hawspipe typical size...

[Rockter]

I drove to the boat suppliers to have a new thimble spliced to the anchor rode. In turn, that will be shackeld to about 35 ft of anchor chain.

The immensely helpful chandler... Seaway Group, Macduff, Scotland.... spliced me on a thimble, but it was metal wider than the plastic original (it had broken).

The wider thimble means that, with the warp spliced on there, the hawspipe now has to accomodate 69 mm before I have to force it. If I hold the thimble and look at the view that the hawspipe will "see", I need 69 mm, 2.71".

I was annoyed that I had forgotten to measure the hawspipe of my ship, but that's a 90 mile drive to measure it, and 90 miles back.

What's a typical length and width of a hawspipe aperture? The ship is 36 ft, and everything is orthodox with the anchor tackle. I am not much worried anout the width, it's the length of the oblong aperture opening through the hawspipe that concerns me (in my case the "length" is measured looking down onto the top of the hawspipe, standing on the foredeck).


Thanks.

Rockter.

[knothead]

Originally Posted by Rockter

I drove to the boat suppliers to have a new thimble spliced to the anchor rode. In turn, that will be shackeld to about 35 ft of anchor chain.

The immensely helpful chandler... Seaway Group, Macduff, Scotland.... spliced me on a thimble, but it was metal wider than the plastic original (it had broken).

The wider thimble means that, with the warp spliced on there, the hawspipe now has to accomodate 69 mm before I have to force it. If I hold the thimble and look at the view that the hawspipe will "see", I need 69 mm, 2.71".

I was annoyed that I had forgotten to measure the hawspipe of my ship, but that's a 90 mile drive to measure it, and 90 miles back.

What's a typical length and width of a hawspipe aperture? The ship is 36 ft, and everything is orthodox with the anchor tackle. I am not much worried anout the width, it's the length of the oblong aperture opening through the hawspipe that concerns me (in my case the "length" is measured looking down onto the top of the hawspipe, standing on the foredeck).


Thanks.

Rockter.

Rock,
Is there any reason you couldn't have the rode spliced directly to the chain? Thereby eliminating the need for the thimble?
I have done this quite often and haven't seen a downside.

[sailingdog]

I agree with Knothead. Most of the rope/chain anchor rodes I've dealt with, especially ones that have to go through a windlass gypsy, are spliced directly, not using a thimble. A thimble requires you to use a shackle—which is a weak point in the rode, since most shackles have a lower breaking load point than the attached chain or rope—and require you to handle the transition from rope to chain manually, since the thimble and shackle will generally jump out of the gypsy.

[Vasco]

Originally Posted by Rockter

What's a typical length and width of a hawspipe aperture? The ship is 36 ft, and everything is orthodox with the anchor tackle. I am not much worried anout the width, it's the length of the oblong aperture opening through the hawspipe that concerns me (in my case the "length" is measured looking down onto the top of the hawspipe, standing on the foredeck).


Thanks.

Rockter.

I think you're referring to the spurling pipe or navel pipe which goes from the deck to the chain locker. It should be just big enough for the chain. The hawse pipe goes through the side of the boat and the anchor stock usually fits in it.

[Rockter]

It's bigger than the chain I remember.

I cannot splice the rode directly to the chain as the chain links are too small.

I suspect that it is going to stick, but I will find out. I need 7 cm, either that, or a narrower thimble.

[sailingdog]

Just curious, what size chain and what size rope are you using for your anchor rode. Most of the times, the rope portion is twice the diameter of the chain portion... 5/16" G4 chain matches up with 5/8" or 9/16" rope. And when you do that, the line generally splices to the chain nicely. Most of the windlass gypsies I've seen are setup so that you can do it this way as well.

[timebandit]

Lay it on it's side and smack it with a hammer to narrow it.

Rick

[sailingdog]

That's really a bright idea...and then when it fails and chafes through the now damaged anchor line... what do you think will happen?

Originally Posted by timebandit

Lay it on it's side and smack it with a hammer to narrow it.

Rick

[Rockter]

Thanks...

We tried a few thumps with a hammer, but it threatened to mash the warp, so we stopped.

The chain is 8 mm (0.3" ??) thick at a typical link, and the warp typically is about 16 mm (0.63" ??).

I think I am struggling to splice those two.

I have 200 ft of similar chain in the chain locker at present, but it makes her down by the bow and the ship tends to nod a fair bit under sail. I will keep the old chain in case of another long haul.

I bought a new length... 35 ft... of 8 mm chain last week and plan to use 175 ft of rode with it, in this case 16 mm.

The chandler did not have the elongated style of splicing eyes, so I tried a bigger, fatter one, the only one he had. Most of the ship's time is now spent in the canal, so very heavy anchor tackle is maybe not needed. I was simply trying to cut down on the nodding under sail, and 35 ft of chain seems reasonable. The ship is 36 ft over deck and weighs about 11 ton. I have no way of storing the 200 ft amidships.

I will keep the existing chain for another day.

I have no windlass.

Rockter.