TWL: Rusty Rode
Greetings Listees,
Moon Star has a 20Kg. Bruce as her primary anchor with 200' of 3/8" BBB
chain.
Yesterday I dumped all 200' on the ground for the first time in 2 (perhaps
longer) years.
First, the last 60 or so feet had to be loosened with a hammer, as they had
fused into a solid lump of rust at the bottom of the chain locker...I doubt
the bitter end had ever seen the light of day.
Second, the chain locker had about 2" of rust shavings at the bottom,
certainly enough to impede the drain.
The past two years we tend to use the anchor maybe one out of three days,
but seldom need to put out more than 100 feet. The neglected portion has
nothing to do but rust.
I wrestled with the chain for the next two hours knocking & scraping rust
off so it will pass more freely through the gypsy. We tend to anchor in
primarily in mud, and the chain never seems to get scoured.
Is there anything I can do to prevent this?
Craig Mudge
KK42-94 Moon Star
Portland, Maine
Throw it away. Remember to end-for-end the NEW chain you'll be buying every
year.
f you're anchoring with all chain because of your automatic windlass, then
you'll need to learn to end-for-end your chain every year. That will wear
more evenly on the galvanization. But if you're only using 60 ft or so
routinely, then you're probably carrying too much chain anyway. At 3:1 two
hundred feet is good in around 60 ft of water; at 5:1 you're good to 40
feet. If you're routinely anchoring in less water, then think about 100 ft
of chain and 300 ft of nylon rode to reach those really deep anchorages.
True, you may have to go on deck and hand the nylon when you anchor deep,
but from the condition of your chain you don't anchor deep often.
Rick
Rick the Mouseherder - nh2f
Westsail 32 Xapic, Hull #438
Annapolis, MD
A small boat and a suitcase full of money
beats a 40 footer tied to the Bank.
Creative graphic solutions in vinyl for your boat lettering & designs
http://www.mouseherder.com
Visit our Westsail 32 Xapic
http://www.mouseherder.com/xapic
The Westsail Owners Assn. Homepage
http://www.westsail.org
At 06:08 AM 4/26/01 -0400, you wrote:
Greetings Listees,
Moon Star has a 20Kg. Bruce as her primary anchor with 200' of 3/8" BBB
chain.
Yesterday I dumped all 200' on the ground for the first time in 2 (perhaps
longer) years.
First, the last 60 or so feet had to be loosened with a hammer, as they had
fused into a solid lump of rust at the bottom of the chain locker...
Is there anything I can do to prevent this?
Craig Mudge
---=========================
Yes Craig---------do yourself a favor and dump the chain, buy some 5/8"
line and welcome to the 21st century. You will have a stronger rode and
much more ease and comfort at anchor and deanchoring. Get rid of that mess
, dirt, and noise.
.
Captain Al Pilvinis
"M/V Driftwood"--Prairie 47
2630 N.E. 41st Street
Lighthouse Point, Fl 33064-8064
Voice 954-941-2556 Fax 954 788-2666
Email yourcaptain@earthlink.net
Website http://home.earthlink.net/~yourcaptain
We have religiously washed our anchor chain - while it is being lifted - on
both of our recent boats and never seen much degradation of the chain. We
use a high pressure spray of sea water.
Of course, we only have 175' of chain and regularly let out 100'.
Shaun aboard Rana III
----- Original Message -----
From: "Craig Mudge" craigmudge@hotmail.com
To: Krogens@topica.com; trawler-world-list@samurai.com
Sent: Thursday, April 26, 2001 3:08 AM
Subject: TWL: Rusty Rode
Greetings Listees,
Moon Star has a 20Kg. Bruce as her primary anchor with 200' of 3/8" BBB
chain.
Yesterday I dumped all 200' on the ground for the first time in 2 (perhaps
longer) years.
First, the last 60 or so feet had to be loosened with a hammer, as they
had
fused into a solid lump of rust at the bottom of the chain locker...I
doubt
the bitter end had ever seen the light of day.
Second, the chain locker had about 2" of rust shavings at the bottom,
certainly enough to impede the drain.
The past two years we tend to use the anchor maybe one out of three days,
but seldom need to put out more than 100 feet. The neglected portion has
nothing to do but rust.
I wrestled with the chain for the next two hours knocking & scraping rust
off so it will pass more freely through the gypsy. We tend to anchor in
primarily in mud, and the chain never seems to get scoured.
Is there anything I can do to prevent this?
Craig Mudge
KK42-94 Moon Star
Portland, Maine
Craig Mudge wrote:
First, the last 60 or so feet had to be loosened with a hammer,
as they had
fused into a solid lump of rust at the bottom of the chain
locker
but seldom need to put out more than 100 feet. The neglected portion has
nothing to do but rust.
Is there anything I can do to prevent this?
Not really. The galvanized coating is zinc. It's purpose is the same as
the zincs on the bottom of your boat. The zinc corrodes sacrificially in
order to save the more valuable metal that it is protecting. Like the zinc
on the bottom of your boat, the zinc on your chain will eventually have to
be replaced. You can replace it either by having it re-galvanized, or by
simply buying new chain. Once you get your chain clean, you should inspect
it for material loss. If you have lost a substantial amount of material,
then you need to replace the chain anyway.
If you can electrically bond additional zinc to the bitter end of your
chain, you may be able to extend the life of the new chain. If your chain
locker is metal, you might consider bonding zinc chunks to it. To me, the
best chain locker would be a steel container that can be removed and
re-galvanized periodically. It would be even nicer if you can get them to
leave a thicker puddle of zinc on the inside of the bottom of the box.
That would go a long way toward protecting your chain.
As expected, others have already suggested that you switch to a nylon rode.
That is not a bad idea, but I understand that some folks just like their
chain rode. Either one is perfectly acceptable, but both will eventually
wear out and require replacement. If your first hundred feet is OK, given
your anchoring habits, then you might want to cut the chain to that length;
and then just depend upon nylon for the rare occasions when you will need
more in the areas where you anchor. If you anchor in mud most the time, as
you say, then you might consider going back to read Captain Wil's anchoring
lessons where he talks about using wire rope and nylon for mud. That is not
a terribly bad idea. Chain can actually impede the performance of your
anchor in a muddy bottom.
Not to get to far off subject but can someone tell me exactly how my zincs
should be attached to the boat. I have a very large zinc, approximately 6 X
12 on the stern of the boat and a large egg shaped zinc on the rudder. My
question is do the zincs have to be grounded to bare metal to protect
whatever they are mounted on? Does the shaft have to have a zinc attached
to it?
Someone fill me in on the proper attachment and placement of zincs. I've
got the boat out being painted top and bottom and refitting zincs etc.
thanks
docmoss
MT44