400 foot of chain too heavy?-gctid380945

[Guest]

I am thinking about going with 400 foot of chain on my 38. The Admiral struggles with switching from rope to chain on the Muir windless and it really puts a damper on the two of us going out alone. I have a custom stainless steel water tank under the master stateroom bed and it is about 80 gallons.. If I add 400 foot of chain I am concerned that the water tank + chain weight will affect my performance. I have the Chrysler Mitts and cruise between 7 and 9 knots depending on conditions..

Any thoughts or advice on this is appreciated..

[yachtman]

I have 300 ft of 1/4ht chain. It fills up 3. 5 gallon buckets and takes 2 people to carry it. Its pretty heavy although i dont know the full wight. On a 38 you probably wont notice it much. Probably like having a large person sitting up front

[capt._ron]

I have 300' of 5/16 BBB, I added 250' to the existing 50' last year and can't tell any difference in the boat. 5/16 BBB weighs 1.1 pound per foot.

[mmichellich]

On our 38 and 47 we use(d) 300 feet of line and 300 feet of chain. Helps keep the bow down.

[ksanders]

The Muir Windlass can be a real bear to switch from Rode to Chain when pulling the anchor.

I have a solution.

I have a chain grab just like you use on a logging or tow chain. This unit is tied to a short (18" or so) piece of line that is looped over the cleat on the windlass.

When I pull up the anchor I get the chain/rode right against the rope capstan as far as I can get it.

Then I put the chain grab on the chain as far down as I can get it so it it as tight as possible.

Then just lower the anchor a bit to let the chain grab take up the weight of the chain/anchor.

After that its easy to just lay the chain over the chain capstan, lift the anchor with the windlass, unhook the chain grab and continue pulling the anchor.

Works like a piece of cake.

We have 100' of chain and 600' of rode.

[Guest]

You might want to find out how much that chain will weigh in at, and find out with some weights?........ if the winch can handle it. Our 4588 has 300 feet of chain. When I had a bunch of chain out I was surprised how much it slowed down the Muir on the way up. My winch is recently rebuit, and runs quiet and smooth. Might be worth checking.

Steve

[boatworkfl]

I have often wondered what a boater with 400 ft of chain does when the windlass stops working, you cannot bouy it unless you have enough line to bouy it, then you have to worry about someone pulling it up while you repair the windlass.

[Nikko]

boatworkfl wrote:
I have often wondered what a boater with 400 ft of chain does when the windlass stops working, you cannot bouy it unless you have enough line to bouy it, then you have to worry about someone pulling it up while you repair the windlass.

you put 100' of line on the end and float on the end of that - let it go, go fix the windlass and come back the next day to retrieve. Simple

[ksanders]

boatworkfl wrote:
I have often wondered what a boater with 400 ft of chain does when the windlass stops working, you cannot bouy it unless you have enough line to bouy it, then you have to worry about someone pulling it up while you repair the windlass.

It would take forever but the Muir windlass has a hand operate feature. Toy just need to have a cheater pipe with a 3/4" opening to operate it.

[Guest]

And don't forget, on each heave-ho, you won't be lifting 440 lb of chain all at once. You're only lifting the weight of what's hanging between you and the bottom. On the west coast, I know achorages can be pretty deep, but for many of us it's 20' or less in most anchorages.

[Guest]

I have 300ft of 5/16 in my 3870 and the weight doesn't make any noticable difference.

I have had my windless fail and had to pull the chain in by hand. My wife tied off each 2 ft that I pulled up. She said that she thought I was going to have a heart attack. I had to lay down to rest in between pulls. I think we were in 75 ft of water. Never again.

[SomeSailor]

I heard a neat trick the other day that I wanna try. You use one of those anchor retrieval rings to get a loop of light rope down to the anchor and once it's on the stock you pull a fender under the surface with that line. It doesn't raise the anchor, but decreases the weight enough for a geezer to lift the chain and remaining weight.

[Guest]

Thanks for all the replies and advice.. I will go with the 400 and I still have the option of chopping chain off if needed. Based on the reply's I don't think its necessary but I do have that water tank up there as well.. Thanks again..

[Guest]

It's about the same as a couple of fat guys on the bow......no biggie.

[mmichellich]

On our 38, I once anchored in about 300 plus feet of water to watch a fire works display. I found out about midnight that the windless would not retrieve more than about 175 feet of chain straight down to the bottom and had to retrieve almost half by hand a few links at a time with the hand crank bar until the chain weighed less. 400 feet of chain in the 38 chainlocker may not leave any room for a line backer if you think it might ever be needed.