Anchor Washdown Question

[Roger Long]

We have been using our fresh water wash down hose to clean the anchor chain. Good for the anchor chain but, now that we want to reduce our shore contact significantly, it’s time for a salt water wash down system.

I’d like to free up a hand so I am thinking of running copper tubing under the bowsprit to end just behind the anchor roller. I’ll put a compression 3/8” to 1/4” fitting reducer about 6 inches back so I can easily experiment with different nozzle configurations.

Has anyone done something like this? I’d appreciate any real world experience. I already know from trying to jury rig my hose wand that it has to be close to the roller so the stream doesn’t go past the chain when the boat veers. My primary concern is that I’ll find myself at the windlass (hand operated in our case) standing in a cloud of salt water mist if the wind is blowing. I can aim the stream down but that increases the chances of it missing the chain when it is not centered.

 

[IRENE]

This is not an answer to your question, and I am no anchor wash down wizard. Just another potential solution...

We have a Jabsco Hot Shot washdown pump, credit to a previous owner. It has its own seacock and deck spigot. It turns off when the pressure builds and really squirts good pressure. We have about a 5-foot hose with a conventional nozzle. It has come in very handy, as the water can be specifically directed to the problem areas. Recommended.

Good Luck

 

[DavidM]

I don't think a fixed nozzle would be very effective. I have hauled up our anchor maybe a thousand times and each time is different. Sometimes just a little sand, sometimes thick mud, sometimes lots of weed. All different and it takes pointing at different angles to get it all off. Standing up at the bow with my foot on the windlass switch pulling up a few feet, squirting off the chain below the bow roller and pulling up a few more is about the only thing that works to get thick mud off.

David

 

[Comodave]

I don't think a fixed nozzle would be very effective. I have hauled up our anchor maybe a thousand times and each time is different. Sometimes just a little sand, sometimes thick mud, sometimes lots of weed. All different and it takes pointing at different angles to get it all off. Standing up at the bow with my foot on the windlass switch pulling up a few feet, squirting off the chain below the bow roller and pulling up a few more is about the only thing that works to get thick mud off.

David

That is what we have.

 

[SailorGreg]

That is what we have.

I have a similar salt water wash down pump and hose, but added a 4’ wand with an adjustable nozzle. Affords me the extra reach to get a very concentrated stream on the chain and the anchor. Works well for other clean up chores as well.

 

[Roger Long]

That is what we have.

You mean a fixed nozzle?

 

[Arc]

 

[Ken E.]

A fixed nozzle would be a great approach if it worked well in wind, if it would cover all angles as the chain comes up, and was powerful enough to blast off thick, sticky mud...no easy task. We just use a hose and nozzle from a T in the cockpit washdown pump to a Jabsco quick disconnect at the anchor pulpit. I have seen the fixed nozzle method work really well, though, on a mega yacht with a very high pressure stream that looked like it was from a firehose.

 

[Arc]

https://youtu.be/DXhJ-RKzvvs

 

[firehoser75]

Hi Roger,
On my previous boat, a sailboat, we had no washdown pump. I used a bucket that I had to continually dip in to refill. A real pain when we had thick, sticky mud.
On the power boat we have a saltwater washdown. At times I wished it was freshwater, but like you (are now thinking), I have always wanted to conserve freshwater.
Unless you have really good pressure and a fairly high flow rate, I don't think a fixed pipe wash will meet your needs in all occasions. Here in southern BC a lot of the best anchorages have sticky mud bottoms and you have to use various angles and sometimes longer duration rinses to get the mud off. I will stick to the short 6 foot hose and nozzle that I use with our saltwater washdown system.

 

[caltexflanc]

Nice to have both fresh and salt water up there. They were among the very first things I added. I had a short hose with a Parker quick disconnect screwed onto one end and an adjustable nozzle. Foot on footswitch, it was easy, and when the wind was blowing, no problema. If we were conserving fresh water, use the salt washdown. An extra use of the saltwater wash down was to wash the teak decks: clean salt water being the best way to do that. Bonus of the fresh water was to spray down the boat after a day at sea. We had a very accurate water usage counter, so we could manage freshwater use precisely. One reason I never could get a watermaker to pencil out.

 

[koliver]

I’d like to free up a hand so I am thinking of running copper tubing under the bowsprit to end just behind the anchor roller. I’ll put a compression 3/8” to 1/4” fitting reducer about 6 inches back so I can easily experiment with different nozzle configurations.

Has anyone done something like this? I’d appreciate any real world experience.

