake". I have only ever come across "fankle" in Scots usage as a noun meaning "tangle" or a verb meaning "to entangle", and the dictionaries I have looked at support this. Thus if my anchor rode was fankled I would be annoyed.

I thought it was how they pronounce "tangle" in Essex .....it's ok. I was born in Chelmsford!