I am on the hard and just dumped my anchor chain. My anchor chain locker is behind a water tight collision bulkhead (some 30 nits need to be taken off to get the door to the locker off) so this is the first time I have opened it up and emptied the locker. My ½ inch chain is shacked to the bulkhead. I know the plus' and minus' of it being shackled. I was thinking of putting some rope to that bitter end so that IF I have to dump the anchor, I just cut the rope. But then I thought how would I fasten it to the chain? Could the rope foul the windless? Is it even necessary? If I put a rope, do I fasten it to the bulkhead or do I leave it un attached... Thoughts? Sorry to have to ask to rush those thoughts but this refit is scheduled for four days so do not have a lot of time to work with.... Lee Marmaris

I agree you need a length of rope where it fastens to the bulkhead. You could be in serious trouble if you had to cut the chain in a hurry. Be sure you have a large fender to bouy the chain, especially if the water is deep. Most windlass set ups include a gypsy for chain and one for rope. If you accidentally let out all your chain and get to your rope, you can use a separate line with a chainhook to retrieve the chain back to the gypsy. Don't make the rope too long--you want to have access to the bitter end of the chain. As far as fastening the rope to the chain, you might just do an eye splice to the bitter end of the chain. You may never have to use the bitter-end rope so there will not be much wear and tear. I don't think it will foul your windlass. We were once anchoring in over 120 ft of water in Turkey and Mary let out all the anchor chain by accident. We were able to retrieve it with a chainhook with no big problem. Denis UmstotSeattle > From: lalicata@alum.rpi.edu > Date: Mon, 1 Jul 2013 17:02:53 +0300 > To: passagemaking@lists.trawlering.com > Subject: [PUP] Timely response requested: Termination of an all chain rode > > > I am on the hard and just dumped my anchor chain. > My anchor chain locker is behind a water tight collision bulkhead (some 30 nits need to be taken off to get the door to the locker off) > so this is the first time I have opened it up and emptied the locker. > > My ½ inch chain is shacked to the bulkhead. > > I know the plus' and minus' of it being shackled. > > I was thinking of putting some rope to that bitter end so that IF I have to dump the anchor, I just cut the rope. > > But then I thought how would I fasten it to the chain? > Could the rope foul the windless? > Is it even necessary? > If I put a rope, do I fasten it to the bulkhead or do I leave it un attached... > > > Thoughts? > > Sorry to have to ask to rush those thoughts but this refit is scheduled for four days so do not have a lot of time to work with.... > > Lee > > Marmaris > _______________________________________________ > http://lists.trawlering.com/mailman/listinfo/passagemaking_lists.trawlering.com > > To unsubscribe send email to > passagemaking-under-power-request@lists.samurai.com with the word > UNSUBSCRIBE and nothing else in the subject or body of the message. > > Passagemaking Under Power and PUP are trademarks of Water World Productions. >