I have a pex hose out to 4" from the bottom of the roller, then attached is a piece of copper tubing, flattened so the stream is forced into a fan pattern, and with Jabsco pressure, the salt water has enough force to clean the mud off the chain as it rises onto the roller.
I made the nozzle at home, only took a minute, squeezed in a vice, tested with hose till squeezed enough. If you squeeze too much, cut more copper pipe and try again.
On a T off that line, I have a regular hose attached, for deck use. Not enough pressure or volume to have both on at the same time, but both are very useful.

 

[Comodave]

You mean a fixed nozzle?

No, we have a hose with a spray nozzle on it.

 

[Codger2]

Nice to have both fresh and salt water up there...... I had a short hose with a Parker quick disconnect screwed onto one end and an adjustable nozzle. Foot on footswitch, it was easy, and when the wind was blowing, no problema.

I did almost exactly the same thing after watching this and trying it without success.

I already had both Fresh & salt water on the bow so all I had to do was purchase an 8 ft length garden hose and a high pressure wand. After washing the anchor with salt water, I then move the hose to the fresh water faucet and hose down the chain while in the chain locker. (It drains through a PVC pipe and exits out the aft starboard waterline hole. No mud on the hull!

 

[firehoser75]

Nice setup, but did you know that you have the wrong anchor???
Just kidding!!!

 

[hollywood8118]

View attachment 102428

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I have a similar setup like this on my Ocean Alexander, mine also has a two way ball valve at the location of the foot switch that is also connected to a short hose with a nozzle. Most of the time the fixed wash is sufficient, but at times i have to use the hose nozzle for sticky mud. I use the hose to also wash the fore deck when I am done as some crud always seems to make it to the deck. The setup was done professionally by the PO, it also has the ability to switch over to fresh at a manifold in the fwd cabin if I am using the watermaker and have excess fresh water.
I love the fixed mount.. I always leave the valve open to the hands free wash down and turn it on before leaving the helm to do the anchoring stuff at the foredeck.
HOLLYWOOD

 

[markpierce]

Have a freshwater connection to wash down the chain and anchor. Figure there is less chance of corrosion compared to a saltwater rinse, but then I've never been far from a freshwater source to re-supply 200-gallon freshwater tanks. Have a twinge of guilt hauling up vegetation which must be removed by hand. Bottoms here usually consist of heavy mud. I'm always at the bow when launching and recovering the anchor to address mud and vegetation.

 

[jleonard]

A hose and a squeeze nozzle for me. I can't imagine a fixed system getting the sticky mud and shells off.

 

[mvweebles]

Not sure if they still do it, but Nordhavn used to install a high volume hydraulic dewatering device. It could be valved to intake raw water with outlet (1-1/4"?) beneath the anchor chain. It was akin to a fireman's hose/nozzle vs a garden hose and worked very well to clean an anchor. Very cool setup. Not cheap and not practical for me, but I cover the setup.

 

[koliver]

A hose and a squeeze nozzle for me. I can't imagine a fixed system getting the sticky mud and shells off.

In exactly the way a nozzle on the hand held hose does, provided your nozzle is forcing out the same strength blast.
I do need to switch to the hand held hose and squeeze nozzle for some persistent shells and mud, but that is infrequent.

 

[DDW]

Not sure if they still do it, but Nordhavn used to install a high volume hydraulic dewatering device. It could be valved to intake raw water with outlet (1-1/4"?) beneath the anchor chain. It was akin to a fireman's hose/nozzle vs a garden hose and worked very well to clean an anchor. Very cool setup. Not cheap and not practical for me, but I cover the setup.

I watched a N62 raise his anchor one morning. The volume of water must have been 20 gallons a minute at least, it looked like a medium sized waterfall. 2 or 3 HP pump? It seemed effective, but hard to duplicate on a smaller boat.

 

[bogranjac1]

So exactly what is the benefit or purpose of this protracted washing of the chain and anchor?
I have never bothered and always noticed some boaters go to the most extreme bother and trouble doing this chore. My windlass has never been bothered by mud or weed.
Any mud or crap brought up just exits the chain locker drain. Is this a purely aesthetic chore for those owners of bejeweled floating weekend mansions with their shiny stainless steel ground gear?

 

[boomerang]

I watched a N62 raise his anchor one morning. The volume of water must have been 20 gallons a minute at least, it looked like a medium sized waterfall. 2 or 3 HP pump? It seemed effective, but hard to duplicate on a smaller boat.

