What is a swivel for?
Read this today on the Cruising Compass email:
Congratulations to Erwin Schwartz of Juno Beach, FL who correctly explained
why cruisers often put swivels between their anchor and the chain anchor
rode. He emailed: ”When anchor chain runs over a bow roller and then is
hauled in with a mechanical windlass, it develops a natural twist. Twisted
chain falling into the chain locker can become tangled in interlocking
coils so it can’t run out freely again when you next need it. A swivel lets
the chain untwist as it is being winched aboard and will then fall into the
chain locker neatly.”
Really? What about the swivel helping to align the anchor for coming over
the bow roller? On MARY KATHRYN, the chain twists unravel ASA the anchor
breaks free from the bottom. I do not use a swivel. Never have a chain
locker issue and my chain free-falls to deploy.
Stay safe!
Bob
Robert Calhoun Smith, Jr.
M/V MARY KATHRYN (on the hard this winter)
Hatteras 58 LRC Annapolis, Maryland
Annapolis Yacht Club Hatteras LRC Club
Marine Trawler Owners Assoc. #4861
Sounds like poppycock to me. The chain gypsy keeps the chain straight coming into the locker. And the chain untwisting after it leaves the bottom brings the anchor up in the correct orientation every time for me with no swivel.
Just my experience.
Brent Hodges
Albin 43
Sent from my Google
R C Smith Jr wrote:
Read this today on the Cruising Compass email:
Congratulations to Erwin Schwartz of Juno Beach, FL who correctly explained
why cruisers often put swivels between their anchor and the chain anchor
rode.
In my experience, people that have tangled chain in their locker is because the locker lacks the depth needed for the chain to do its thing while flaking out.
I do not believe my swivel, which is between a short piece of 12 mm chain and the main chain does ANYTHING to prevent tangles. My 1.5 meter drop does all the work.
My swivel permits me to use overwhelming force to break the anchor from the bottom when the needs arises.
Lee
On Mar 26, 2021, at 05:06, R C Smith Jr wrote:
Read this today on the Cruising Compass email:
Congratulations to Erwin Schwartz of Juno Beach, FL …………
I could never figure out why anyone would want to put a weak link in
their anchor chain, anyway. With a proper anchor windlass the chain
gypsy itself keeps the chain from twisting as it returns to the chain
locker (assuming the chain was "installed" into the locker via the
windlass to begin with). That still doesn't solve the issue of the chain
falling over onto itself and causing a problem if the anchor locker
isn't properly configured to prevent the pile-up of the chain.
<><><><><><><><><><><><>Mozilla Thunderbird<><><><><><><><><><>
Bob McLeran and Judy Young
Manatee Cove Marina, Patrick AFB Florida
Formerly cruising in MV Sanderling, a DeFever 41 Trawler
which has been sold
Blog: http://mvsanderling.net/Blog
On 3/25/2021 10:06 PM, R C Smith Jr wrote:
Really? What about the swivel helping to align the anchor for coming over
the bow roller? On MARY KATHRYN, the chain twists unravel ASA the anchor
breaks free from the bottom. I do not use a swivel. Never have a chain
locker issue and my chain free-falls to deploy.
My anchor (using all chain) kept coming up to the roller wrong side in; so, I unshackled to the anchor and swapped it 180 degrees. Same darned thing kept happening, and it was darned difficult to get it pushed around correctly with a boat hook and into the roller correctly while jockeying the foot switch. Now I have a Mantus swivel, and I sometimes have to push the anchor around to get it oriented properly, but my oh my is it easier to do now. But I am only 12,000 pounds of local bay boat and not a long range cruiser anchoring all the time.
Rich Gano
Frolic (2005 Mainship 30 Pilot II)
Panama City area
-----Original Message-----
From: Brent Hodges vbhodges@gmail.com
Sent: Thursday, March 25, 2021 9:50 PM
To: R C Smith Jr robertcalhounsmith@gmail.com
Cc: T&T LIST trawlers@lists.trawlering.com
Subject: T&T: Re: What is a swivel for?
Sounds like poppycock to me. The chain gypsy keeps the chain straight coming into the locker. And the chain untwisting after it leaves the bottom brings the anchor up in the correct orientation every time for me with no swivel.
Just my experience.
Brent Hodges
Albin 43
Sent from my Google
R C Smith Jr wrote:
Read this today on the Cruising Compass email:
Congratulations to Erwin Schwartz of Juno Beach, FL who correctly
explained why cruisers often put swivels between their anchor and the
chain anchor rode.
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I’ll second what Rich says.
Soul Tender, my KK39 had a 40 kg Rocna (loved that anchor & miss the boat!) and it too kept coming up backwards on the roller. I turned it 3 times and it still kept coming up with its back on the roller.
I added a short piece of chain & a very heavy swivel and that solved the issue for me.
Never saw any evidence of a side load on the swivel after many nights on the hook and I can assure you I looked for it. Worked so well I kept the swivel & chain when I sold the boat.
randy
(currently boatless)
On Mar 26, 2021, at 12:06 PM, Rich Gano richgano@gmail.com wrote:
My anchor (using all chain) kept coming up to the roller wrong side in; so, ...
I will third what Rich says.
I had never used a swivel until I replaced my chain with a larger size,
along with a larger anchor. When the anchor is coming up it would hang
on the roller at the shackle. The heaver anchor would stick on the
roller. A Mantus swivel eases the transition between the anchor and the
chain and enables the anchor to climb over the roller easily.
I will join the owners who say you probably don't need a swivel and I
went 30 years without one until I changed the anchor last year.
Frank Burrows 79 43' Viking Piney Narrows Chesapeake Bay