Chain counter retrofit.

[Chartres]

First of all, how come Lewmar chain counters are so expensive?

36 foot sailboat, 300 ft chain, 300 ft 3 strand.
I thought of putting the small simple one at the chain locker so I of wife could see exactly how much chain we have out. Sometimes the markings are near impossible to see.

Then the browsing took me to a counter at the helm with the added convenience of being able to let out more/bring back in some chain. Or while anchoring solo, or if one of us is in dinghy to stern tie, the other at helm holding boat in current/wind.

I then found other products not from Lewmar, such as Mz Radio Remote Control Up-Down 2 Buttons Chain-Counter

This would give me the counter, the ability to let out/retrieve chain and could be used in either place.

Anyone had any experience with this, or similar devices?

 

[marcham]

Lofrans also makes a wireless unit. Pulling wires from bow to stern ain't no fun! I'm happy with their unit. Took 20 minutes to install.

I hold on to the counter at the helm, wife takes care of the pedals/switches and I let her know when we're good.

 

[jssailem]

I use Painted Chain and colored zip ties to mark 30, 60, 90 feet. No chain counter.

 

[Foswick]

Long story, but I spent a few years functionally blind. I learned to measure a lot of things by sound and counting. For example, filling a glass of water - you can hear the rate at which water goes in the glass and count it off as the glass fills. A standard drinking glass is a 5 or 6-count fill. No need to stick your finger in the water to see if the glass is full.

So, even though my vision is fine now, the habit stuck. It comes in handy sometimes. So, I learned to count chain by sound - which is pretty accurate (accurate enough) with a little practice. It's a little hard to explain, but not hard to do (provided you can hear the chain pay out).

There is a rumble at a certain frequency that serves as a sort of metronome for counting off "and a 1 and a 2 and a 3 ... " and so on. (Actually, what goes through my head is "digga digga digga 1 digga digga digga 2 ...", but you get the idea.) You just need to find that rhythm on your boat and find out how much chain is in one "beat". Count off 100 feet and do the math. For me, it's just a bit over 6 feet per beat with some slop at the startup and shutdown of the windlass.

I can estimate +/- about 4-5 feet per 50 feet of chain - so close enough.

My problem is that if one hand is on the windlass switch, I can only count to 5 without taking my shoes off.