That's what I would strive for...the biggest pump that has the most volume of water as possible. We have a standard Jabsco 4gpm washdown with a regular garden hose spray nozzle but sometimes I'll spend 10 minutes squirting away at a sticky clay/mud mixture that's really hard to get out of 65' of anchor chain. That's tolerable on a warm day in a secluded anchorage on a calm day but when it's cold, there's other boats anchored all around & the wind is blowing,it sux keeping the boat in one place while the anchor & chain are being washed. Especially since it works better for us with my wife at the helm and me doing the retrieval & washing of the anchor. She's ok but not adept with boat handling.

 

[rslifkin]

So exactly what is the benefit or purpose of this protracted washing of the chain and anchor?
I have never bothered and always noticed some boaters go to the most extreme bother and trouble doing this chore. My windlass has never been bothered by mud or weed.
Any mud or crap brought up just exits the chain locker drain. Is this a purely aesthetic chore for those owners of bejeweled floating weekend mansions with their shiny stainless steel ground gear?

Not having a bunch of mud accumulating in the anchor locker and potentially clogging the drain is nice. Especially as that mud can be smelly in some places. And it sucks when your anchor is caked in mud that then gets splattered all over the bow while underway. It just looks bad, and it's easier to rinse the mud off while it's fresh than after it's been splattered all of the boat, baked on by the sun, etc.

 

[boomerang]

So exactly what is the benefit or purpose of this protracted washing of the chain and anchor?
I have never bothered and always noticed some boaters go to the most extreme bother and trouble doing this chore. My windlass has never been bothered by mud or weed.
Any mud or crap brought up just exits the chain locker drain. Is this a purely aesthetic chore for those owners of bejeweled floating weekend mansions with their shiny stainless steel ground gear?

An anchor windless gypsy will wear out and abrasive sand mud accelerates the process.

 

[Roger Long]

Thanks to all who responded.


Conclusions from here, a cross post to a Facebook group, and my experience:


We presently use a 50 foot hose from a fresh water outlet midships and one of those "power wash" wands as seen on TV, a rip off as a power washer but great for directing anchor wash. That not too energetic flow does a reasonable job knocking mud off from 6-8 feet away. I think the home made flattened copper pipe nozzle 6 inches from the chain should take care of most mud situations.


The current system isn't going anywhere. If the fixed S.W. system isn't getting stubborn mud off, I'll get the hose out as I do now. I'll still be saving a lot of F.W. because most of the mud will be gone. When F.W. is easily available I'll probably still rinse off the chain.

 

[Knot Fast]

I have been considering the exact same anchor & chain wash dilemma on our boat. I received advice from several other GH owners on our GH forum with a variety of solutions: saltwater wash down, pressure washer, water maker. For me, I will go with a small (~1 ft cube) pressure washer that will store in a forward locker. Currently, I have fresh water plumbed to the bow courtesy of a 5 g/m fresh water pump. The power washer runs at 1.2 g/m [Ryobi 120VAC, 13A, 1.2gpm, 1600psi, $120] and I suspect it will be a 2X faster process than the low pressure hose. The lower flow and shorter time should reduce my fresh water consumption ~5X. And, my chain and locker will have less salt retention. A side benefit is I will have a pressure washer for other projects.

Several other GH owners liked their saltwater wash down systems, using a wand to direct the flow. Several GH owners said they have water makers, but none use them in the USA (we have 300g tanks). Water makers are very handy in the Bahamas where fresh water is $0.35/g. A new 35gph Rainman water maker is about $5K, either the installed version or the portable version. Also $5K buys you about 14,285g of water in the Bahamas...

 

[rslifkin]

I finally got to test my new washdown the other day. Based on adjustment of the pump pressure switch to prevent cycling, I'm putting somewhere around 70 psi to the nozzle, which based on the specs of the Delavan FB2 pump I'm using, should be a bit over 4.5 gal/minute (at 70 psi). It certainly moves some water, and adjusted to a narrow cone, it still has quite a bit of force.

In the picture the spray is aimed straight out about 7 feet above the water, sideways to a light breeze. Impact with the water was a good 25 - 30 feet away. Pump was pulling about 25 amps to make that jet of water.

I should get to find out this weekend how well it removes mud.

 

[Capitaine R]

Now you guys need to set up one of those blowers, like the type you use to dry your hands off with when using a public restroom, to blow the excess water off the chain before it enters the chain locker.

[emoji16]

 

[jclays]

I have my chain marked letting me know that my anchor is 5 ft under water. I raise my anchor to my mark then back down for a bit and the mud comes off.