heh, heh. you are so in trouble now. you are hooked way worse than you know. sailing is almost like crack (so i hear). i have been a sailaholic for about six years now. bad thing is I dont want to quit. and what ever you do never ever race.
EVENT HORIZON Sail Countdown
- Thread starter Stu Jackson
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Way to go.:dance: I agree totally. I am blessed with great sailing grounds. Buzzards Bay always has wind. I reefed my main for the first time yesterday. I'm usually fighting weather helm but with a reef she was much more manageable.
As far as anchoring. I have a bow roller with a 25 lbs Mason Supreme with 60' of 5/16 chain. There are many posts about anchoring. It's a science in itself. You can find a lot of advise by searching. The best I found was pulling the line in until the anchor was directly under the boat then hold her or cleat her if necessary, and let the wave action of the boat pull the anchor out of the ground. It works with a little patience. I've only had one bad experience. About 1:30am it started to blow from the north. We were exposed with unlimited fetch. By 6:00am it was blowing 25-30 kts with 4-6ft breaking seas. Lot's of big boats all around us. My relationship to the other boats hadn't changed but the beach was getting closer. This was in part because the tide was going out. A 25' power boat behind me actually broke anchor and washed ashore. I needed my wife(who was burried under the covers to scared to come out) to power forward just to even pull on the anchor line. I didn't have the strength. It was a pretty scary, I'd get half of the line in and a wave would break it free from my hands. I just didn't have enough time to cleat it. Back out it all went. Finally after about 15 minutes I got her free and pulled it up. We powered into a mooring field. I called the harbor master but there were no moorings to be had. He opened up Katama Bay, a sheltered bay that normally doesn't allow overnight anchoring. We dropped anchor and I slept like a rock, I was up all night. When I woke there must have been 30 new boats all around us! What I learned was to keep a heavy pair of work gloves in the anchor locker. The palms of my hands were beat to crap. I also keep a pair of hand held radios I used for skiing on board. It's is very difficult for anyone at the helm to hear what is being shouted from the bow. I wish I had a windless! You know the longer you have the boat the larger your wish list becomes.
As far as anchoring. I have a bow roller with a 25 lbs Mason Supreme with 60' of 5/16 chain. There are many posts about anchoring. It's a science in itself. You can find a lot of advise by searching. The best I found was pulling the line in until the anchor was directly under the boat then hold her or cleat her if necessary, and let the wave action of the boat pull the anchor out of the ground. It works with a little patience. I've only had one bad experience. About 1:30am it started to blow from the north. We were exposed with unlimited fetch. By 6:00am it was blowing 25-30 kts with 4-6ft breaking seas. Lot's of big boats all around us. My relationship to the other boats hadn't changed but the beach was getting closer. This was in part because the tide was going out. A 25' power boat behind me actually broke anchor and washed ashore. I needed my wife(who was burried under the covers to scared to come out) to power forward just to even pull on the anchor line. I didn't have the strength. It was a pretty scary, I'd get half of the line in and a wave would break it free from my hands. I just didn't have enough time to cleat it. Back out it all went. Finally after about 15 minutes I got her free and pulled it up. We powered into a mooring field. I called the harbor master but there were no moorings to be had. He opened up Katama Bay, a sheltered bay that normally doesn't allow overnight anchoring. We dropped anchor and I slept like a rock, I was up all night. When I woke there must have been 30 new boats all around us! What I learned was to keep a heavy pair of work gloves in the anchor locker. The palms of my hands were beat to crap. I also keep a pair of hand held radios I used for skiing on board. It's is very difficult for anyone at the helm to hear what is being shouted from the bow. I wish I had a windless! You know the longer you have the boat the larger your wish list becomes.
I alomst lost a finger when I pulled the chain in and it decided it was going back out no matter what I thought.
I need a bow roller that has a clutch bearing in it or a pawl and ratchet that I can release at will. That way it will only come in.
