[mightyhorton]

I can't remember or never knew the name of the hole in the deck that the anchor chain passes through on its way down to the anchor chain locker. A nice little metal tube or pipe device with a loose metal cap with a hook on the bottom is incorporated into this. Is a hawsehole or hawsepipe, or is that name just for holes that allow hawses to pass through the hull?

Anyhow, I'm wondering what methods have been devised for sealing it so torrents of green water don't go spilling down it when the bow is underwater. Take the anchors off the bow, drop the chain down into the chain locker with a tag line on the last link so you can find it, and then how do you properly seal that through deck hole? Anybody have any ideas? Or do you even bother with it as it isn't that big of a hole....... Maybe a tightly screwed hose clamp holding strong fabric or sail cloth over the hole? On my boat it is sort of an oval shape, not round.

Thanks.

Ian

 

[kaluvic]

I've never disconnected my anchor from the chain while underway....and never even considered it....is this normal practice for others as well?
Mine just takes on water below...I am looking at a couple chain locker drain ideas to keep the water out of the bilge.

 

[sailingdog]

It's usually called a hawse pipe or chain pipe. There are a few different ways to seal them. One is to have a cap that fastens over the opening that is held in place by a screw coming up the hawse pipe. Another is using a fast pin to hold the existing cap in place. Another is to use an expandable plug to fill the hole.

With an oval shaped one, I would probably recommend using a fast pin to hold the cover in place. Drill a 1/4" hole through the side of the cap and the hawse pipe itself and insert a 1/4" fast pin.

 

[sailingdog]

when on an open water passage, where the water is too deep for the anchor to be of any use, many sailors will remove the anchor and stow it below. This is to prevent the anchor or bow roller from being damaged in heavy seas as well as removing a large heavy item from the very bow. Anchor lockers should drain overboard.

I've never disconnected my anchor from the chain while underway....and never even considered it....is this normal practice for others as well?
Mine just takes on water below...I am looking at a couple chain locker drain ideas to keep the water out of the bilge.

 

[sailaway21]

The pipe between the deck and the anchor locker is properly called the spill pipe. While upsetting to the aesthetics of the yachtsman, there is nothing wrong with sealing in the same manner as done on ships for scuppers and other holes that need plugging; shove a rag in it and then cement over the top of the rag. It will seal, and when needed open will break out readily enough.

 

[kaluvic]

How about making a cap or plug the shape of the pipe, then clip or shackle the chains end to the bottom/inside of the plug or cap....and let the weight of the chain pulling down on it hold it in place.

 

[svHyLyte]

If the anchor and chain have been unshipped, a tennis ball shoved into the chain-pipe works quite well. If the cap has a chain hook, merely cut a slot in the ball to accommodate the hook. If the anchor and chain have not been unshipped, split the ball half-way and pass the chain through it and proceed as before.

FWIW...

 

[Boasun]

Sailaway21 has it partly right...
Spill pipe; leads from the deck down into the Chain locker.
Hawse pipe; a fairlead that leads from the deck down through the side of the vessel and overboard.
Now pending on the size of the spill pipe, I just stuffed a rag down it and covered the rag with canned styrofoam(sp?). And it pops out easily when you drop the hook.
I have seen canvas truncated cones, split to wrap around the chain. The cones were stuffed with rags or foam in order for them to hold their shape. A lanyard was attached to keep it from going overboard or being pushed down into the chain locker.
Then some yachts have fancy bronze caps over their spill pipes... and you get to polish them every morning before you have breakfast. A routine job for the deck hand.
For the Hawse pipe we used a 'Buckler plate' also known as a Jackass cover This stops the water from coming up the Hawse pipe and unto the deck.
But it can be a bit moot when you are burying your bow into the seas...

 

[imagine2frolic]

West Marine: West Marine Search Tool

Here's a page of Deck Pipe fittings from Worst Marine.....i2f

 

[mightyhorton]

Thanks, guys. Good info. Spill pipe. Sounds like whatever you can invent that will stay stuffed into the spill pipe will work. My though about removing the anchors from the bow was the same as SD's - lots of weight on the very pointy end of the boat, more surface area for water to torque on........ More applicable on longer passages further from shore, maybe not if you might have to duck into an anchorage. At what point do you decide to lash the anchor down tightly in the bow roller, if you aren't going to remove it? Mine has a nice beefy pin and the usual dog on the windlass, but there is plenty of room for it to slam around if the bow is getting pounded.

Ian

 

[sailaway21]

Maybe a good rule of thumb might be to stow it below when you cross the hundred fathom curve.

 

[sailaway21]

And if you use hydraulic cement it doesn't care if it's wet or not, the water acts as a catalyst for it and the stuff dries rock hard in about fifteen minutes.

 

[badsanta]

I know someone that uses a big fist of modeling clay. Uses it to seal around the chain at the hole at the windless.

