Retrieving anchor

menzies said:

Are you usually retrieving the anchor solo?

My wife is the anchor wench. When she is on the bow with her foot on the switch she has her arm out giving me the direction AND the horizontal line of the chain. I can then use the engines to power in that direction to have the boat come up on the anchor. As her arm starts to lower, meaning I am coming up on the anchor or the chain is too slack I ease off on the engines. When she has her arm straight down it means I am over the anchor and can push past a little to bump it off.

Doing this we always retrieve continuously.

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I envy you . Wifey is not happy being at the bow during anchor retrieval. I'll try passing on your suggestions, maybe I'll get lucky.

foggysail said:

I envy you . Wifey is not happy being at the bow during anchor retrieval. I'll try passing on your suggestions, maybe I'll get lucky.

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Has she ever said why? Wonder if the next time you have a third competent person on board they could take it out of the anchorage while you both go to the bow and go through it.

I have the anchor switch at both helm stations but we feel seeing the chain to and fro the waterline is best all around.

Deploying or retrieving the anchor from the helm only works if you don't secure the rode while anchored or while underway. You have to go to the bow to let it loose so it can be put down or brought up. Or did you forget to read the directions for the windlass?

Never use the windlass to pull the boat forward towards the anchor. Use the engine. Or did you forget to read the directions for the windlass?

If your anchor won't come up easily with the windlass, cleat the rode off and use the boat's engine or wave action to free it. Then pull it up with the windlass. I don't know if that's in the windlass directions or not but it does take the strain off the windlass.

Adjust the clutch on the windlass so it slips before the windlass stalls or slows down. If it won't pull the anchor up at this setting, see the paragraph above.

If your wife has trouble doing the anchor thing, swap places with her. Let her drive the boat and you handle the anchor.

WesK said:

Deploying or retrieving the anchor from the helm only works if you don't secure the rode while anchored or while underway. You have to go to the bow to let it loose so it can be put down or brought up. Or did you forget to read the directions for the windlass?

Never use the windlass to pull the boat forward towards the anchor. Use the engine. Or did you forget to read the directions for the windlass?

If your anchor won't come up easily with the windlass, cleat the rode off and use the boat's engine or wave action to free it. Then pull it up with the windlass. I don't know if that's in the windlass directions or not but it does take the strain off the windlass.

Adjust the clutch on the windlass so it slips before the windlass stalls or slows down. If it won't pull the anchor up at this setting, see the paragraph above.

If your wife has trouble doing the anchor thing, swap places with her. Let her drive the boat and you handle the anchor.

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Well now I don't fully agree with all that, and certainly not the tonality!

One can lower the anchor, then go to the bow and do the snubber later. Inversely one can remove the snubber and then go to the PH to retrieve.

Also, it is darned difficult to cleat off 3/8 chain. Doable of course by threading a line from cleat to link, but not what I would be having my anchor wench or myself do! I would rather set the pawl let out an inch or so to have the pawl take up the strain and push forward.

Reading the manual. Always a good idea. Though for some doing so means you have to hand in your man card!

I use a chain hook to hold the anchor in place when under way and the same hook for setting the anchor. I use a line to attach the bridle after the anchor is set. The PO used the pawl, and judging from its condition, put a lot of strain on the windless and only used a bridle when on a mooring. Consequently, I use the pawl as only a backup to the bridle and chain hook.

The chain hook also it used on those few times when it seems as if the windless is struggling a bit to get the anchor to release from the bottom.

I think a chain stopper would be a cleaner option than the chain hook, but I don't have one and am not sure where and how I would install it on my pulpit without some major modifications. So a SS chain hook and 1/2" 3 strand is doing the job for now.

menzies said:

Well now I don't fully agree with all that, and certainly not the tonality!

One can lower the anchor, then go to the bow and do the snubber later. Inversely one can remove the snubber and then go to the PH to retrieve.

Also, it is darned difficult to cleat off 3/8 chain. Doable of course by threading a line from cleat to link, but not what I would be having my anchor wench or myself do! I would rather set the pawl let out an inch or so to have the pawl take up the strain and push forward.

Reading the manual. Always a good idea. Though for some doing so means you have to hand in your man card!

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Thanks Menzies

I tried earlier to not be snotty. Sometimes though I just cannot avoid doing so, you just saved the day!

Foggy

WesK said:

Deploying or retrieving the anchor from the helm only works if you don't secure the rode while anchored or while underway. You have to go to the bow to let it loose so it can be put down or brought up. Or did you forget to read the directions for the windlass?

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I disagree with this part...at least from my own experience on my own boat. My anchor is secured on the bow with a SS tether attached to the pulpit. As I approach an anchorage when single-handing, I'll go to the bow and release the tether. It's similar to deploying fenders or prepping lines before docking. No need to do it until I get close to the anchorage. I also have a helm-mounted windlass circuit breaker that can be flipped off to prevent inadvertent deployment.

Then when I reach my fishing hole/anchorage, I push one button at the helm and drop the hook. When the required rode is out, I can use pulpit cleat to secure the Brait rode or a snubber to secure the chain. Then I set the anchor. If it's an area of benign conditions in shallow water for a short fishing stop, I might not bother with the snubber. All overnight anchorings get snubbed or cleated.

We release tether early when approaching anchorage. Wife is on the anchor and I'm at the helm. She does not free fall but lets down with the windlass. Once we back down and set the anchor, I leave the helm and hook the snubber lines on the chain taking all pressure off the windlass. On departing we reverse roles. Under normal conditions wind wise I work the windlass in short bursts bring boat to vertically over it. I also have the wash down hose in hand cleaning off chain as it comes in and then anchor when at waterline. She has the helm and takes control of boat once anchor is free and at waterline. I bring it on up and if necessary will switch off windlass and hand spin chain to line up the 65 lb. rocha for correct entry back onto the pulpit. I then switch on windlass and complete pulling the anchor in, then refasten the tether. Yes, I have true respect for the power and risk of that windlass thus the extra trip to the breaker to manually adjust the chain. One scary misstep a couple of years ago with no negative consequences was the only lesson I needed to recognize a bad thing could happen. On the other hand manually handling 120' of chain and the anchor is out of the question for this 71 year old if there s a choice and we certainly have one. I also have a remote but have not had to use it since I haven't single-handed and had to use anchor.