Anchor locker

[Delfini]

I have a 1980 Albin 36.
Has an electric windless that drops 100’ of chain directly below into a bow locker accessible only from the forward cabin.
The problem is only about 60-70 ft feed in and then it piles so high it backs up.
The locker is too small and 100 ft isn’t nearly enough. Although it appears obviously unsolvable without major remodeling Anyone have a solution?

[Bacchus]

Others have reported success using a traffic cone to disperse the chain and minimize then"stacking" in a pyramid.

[Comodave]

Some have made a slide into an area aft of the rope locker. You can use some PVC tube and bend it with heat to form the curve necessary to reach back under a Vee berth if there is one. Then position the PVC tube under the windlass and let the chain slide down the tube and under the berth. If you have a configuration that would allow this to work.

[jgwinks]

On my Concorde the chain locker was pretty wide but only 18" deep. It had a plywood floor with a deep void underneath so I just cut the floor out with a saber saw. Chain now drops about 5 feet into the void, no stacking.

[jgwinks]

Originally Posted by Comodave

Some have made a slide into an area aft of the rope locker. You can use some PVC tube and bend it with heat to form the curve necessary to reach back under a Vee berth if there is one. Then position the PVC tube under the windlass and let the chain slide down the tube and under the berth. If you have a configuration that would allow this to work.

They used to do that a lot back in the olden days. Curved pipe running all the way to the center of the bilge, the chain becoming added ballast when sailing.

[Comodave]

Originally Posted by jgwinks

On my Concorde the chain locker was pretty wide but only 18" deep. It had a plywood floor with a deep void underneath so I just cut the floor out with a saber saw. Chain now drops about 5 feet into the void, no stacking.

I had a Trojan that had the deepest rope locker ever. I ended up glassing in a false bottom in order to get it up above the waterline so I could add a drain. Previously it just drained into the bilge and I didn’t like that.

[jgwinks]

That's the downside, it drains to the bilge. I plan to put in another floor lower down but haven't gotten around to it. Much easier to cut it out than put it back in. The original drained to the bilge too so I haven't lost anything.

[Alaskan Sea-Duction]

Originally Posted by Delfini

I have a 1980 Albin 36.

Has an electric windless that drops 100’ of chain directly below into a bow locker accessible only from the forward cabin.

The problem is only about 60-70 ft feed in and then it piles so high it backs up.

The locker is too small and 100 ft isn’t nearly enough. Although it appears obviously unsolvable without major remodeling Anyone have a solution?

I have the same issue, small locker. I have 550ft of chain and it takes me 15-20 minutes to raise my anchor as I have to go down stairs in the VIP bedroom and knock the pile over, every 40 feet

[Delfini]

Thanks for the help! I do have a HUGE amount of space directly below the locker at the forward end of the v berth. Extending the tube to there looks quite doable.
Not sure why obvious was so elusive ….
Thanks again!

[fryedaze]

https://youtu.be/WkUT9jXJwug

[Comodave]

You would want something like PVC because you can heat it and bend it and it is fairly slippery so the chain should slide easily. You may have to do a test to see where exactly the outlet should be so the chain doesn’t just stack at the front. And then support it well.

[Panope]

https://youtu.be/21kWfc6XR3w

[Comodave]

And you would want to extend the tube a ways into the vee berth compartment so it doesn’t pile up at the forward end. Maybe make a test mockup of tour locker and vee berth similar to the Panope video to see how the tube works. I have never actually tried it but it seems reasonable to me.

[lwarden]

I made a hawse pipe for mine out of a couple 3" 45 deg stainless sanitary tube fittings along with the clamps. These are the tubes used in brewing beer or other food related things. They are pretty inexpensive and can be bought in different lengths and angles. I made cap from Starboard with a radiused ID to act as the lead-in and crafted a two piece flange to bolt one of the tubes up to the underside of the deck. This allowed me to redirect the chain to any point in the locker by rotating the tubes.

It has worked out pretty well so far.

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0...e?ie=UTF8&th=1

[Comodave]

Originally Posted by lwarden

I made a hawse pipe for mine out of a couple 3" 45 deg stainless sanitary tube fittings along with the clamps. These are the tubes used in brewing beer or other food related things. They are pretty inexpensive and can be bought in different lengths and angles. I made cap from Starboard with a radiused ID to act as the lead-in and crafted a two piece flange to bolt one of the tubes up to the underside of the deck. This allowed me to redirect the chain to any point in the locker by rotating the tubes.

It has worked out pretty well so far.

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0...e?ie=UTF8&th=1

That looks pretty interesting. Didn’t know there was such a thing.

[Alaskan Sea-Duction]

Originally Posted by fryedaze

https://youtu.be/WkUT9jXJwug

It looks like you still need to knock down the pile.

[Comodave]

Originally Posted by Alaskan Sea-Duction

It looks like you still need to knock down the pile.

It would depend on the height of the vee berth area and what drop you could make with the tube. If you could get enough drop and make the area more narrow than wide it might work ok.

[fryedaze]

Originally Posted by Alaskan Sea-Duction

It looks like you still need to knock down the pile.

I have had it stack up the pipe twice in several years. Each time I had out over 150' of chain. I seldom use more than 100'