 

[sailingdog]

a good rule of thumb is once you're in water too deep for the anchor and rode you carry to work, on an extended passage, it is probably time to stow the anchor. If you're in really deep waters near shore daysailing or going from one anchorage to another, I'd leave it on the bow.

Thanks, guys. Good info. Spill pipe. Sounds like whatever you can invent that will stay stuffed into the spill pipe will work. My though about removing the anchors from the bow was the same as SD's - lots of weight on the very pointy end of the boat, more surface area for water to torque on........ More applicable on longer passages further from shore, maybe not if you might have to duck into an anchorage. At what point do you decide to lash the anchor down tightly in the bow roller, if you aren't going to remove it? Mine has a nice beefy pin and the usual dog on the windlass, but there is plenty of room for it to slam around if the bow is getting pounded.

Ian

 

[xort]

horton
Do you have a cap for that pipe? On a previous boat, I had an oval 'spill pipe' and it had a cap on it. made the opening for the chain pretty small. The drain hole should be able to keep up with that. perhaps take a tracing of the top of your pipe and contact some of the manufacturers to see if they have that size?

 

[higgins]

Don Casey's book 100 fast & easy boat improvements shows how to make a reusable (stays on the chain when in use) plug

 

[billyruffn]

I have a tennis ball with a hole drilled through it. Pass a line through the hole and knot it on the other side. Unshackle the anchor (remembering to secure it first) and then tie the line with the ball to the last link of the chain. Feed the chain into the locker. As the last of the chain falls into the locker it sucks the ball into the hole in the deck. Ball fits snugly in the hole and most of the water stays where it should. This rig makes it easy to retreive the chain as well.

 

[tanzer]

Playdough, modelling clay

 

[Valiente]

It's usually called a hawse pipe or chain pipe. There are a few different ways to seal them. One is to have a cap that fastens over the opening that is held in place by a screw coming up the hawse pipe. Another is using a fast pin to hold the existing cap in place. Another is to use an expandable plug to fill the hole.

With an oval shaped one, I would probably recommend using a fast pin to hold the cover in place. Drill a 1/4" hole through the side of the cap and the hawse pipe itself and insert a 1/4" fast pin.

I have a thread on Anything Sailing Forums - Powered by vBulletin at this time, if further ideas need exploring. I am trying to avoid the installation of such a pipe, which I used to call a "hawse pipe", but now call a chain pipe or a chain fall because I don't carry my anchor, destroyer style, in a notch on the side of the bow from which you can also run "hawsers". (I find the more particular I am about nautical terminology, the less ambiguity is created, but that's just me.)

One idea I know of is to put even a one-inch high collar around the hole in the deck. This should reduce the water coming inside somewhat as the water naturally sloshing on deck from spray can't find that hole and use it as a drain.

At sea, I would stow my anchors and perhaps my chain (I keep it in an anchor well) below to get the weight off the end and to reduce stress on my bowsprit. It is also not inconceivable that beating into heavy seas could chafe the light lashings that are usually sufficient to keep the shanks in place entirely through and I could have a "surprise deployment". If I was in coastal or otherwise thin waters (like in the typically rough water over an oceanic seamount), this could be quite destructive were I going at a good clip.

So while it's more work, I would shift my anchors below into the forepeak. I would also bag them, because I have found that even on Lake Ontario, anchors can damage the paint just through moving a little bit a few thousand times on the same spots. "Chafe is the enemy" isn't just about lines and sails, I am learning.

 

[sailingdog]

I have a thread on Anything Sailing Forums - Powered by vBulletin at this time, if further ideas need exploring. I am trying to avoid the installation of such a pipe, which I used to call a "hawse pipe", but now call a chain pipe or a chain fall because I don't carry my anchor, destroyer style, in a notch on the side of the bow from which you can also run "hawsers". (I find the more particular I am about nautical terminology, the less ambiguity is created, but that's just me.)

One idea I know of is to put even a one-inch high collar around the hole in the deck. This should reduce the water coming inside somewhat as the water naturally sloshing on deck from spray can't find that hole and use it as a drain.

It would help with spray and sloshing water...but water breaking over the bow would still get some into the pipe.

At sea, I would stow my anchors and perhaps my chain (I keep it in an anchor well) below to get the weight off the end and to reduce stress on my bowsprit. It is also not inconceivable that beating into heavy seas could chafe the light lashings that are usually sufficient to keep the shanks in place entirely through and I could have a "surprise deployment". If I was in coastal or otherwise thin waters (like in the typically rough water over an oceanic seamount), this could be quite destructive were I going at a good clip.

So while it's more work, I would shift my anchors below into the forepeak. I would also bag them, because I have found that even on Lake Ontario, anchors can damage the paint just through moving a little bit a few thousand times on the same spots. "Chafe is the enemy" isn't just about lines and sails, I am learning.

Not only do you want to bag them, but secure them very tightly. You don't want anchors or anything that heavy moving at all. If they can move, they'll eventually chafe through the bags and cause the damage you're trying to prevent.