ANCHOR CHAIN ANTI-PYRAMID ROD
©
2013 Tor Pinney - All Rights Reserved
Like most long range cruisers
I carry a lot of anchor chain. I was having a problem with it
pyramiding in the chain locker. That is, when weighing anchor
the chain piled up beneath its deck pipe like an inverted
cone. Once in a while the pile reached the deck pipe, blocking
it so that the chain being fed in suddenly backed up and jammed
the windlass gypsy. This locked the windlass solidly so that it
could not turn in either direction, and it tended to occur just
as the anchor was breaking free from the bottom, or nearly so.
With my boat thus adrift, I had to scramble to unlock the
blockage, which usually entailed removing the windlass deck pipe
cover with a pair of Allen wrenches. The situation was doubly
awkward when I was single-handing, requiring occasional dashes
to the helm to avoid boats and other obstacles while frantically
working to free up the windlass.
My first remedy was to cut a
small access hole in the deck just abaft the windlass and
install a deck fill fitting with a cap. This allowed me to ram a
wood dowel in there to knock down the chain pyramid while
weighing anchor. After breaking several sticks, I devised a
better anchor chain anti-pyramid rod.
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My original design was of
stainless steel and required a bit of welding. A machine
shop in Martinique wanted $100 to fabricate it. I put that
on hold and went off to see what a little waterfront
scrounging might turn up. As luck would have it I happened
across the perfect rod, a 5½' x 5/8", thick-walled
galvanized pipe, in a scrap pile outside a rigging shop. The
friendly shop owner wouldn't take any money for it.
Back aboard Silverheels I
dug out a tap that matched the inside diameter of the pipe
and threaded it to accept a case-hardened bolt I had laying
around in a spares can. I also found an oversized galvanized
washer in there that just fit through my access hole
at the windlass. I bolted the broad washer onto the rod end,
creating a little "claw" of an edge to help push, rake and swipe the
chain pile forward, aft and sideways to spread it more
evenly around the locker. It works like a dream!
My anchor chain
anti-pyramid rod is a godsend, enabling me to weigh anchor
quickly and confidently every time. |
click photos to enlarge
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Epilogue: Since I
wrote & photographed this, I had the end welded and then painted
the whole thing. It's not so ugly anymore.
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End ~
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