Anchor chain backing up in chain locker

I have a 39 Californian with 320' of chain. Problem is the chain locker is under the V Birth about 5' aft of the windlass. currently the chain drops straight down to the inside of the forepeak and travels down a ramp into the chain locker. As u can imagine this chain moving down a slope is not nearly as efficient as a straight drop into a chain locker. Consequently I have to have someone crawl under the Vbirth mattress and open the chain locker to pull on the chain as it is fed down the forepeak to avoid backing up. This is a real PIA !! Obviously dropping chain straight down from the deck thru the center of the V birth is not an ideal solution. Anyone out there with a similar problem and setup they have worked thru ?

Thanks !!!!

Keith

Maybe a stainless chute on the slope to make things a little more slippery? Could probably be fabricated pretty easily by a metal shop.

I would look at HDMW plastic to line the chute. High Density Molecular Weight plastic is very slippery and wear resistant. You might look at extending the chute a bit further into the area so the chain doesn't pile right by the bulkhead.

Have the same issue with my 41 President. Tried using a piece of ABS pipe to direct the chain but what happens is the chain piles up under the end of the pipe and clogs up quicker. There is still not enough of a vertical drop to help the chain clear the pipe. Wound up cutting most f the pipe out to let the chain drop where it will. Have not figured out a solution yet. Look forward to seeing what you figure out.

Marty.......................

Keith,

UHMW is available as a tape too...
https://www.mcmaster.com/#uhmw-polyethylene-tape/=178ryhu

A magic material from my old bag of engineering tricks. The surface you apply it to will have to be smooth, clean. Might need to sand and paint it first.

But that is a tough problem. If you can get more slope (doubt it) and drop at the end do that too.

Other happy-hour brainstorms: can you vibrate or shake the ramp somehow with a wire or rope?

Does stop/start during retrieve help or make it worse?

Previous threads raised using a "traffic cone" placed in the locker so the chain hits the top of it and falls around it, preventing a "pyramid" forming which eventually stops chain going down the pipe. Won`t work on all boats. I`ll avoid how you acquire such a cone. Ours does it rarely enough that we just open the door to the chain locker behind the fwd berth and give the chain a good whack.

GoneFarrell said:

Keith,

UHMW is available as a tape too...
https://www.mcmaster.com/#uhmw-polyethylene-tape/=178ryhu

A magic material from my old bag of engineering tricks. The surface you apply it to will have to be smooth, clean. Might need to sand and paint it first.

Click to expand...

Great link! That may be just the solution I'm looking for on a similar issue on my 34 Californian. The 12" x 36" x 1/8" sheet would be just about perfect!

The 1 inch wide self-adhesive strip would be perfect for my sliding door tracks.

I imagine a thin coat of 4200 to level the surface under the adhesive strip would work well on the anchor locker slope.

I'll bet your boat didn't come with 320' of chain. My guess (I can't see your setup from here) is that you have far too much chain for your anchor locker.


Do you really need that much chain? Could you borrow a rope to chain rode and see if that solves the problem? Or just let all the chain out and measure how much will go back in without a problem?

BruceK said:

Previous threads raised using a "traffic cone" placed in the locker so the chain hits the top of it and falls around it, preventing a "pyramid" forming which eventually stops chain going down the pipe. Won`t work on all boats. I`ll avoid how you acquire such a cone. Ours does it rarely enough that we just open the door to the chain locker behind the fwd berth and give the chain a good whack.

Click to expand...

That would work if the chain was dropping straight down into the chain locker. Unfortunately Keith's issue, and mine, is that the chain locker is aft of where the chain passes through the deck. In my case is is about 4 feet aft. Trying to get the chain to move horizontally is the real issue.

Marty..........................

. "Unfortunately Keith's issue, and mine, is that the chain locker is aft of where the chain passes through the deck. In my case is is about 4 feet aft."

Move the windlass?

My boat has a similar issue. I have mitigated it in two ways. First I removed all 350' of chain to have it regalvanized. when I put it back in I carefully flaked the first 225' in stacked layers on the far side of the box, from where the long plastic tube dumps it. That way the last 125' can go right to the bottom of the box out of the tube. That helps a lot, but is still occasionally hangs up. The other thing the boat came with that is still a pain, but makes it easier than it would be otherwise, is a strap under the mattress that hooks to a hook on the ceiling, so it holds the mattress up out of your way while you access the anchor locker, There is also a 24' stainless steel rod with a hooked end that we just keep below the mattress, for guiding the chain around in the locker as we pull it in. It is still a pain, but better than having to reach down there with your hand, with the mattress on top of you. My biggest complaint is that it makes it hard to take off at dawn and let my wife sleep in, as I need her off the bed, and monitoring the chain. Where we anchor I have never needed more than 120' of chain, but it is nice to know I have it, and I suspect I may need it this summer when we head north into harder anchoring areas.

Another thing I would like to try, but have been too cheap, is to replace the first 100' of chain with Stainless steel, and have it welded to the galvanized chain. I think it would be slipperier, and self flake in the locker better, and it would also pick up less mud.

The very simple fix for chain backing up in the locker is to pull all the chain out of the locker, slide your boat out away from the dock. Then slide a much bigger boat back next to the pile of chain and reload. Works every time.

having trouble picturing it, is there any chance you could modify to make the slope steeper? My boat sort of has the reverse where there's a short ramp forward underneath the the windlass.. its not even that steep and just un gel'd fiberglass and seems to slide the chain just fine.