Anchor and rode stowage

[BritAbroad]

On my Catalina 27 (1977) we have no chain locker. This means that whenever we anchor, one of us (my wife or I) has to lug the 18lb Danforth plus bag containing 150ft of chain and nylon rode from a stern locker up to the bow to deploy.

This is a pain in good conditions, and potentially downright dangerous in nasty conditions, since the package essentially requires two hands to be carried, leaving not much left for holding on.

We have recently got an anchor holder that allows the anchor to sit on the bow pulpit, but still have a problem as to what to do with the rode. With the new anchor holder, we can at least haul the anchor and rode up to the bow in advance in good conditions, and lash the rode bag down, but this isn't an arrangement I'm happy enough to leave up there permanently. (Quite apart from security, it also clutters up the bow cleats which makes tying up at the slip problematic, and interferes with the foot of the jib.

One option I've considered is adding some sort of quick release shackle between the anchor and rode, allowing the rode to be stored in the stern, but the anchor on the bow. This seems a little scary though - the idea of my anchor rode "quickly releasing" during the night at anchor would be a concern.

Can anyone offer any suggestions? Has anyone else run into a similar issue?

Anyone know of any quick release mechanisms they'd trust their anchor with?

[CapnHand]

Have you ever tried anchoring from the stern?

Is there a reason you have to drop the anchor and chain from the bow? How about dropping the anchor and chain from the stern and then playing out the rode and cleating it off at the bow.

[thedudeistoocool]

I think somebody on this board mentioned using a 2 gallon plastic gas can to carry and store rode in. They said it made a nice compact and solid package with a great handle built into it. That might help in the handling aspect

You could fabricate some sort of box to hold the rode and epoxy it right to the deck you could even coat it in fiberglass for durability and water resistance. If you made it low and wide it might not make too much of a trip hazard and still be strong enough to stand on

You could cut a hole in the deck and install a hatch over the v-berth then fabricate a box over the forward end of the v-berth that could hold it but this would make drainage a major issue adn then there's the possibilities of the hatch leaking as well

I can't think of anything that would "look good" though

It's your boat though so you can do anything you want to with it

Good luck and have fun

[SEMIJim]

Originally Posted by CapnHand

Have you ever tried anchoring from the stern?

Is there a reason you have to drop the anchor and chain from the bow? How about dropping the anchor and chain from the stern and then playing out the rode and cleating it off at the bow.

Doh! I have been wondering the same thing as BritAbroad. It never occured to me to just drop the anchor from the stern (ours is stored in a lazerette) and walk the rode forward. Likewise, when hauling anchor, reverse the process. (Tho the bow's a bit handier for dunking the mud, silt, clay, weeds, etc. off.)

Just gotta be real carefull handing the rode to yourself going around the shrouds. Would be a real shame to watch your rode follow the anchor .

Jim

[BritAbroad]

Thought about launching from the stern but never tried it. Partly due to worries about fouling the prop or the keel if there's any drift or way on, and partly because it's harder to do without scratching the topsides. Will try it though.... thanks.

[BritAbroad]

I like the can idea for storing rode - though the canvas bag I currently have works pretty well from that aspect. The two hands business comes from one hand for the anchor and one hand for the rode bag...

Not really all that keen on making any more holes in the deck at the bow. So I think stern locker will have to continue to be the storage spot.....

[jaschrumpf]

Is an anchor's weight engraved on it anywhere? The PO of my boat left me a basic Danforth with 100ft of chain and rode, but I don't know the weight and this idea just came to me. Otherwise I guess I could get a hand-held spring scale, or just take it off the boat and use a bathroom scale.

[sailingdog]

Some boats can anchor from the stern quite nicely. See Don Jordan's article on this, located HERE.

You could also run the rode up to the bow, out around the lifelines and back to the cockpit, if you know you're going to be anchoring soon. Then you could deploy the anchor from the stern and not have to worry about walking it forward so to speak. Just feed the rode forward as you lower the anchor from the cockpit, and then drop the boat back and away from the anchor as you let the rode go... should work pretty well for most boats. The only problem I see with doing this is making sure you have a fair lead to the bow for the anchor rode. Of course, you would probably only do this if you have a combination chain/rope rode, since an all chain rode would chew the deck up pretty good.

[trantor12020]

Originally Posted by BritAbroad

Thought about launching from the stern but never tried it. Partly due to worries about fouling the prop or the keel if there's any drift or way on, and partly because it's harder to do without scratching the topsides. Will try it though.... thanks.

After you anchor off from stern, before you walk the chain to bow, secure the chain with a piece of long rode (can use rolling hitch) and tie to the stern cleat. Now the boat is securely anchored from stern (via rode on chain), you can take your time and walk the rest of the chain, around the shroud and secure it to the bow anchoring point. Now, release the rode from the cleat and secure it to the bow somewhere. When recovering, you can bring the rode back to stern and tension it, freeing the chain for you to walk back and prepare for recovery.

[Wayne25]

How about installing a hawse deck pipe. http://www.sailboatstuff.com/dk_pipe.html
I don't know your layout under your forward deck, but you could possibly locate a container under the hawse to store the chain and rode either temporary or permanently. The anchor would be stored in your bow rail bracket.

Wayne