I need a bow roller that has a clutch bearing in it or a pawl and ratchet that I can release at will. That way it will only come in.
I remember reading a post about bringing the line back to a winch. At least you'd get 25' of chain upon deck before it reached the winch. Then I could have used my 30' of 1/2 nylon spliced with a 5/16 chain hook to pull the rest up. I wished I'd thought of that when I was busting my butt. You still need a bow roller. I can't tell you how much stuff you can learn on this site!
That was an amazing experience. I was sitting at the bow with my legs inside the well and a wave would come over and fill the anchor locker to the brim. Thank God it drains fast. My PJ's were soaked.
That was an amazing experience. I was sitting at the bow with my legs inside the well and a wave would come over and fill the anchor locker to the brim. Thank God it drains fast. My PJ's were soaked.
Anchor line led aft
Hermit, you buy a small chain hook, the smallest is for 5/16 chain, but it'll work for 1/4 as well. Then you tie a short length of line to the chain hook, long enough to tie to one of your bow cleats. This line doesn't have to be 1/2 inch, I used about four feet of 3/8 line I had laying around. Raise the chain and use the hook and line as a chain stopper. Leave the line cleated to the bow cleat and just release it from the chain as you pull more in. Once you get the idea you'll determine the right length of line and distance from the cleat to the chain. I do it all on deck, some do it forward of the bow roller. I still have the toy bow rollers that Catalina used on all its boats until the late eighties.
This idea is lots lots less expensive than a windlass or manufactured chain stoppers, which IMHO, are a complete waste of $$ given this chain hook and short line concept, which I shamelessly stole from the "ancients."
If you don't have a bow roller, either get one (you really only need one for starters and the toy bow rollers work just fine; someone recently posted the advantage of the shorter toy ones is that the longer ones present a moment arm in heavy weather that really isn't too good - think about it) or put rub strakes on the edge of the deck up at the bow to protect the fiberglass edge from chain and anchor rode wear and tear. I didn't have a bow roller on our C25 and did this. Anchored out a lot.
One other idea: begin to assemble a bunch of short lengths of different line. While "Good Old Boat" magazine wrote this up years ago, us old salts always have handy scads of line left from various projects over the years. Save them and have them handy, you never know when they'll come in handy. One use is to tie the clew of a reefed sail to the boom as an extra precaution when reefed in addition to the reefing clew line. Another is for this chain hook. You'll find lotsa uses for those bunches of leftover line - kinda like leftover meat loaf, lasts a looong time.:dance:
Here's that picture again. It would be a lot easier if you had a separate shorter line to tie to the real anchor line and then used the winch.
Hermit, you buy a small chain hook, the smallest is for 5/16 chain, but it'll work for 1/4 as well. Then you tie a short length of line to the chain hook, long enough to tie to one of your bow cleats. This line doesn't have to be 1/2 inch, I used about four feet of 3/8 line I had laying around. Raise the chain and use the hook and line as a chain stopper. Leave the line cleated to the bow cleat and just release it from the chain as you pull more in. Once you get the idea you'll determine the right length of line and distance from the cleat to the chain. I do it all on deck, some do it forward of the bow roller. I still have the toy bow rollers that Catalina used on all its boats until the late eighties.
This idea is lots lots less expensive than a windlass or manufactured chain stoppers, which IMHO, are a complete waste of $$ given this chain hook and short line concept, which I shamelessly stole from the "ancients."
If you don't have a bow roller, either get one (you really only need one for starters and the toy bow rollers work just fine; someone recently posted the advantage of the shorter toy ones is that the longer ones present a moment arm in heavy weather that really isn't too good - think about it) or put rub strakes on the edge of the deck up at the bow to protect the fiberglass edge from chain and anchor rode wear and tear. I didn't have a bow roller on our C25 and did this. Anchored out a lot.
