Checking your anchoring system is worth the time

Hi SO40GTB,

Good catch on your windlass problem. Too often skippers do not notice when things do not work right and do proper forensics. Problems found early are usually much easier to fix.

I would suggest that one should always do as you suggest and inspect bolts for looseness. And I would also inspect how the bolt/nut was installed if you did not do the install yourself. Properly torqued and installed with washer and secured (split washer for example) nuts should not vibrate loose.

I would also suggest that, although a windlass should be robustly installed (for the occasional operator error), that it should not be subjected to heavy loads in regular life: they are not built/designed for that. Loads should be absorbed by a snubber, perhaps backed up by a chain-lock.

Windlasses are designed to take reasonable depths of chain and a heavy anchor: not the shock loading that occurs in a boisterous anchorage. Good windlasses do this work while maintaining decent retrieval speed and have the reserve ability to pull up a log that has gotten impaled on the anchor or to pull an anchor that has gotten stuck behind or under a rock.

If the electric windlass’s overload protection is cutting in, it can be helpful to attach a spare halyard to the chain and use a winch or in some other way augment the windlass’s work.

And, I am sure you know this, but, when raising anchor and there is significant wind/waves, load can be diminished by motoring up to the anchor rather than having the windlass pull you forward.

My best, Dick Stevenson, s/v Alchemy

We experienced anchor chain recovery issues increasingly as our last sailing season ended, as well as the first time anchoring this year.  Chain would jam in the hole between the windlass and the anchor locker, when being raised.  The hole had been widened somewhat by filing, with little improvement.

With the windlass components fully inspected above the deck, I wondered whether the entire windlass assembly had rotated counterclockwise slightly, narrowing the entry/exit hole.  When inspecting the motor assembly below the deck, I found not one but TWO of the four nuts that hold the assembly in place missing - and the remaining two nuts loose.

The anchor chain was removed from the nearly-new gypsy, so that its weight would not be a factor in movement of the windlass assembly.  It was then found that, indeed, the windlass assembly had rotated counterclockwise somewhat.  It was readily restored to its original orientation and all four securing nuts tightened well.  The chain once again runs smoothly, whether deploying or retrieving chain and anchor.

The bottom line here is that things like a windlass that are under heavy load when used and generate significant vibration are prone to loose fasteners, which ought to be inspected (and, if necessary, tightened) annually.

Hi Cindy and all,

Thanks for directing attention to inspecting one’s ground tackle. It is good practice to go over one’s ground tackle “stem to stern” at the onset of the season in much the way the author describes well.

I tend not to comment on a skipper’s boating choices or on articles, excepting when I consider the issue one where safety might be compromised or where safety might be enhanced. So, I do have a few comments”

Firstly, and far the most important, is that the author never mentions the new generation of anchors which are, in fact, no longer new and have many years of use attesting to their superiority. I am referring to Spade, Rocna, Manson, and Excel (and probably others I have forgotten). I know he was suggesting ways of checking one’s present ground tackle, but he pictured 2 anchors, a CQR and Bruce, both of which have a long history of successful use, but are no longer nearly as effective (or as safe) as the new generation anchors. The Great Lakes anchorages are not great proving grounds for assessing the effectiveness of anchors as, it is my experience, that, in the prevailing wonderful mud, one can anchor with a safety pin and fishing line. That said, the new generation anchors still hold great advantages even in good seabed for anchor safety.

Further, it is not the case, in my experience, that the strongest shackles have pins painted red: this may be the case within one type of galvanized shackle, but should not be considered as more important than surveying the safe working load stats of the shackles being considered. Nor should one just accept the advice found in most chandleries.

Often, if trying to match the strength of chain, one finds the pin size of the shackle is too large to insert into the chain. For ex., if you are using G4 chain level chain where strength is optimal, this becomes even more of a problem. Decades ago, I was directed to Crosby shackles (https://search.yahoo.com/search?fr=mcafee&type=E210US714G0&p=Crosby+shackles) to find a strength match for my 5/16 G4 ACCO chain with their G-209-A shackle.

Use three-part nylon line for your snubber, as it will stretch under strain unlike double braid line, which will shock-load your anchor and likely dislodge it. 

I, too, use good quality (quality of rope differs markedly one manufacturer to another: hard to tell visually at the chandlery) 3-strand nylon for my snubber but not for the same reason. I do like the added stretch in 3-strand but similar shock-load absorbing can be accomplished with double braid nylon by just veering a little extra length. Braid also does not twist and untwist under large loads.

And the author mentions some safety issues (for ex., not re-using nylocs) while ignoring others. He mentions swivels but does not go the next step that swivels, if wished for, should generally never be attached directly to the anchor. It should have a 3-link piece of chain between anchor and swivel to make unlikely the prying open of the jaws of the swivel if the anchor is caught in a fixed position and the load comes at 90 degrees to the swivel.

And whether swivels even should be in a ground tackle system is a useful question. In many thousands of nights at anchor, often for weeks at a time, I have never considered a swivel to be necessary or even helpful.

And much of the article is devoted to the servicing of windlasses: I would also suggest that the skipper (who relies on a windlass, many do not) should give some thought to getting the anchor up when (note I said when, not if) the windlass refuses to cooperate.

In articles like this, the devil is in the details and no one can mention everything, but in areas where safety is an issue, I like to at least point to areas of concern and let skippers do their due diligence leading to decisions as to what works on their boat.

Please feel free to come back with comments or wishes on elaboration.

My best, Dick Stevenson, s/v Alchemy