Ne'er a tangled web be weaved
"all chain, is captive on the Simpson Lawrence windlass, with no place to gobut directly down into the below decks aft chain locker, through a very small opening in the electric windlass base, and no way to watch and adjust the rode manually if it bunches up, etc."Chain will not bunch up without an outside force twisting the heck out of it. One reason to use all chain in a lower locker with windlass. As John mentioned, a lot of the chain may be left in the bottom of the locker. At least once per year (and probably more often if you can) you should pull all the chain rode and give it a freshwater washdown. This reduces the amount of salt buildup and other assorted "gunk" from aging the chain."Does a wet rode behave itself nicely coming off the windlass, or would I have a tangled mess below?"HOW well a rode "behaves itself" depends a great deal on the type of rode and its age. Typically, though, you will probably have to "help" the rode fall in place in the anchor locker. Do not help it into flakes, figure-eights, or any other formatted pattern as that actually causes knots/tangles. As John mentioned, the rode tends to build up in a pyramid. That's fine if the anchor locker is tall enough to hold the entire rode in a pyramid after the anchor is placed on top of it; few if any are that big. So, do you let the pyramid build until it falls? I prefer not to; this introduces a twist or two and can cause tangles. When I "help" the rode into the locker I simply let it fall in, but I direct it to the corners, then maybe the middle, then back to another corner, etc. etc. This allows the rode to lay naturally on itself, but reduces the vertical space required. It also allows the anchor to sit in its built-in chocks in the locker without resting on the rode. (Of course, that depends on the size and stiffness of the rode, the length of rode, size of anchor, and size of locker.)Hope this helps.