One other idea: begin to assemble a bunch of short lengths of different line. While "Good Old Boat" magazine wrote this up years ago, us old salts always have handy scads of line left from various projects over the years. Save them and have them handy, you never know when they'll come in handy. One use is to tie the clew of a reefed sail to the boom as an extra precaution when reefed in addition to the reefing clew line. Another is for this chain hook. You'll find lotsa uses for those bunches of leftover line - kinda like leftover meat loaf, lasts a looong time.:dance:
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I intend on building the shortest bow roller that will allow the claw to sit on. The moment is a concern to me also. I am going to build it and mount it so it can be load bearing. I saw a pic maine sail posted of a bow roller that looked like some one broke it's nose.
I am going to build an I-beam out of 3/4" PVC with a roller on the front. I think I have to cut my bow pulpit to fit it in there.
The chain tore up the gel near the chock on the bow. but I have been repairing the deck all over. There is epoxy spots all over it, like primer spots on a car when you are 16 and "fixin' it up". After I finish learning how not to tear my boat up, then I will paint the deck a few years from now.
I want a roller that will positively gear with the chain. Is there a name for a roller that is designed to accept chain, like the winch on a windless?
I am going to build an I-beam out of 3/4" PVC with a roller on the front. I think I have to cut my bow pulpit to fit it in there.
The chain tore up the gel near the chock on the bow. but I have been repairing the deck all over. There is epoxy spots all over it, like primer spots on a car when you are 16 and "fixin' it up". After I finish learning how not to tear my boat up, then I will paint the deck a few years from now.
I want a roller that will positively gear with the chain. Is there a name for a roller that is designed to accept chain, like the winch on a windless?
Stu, I thought it was you that posted that, should have given you the credit.
I was doing that that terrible morning. I'd get it partially in and loose it before I was able to hook the chain. I use the cleat inside the anchor locker. The best tool you have when things aren't going right is your head.
The trick for me is to not loosen the line holding the chain hook. I thought at first that was the way to go and use the hook and line to pull the chain. NOT. Just keep yankin' the chain until it's vertical. If you can't pull after that, it's either wait for the tide to rise or use the engine to pull the anchor out, or do this: http://c34.org/bbs/index.php/topic,5064.0.html
The hook and line is to avoid having to wrap the chain around a cleat, that's all.
YOUR problem Bob, was the PJs, everyone knows you're supposed to be in your birthday suit that early in the morning!
One of the downsides of your "marina" hermit is that you can't see what others have done. Many of us get good ideas by looking at lots of other boats and working from what works for others. I recognize the limitations you have, but again I suggest you spend a day walking the docks at a full "nice" marina and take pictures and get ideas.
Chock on the bow? Did you install chocks instead of cleats? I recommend getting rid of the chocks which will only eat up your lines. I think they're the worst thing ever invented for boats.
Rollers don't gear with chains, only windlass gypsies do. That WM catalog you couldn't get comes in handy to see bow rollers. Or, like I said a number of times, go online and look at bow rollers. NONE of them have gypsies. That's why they call them ROLLERS, hermit...
I have looked at bow rollers on line. I also have walked the marinas and looked at bow rollers on the bigger sailboats. I have only dropped anchor twice now, but one thing I saw was I pulled the chain in and it got pulled back out by the boat moving or the waves. I think it would be a good idea to have a one way gypsy on the end of a bow roller. I was wondering if they make them. If they don't, I will make one.
Stu-what are you saying is a good idea or a bad idea? The chock was already there. There are two bow cleats.
You CAN buy just the chain gypsy in a size to fit your chain, but one-way? You can probably find a used one. Baconsails in Annapolis has them. Then you'd just need a stong enough axle for it to spin on. Otherwise, you'd want a chain stopper. Page 150 West catalog.
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I think I will accomplish the 'one way' mechanism by putting a pawl and ratchet onthe shaft like a winch. So when I pull the chain across the bow roller that has the chain grabbing sprocket the chain won't pay back out.
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