Unlined Anchor Chain Locker, Inside of Hull, Plain GRP- Is This OK?

[Deleted member 36384]

The anchor locker on my Rival 41 is currently the aft most locker below the fore cabin bunks. This means that the pipe for the chain runs aft, across the middle of the fore cabin before dropping into the top of the locker. The system does not work well and the chain just piles up and jams, the pipe gets in the way and a perfectly serviceable locker (it could hold the spinnaker) is wasted on chain.

To the front of the chain locker is another, smaller locker below the fore cabin bunks and it is more or less directly below the hawse pipe. The locker is not lined at all, just the inside of the hull, plain GRP and it has a limber hole.

Do you think there would be an issue just letting the chain fall into and lie against the plain GRP? I have 10mm galvanised chain. The smaller locker would be quite awkward to line with ply. My main concern is that there would be a higher degree of wear on the GRP. I am not worried about moving the weight of chain forward.

 

[NormanS]

Sounds OK to me. Running chain down through sloping pipes is a recipe for trouble. The more vertical drop, the better.

 

[BarryH]

The chain locker on my boat is plain grp, the inside of the hull and the forward bulkhead of the forepeak. Its 30 odd years old and looks ok. I was thinking of lining the locker in something like a camping matt material jus to dampen the noise. I have woken the daughter more than once. She sleeps in the forepeak and says it sounds like a rock fall.

I did put a ply "floor" in the locker so that the water can drain off below and out of the locker drain. The locker drain is not right at the bottom so always leave a couple of inches of water sitting there.

 

[LittleSister]

All of the three anchor chain lockers I've had in different boats have been unlined, bare grp. Never had a problem. (These were, though, all much smaller boats than yours.) Perhaps if one were dragging the anchor chain in and out daily over a period of years it would warrant making a lining.

 

[Hadenough]

I assume by "plain GRP" you mean gel coated? Mine and I assume most chain lockers are like that. My boat is 30 years old and I have no worries about the inside finish of a (much used) chain locker.

 

[Deleted member 36384]

Thanks for sharing your observations and experiences. It shall remain unlined and I will use the time for other things. The plain GRP is painted grey and is not gel coated from what I cant tell.

 

[prv]

I assume by "plain GRP" you mean gel coated? Mine and I assume most chain lockers are like that. My boat is 30 years old and I have no worries about the inside finish of a (much used) chain locker.

My anchor locker is also plain GRP, but no gelcoat over most of it. It's just the inside surface of the hull moulding.

I've occasionally contemplated putting some kind of matting up the inside (perhaps that hard rubber grating stuff you used to see round swimming pools) but not yet bothered. The boat's been in charter for fifteen years (albeit in the Solent so maybe not that much anchoring!) and the inside of the chain locker is not noticeably worn.

Last year we did manage to raise anchor, shift berth, and re-anchor without waking up a four-year-old boy sleeping in the forepeak - but I think he must have been exceptionally tired

Pete

 

[Seajet]

The usual answer to chain piling up in a locker is to put a traffic cone under the hawse pipe ( or something very similar with ' marine ' written on it and big price tag ) - this distributes the chain around.

As for chain in an unlined locker, well chain may be Ok but I know someone who bashed to windward with an unsecured anchor, chain & warp in a locker and it caused star cracks visible from outside.

I have a bit of malleable alloy sheet in my anchor locker, on the bottom and the sides, to protect the grp ( also a bolted eye point & elastic sail tie to secure the anchor itself ); I expect a rubber car mat would do the job too.

 

[vyv_cox]

This is the chain locker on Cecilia with freshly galvanised chain neatly piled. The locker is painted GRP with a piece of rubber mat simply to protect the paint a little and a stainless steel trivet below so that the chain is not constantly wet. Neither of these is strictly necessary - Straitshooter has neither, simply plain GRP.