The Chesapeake is an amazing cruising ground but --like most-- I could do without the mud that the chain comes up with when you weigh anchor. You can wash it off with a hose but better do that hanging over the pulpit, or you sluice the whole mess down your deck. And forget about it if you are single handing without a windlass (that would be moi).
In really bad cases, when most of the links are filled with solid mud, I have kind of sawed the chain over the roller up and down, to loosen some of the mud into the water before it gets to the deck. Kinda works but it gets pretty old when you have to do that with 100' of chain and your arms only (moi again).
I think I discovered the solution to this problem this weekend. I anchored in Fairlee Creek (deep mud!) and, given the early sunset this time of the year, after dropping the hook and before drifting off to sleep I had lots of time to think about life, the universe, and anchoring. The problem seems clear: Over night (or longer), the chain sinks deep into the mud and collects the crud. The solution then presents itself: Before getting the chain up, you want it washed off with water. You could use the washdown hose, but why rely on its tiny stream (which, as discussed, furthermore washes the mess onto your decks) when you have the water of the whole ocean at your disposal?
So I did an experiment, and it worked absolutely beautifully: Before walking up to haul up the chain, I went smartly in reverse, with the goal of lifting the whole chain off the seabed, and out of the muck. Similar action as when setting the anchor with the motor. Does not hurt to have the boat come up somewhat hard against the anchor, to get the chain really straight and fling off the mud. After that, just go forward and collect the chain as usual.
Did it work? BEAUTIFULLY, better than my wildest expectations! There was no mud at all on the chain, right until the anchor itself came up. The water that dripped off the chain was a bit dirty but not a single link had any mud embedded. I will do that always from now on.
Caveats/Points for discussion:
1) Is this a new idea? Probably not; this seems too obvious a solution to a known problem that it is highly unlikely that I am the first person in history to have it discovered. Many have probably done it before. I just have never read about it previously, so I thought I would offer it for discussion.
2) I have done this exactly once. It worked absolutely perfectly but was it a fluke? Needs to be repeated.
3) This time, I had only 50' of chain down (only 5.5' of water, and a very quiet night forecast). If you have much more, you may have to do the maneuver more than once to get all the chain straight: Go back with the engine, get chain up until it gets muddy, get chain straight again, repeat.
Thoughts?
In really bad cases, when most of the links are filled with solid mud, I have kind of sawed the chain over the roller up and down, to loosen some of the mud into the water before it gets to the deck. Kinda works but it gets pretty old when you have to do that with 100' of chain and your arms only (moi again).
I think I discovered the solution to this problem this weekend. I anchored in Fairlee Creek (deep mud!) and, given the early sunset this time of the year, after dropping the hook and before drifting off to sleep I had lots of time to think about life, the universe, and anchoring. The problem seems clear: Over night (or longer), the chain sinks deep into the mud and collects the crud. The solution then presents itself: Before getting the chain up, you want it washed off with water. You could use the washdown hose, but why rely on its tiny stream (which, as discussed, furthermore washes the mess onto your decks) when you have the water of the whole ocean at your disposal?
So I did an experiment, and it worked absolutely beautifully: Before walking up to haul up the chain, I went smartly in reverse, with the goal of lifting the whole chain off the seabed, and out of the muck. Similar action as when setting the anchor with the motor. Does not hurt to have the boat come up somewhat hard against the anchor, to get the chain really straight and fling off the mud. After that, just go forward and collect the chain as usual.
Did it work? BEAUTIFULLY, better than my wildest expectations! There was no mud at all on the chain, right until the anchor itself came up. The water that dripped off the chain was a bit dirty but not a single link had any mud embedded. I will do that always from now on.
Caveats/Points for discussion:
1) Is this a new idea? Probably not; this seems too obvious a solution to a known problem that it is highly unlikely that I am the first person in history to have it discovered. Many have probably done it before. I just have never read about it previously, so I thought I would offer it for discussion.
2) I have done this exactly once. It worked absolutely perfectly but was it a fluke? Needs to be repeated.
3) This time, I had only 50' of chain down (only 5.5' of water, and a very quiet night forecast). If you have much more, you may have to do the maneuver more than once to get all the chain straight: Go back with the engine, get chain up until it gets muddy, get chain straight again, repeat.
Thoughts?