Anchor Day

Anchor locker minus primary rode(chain)

We spend Wednesday in the anchor locker of our boat.  We had not really done much with our anchors and rodes lately.  We have a 45 lbs CQR and a 45 lbs Bruce anchor.  We also have an aluminum folding Danforth folded up in an anchor bag in the anchor locker.  We weren't 100% sure how much chain we have because we had to have some rusted chain cut out of the middle our anchor rode when we first purchased s/v Honey Ryder.  Additionally we didn't have our anchor chain marked so Wednesday was the day. 

Tom and Jim confer on all things anchor

Luckily our dock neighbor Jim took an interest and decided to lend us not only his advice but muscle.  We laid out all the chain on the dock.

Primary chain rode all out

Then we decided to move it up to the top of the dock on the wood for measuring and marking so we wouldn't be dragging it around on the concrete dock de-galvanizing it.  Re-galvanizing chain is $$ so best we keep as much on the chain as possible. 

Tom using a little heat to loosen up an anchor shackle

We also took advantage of having it all out to switch the chain around.  Very rarely was the bitter end (the end furthest away from the anchor) used....as in all the chain being out.  However, the end of the chain closest to the anchor gets used a lot so we switched it around.  Now the unused portion of the chain is closest to the anchor - like new... and the older part is down deep in the anchor locker.  We also discovered that the chain was through bolted inside the anchor locker.  Many boat are set up this way.  Not good.  If there was an emergency and we had all the chain out and needed to let it loose complete, it would be near impossible under load.  Tom removed the through bolts and tied the bitter end inside the anchor locker.  Now if we need to let it go in an emergency, it will be easy.  We also located and inspected our anchor float.  This is what we would tie the onto the end of the anchor rode if we should need to let it go. Then we can come back to it and retrieve the anchor and rode after the emergency is over.

Jim sewing in the webbing to mark the anchor rode

Anyway....we measured just over 200 feet of anchor chain (rode). Jim suggested using small pieced of webbing sewn into the chain to mark it.  50=1 mark, 75=2, 100= 3 back the other way 125=2, 150=1.  Very simple and easy.  Jim offered up some of his webbing and showed me how he sews his on.  He was WAY faster sewing his marker on than I was. 
 

Secondary rode

Turns out the secondary anchor rode has 75 feet of chain and 160 line that was already marked at 18 ft or 3 fathoms.  Not my first choice in depth measurements but hey, it's already marked, no sewing web in...so we are going with it. 

All emptied out

We scrubbed down the anchor locker and removed the non-functioning wash down pump.  It is toast.  We will probably wait to get a new one - not really in the budget/priority list at this point.

Windlass

I removed the windlass electrical connectors, cleaned them and reinstalled them with lots of silicon grease.  We also cleaned up our snubber and got a new hook that will make it much easier to use.

Snubber with new hook

While we were worn out at the end of the day (sometimes you feel like an anchor and some days you feel like the rode-  Baahahahah!).  It was good day checking all this off the list. 

Tom working in the anchor locker

*Now before you go commenting/emailing me about all the weigh on the bow and such because of so much chain, know this.....anchor and chain rode = sleep factor for us me.  The more chain the higher my sleep factor!  I like sleep! 

Good Peeps - Lester Forbes

Or in this case.....good redneck!  (He will be the first to tell you he's a redneck.)  Meet Lester Forbes of Forbes Electronics.  Mr Lester is one hell of a marine electronics tech and a pretty darn fascinating person as well.  We have gotten to know Lester much better recently as he looked over our shoulders, guiding us and troubleshooting with us as we upgraded our marine electronics.  We learned SO much from Lester and we are very grateful for all his guidance, advice, patience, and humor.  It was a blast working with him.  If you need him, you can call his wife over on sinkin rock (aka St Simon's Island) and she will have him call you.

LED Lights

s/v Honey Ryder has the old fashioned festoon and halogen lights in the interior of the boat.  They suck tons of power (not good on a sailboat) and burn so hot they will give you a sunburn in 5 mins flat.  The 3 festoon bulb fixture alone pulls 3 amps and we have 6 of those fixtures!  We have discussed off and on replacing the bulbs with LED's but have you priced a LED bulb lately?  A marine LED bulb?  They are expensive, in some cases $49 per bulb!  Additionally it is very confusing to figure out what type LED to get for what type fixture.  LED's look WAY different than regular bulbs so you can't go by looks.

You also have to be careful because not all LED's are made the same.  Some are made well and some are not.  I hit the internet to research our options.  The more I read, the more confused I got.  Then I talked to several other cruisers, same thing.  Now I will admit, most of this confusion was self induced.  For some reason, I was making this harder than it needed to be.  Finally last week, I decided it was time to quit dinking around and pull the trigger.  I started with Dr LED web site (very busy and hard to navigate) but then something lead me over Cruisers Forum and a thread about LED lights and MarineBeam

There I saw a video about a really kewl light that was perfect for us.  When you first turn it on, the light that comes on red.  If you turn it off and then right back on, the light comes on the second time is white and only one switch is required!  No need to get a whole new light fixture to get this benefit.  For those that don't know, sailors (boaters) need red lights at night.  White lights will ruin your night vision, red will not.  When you are on watch at the helm at night, your eyes adjust to the dark and you are able to see what is around you.  Any white light will blind you temporarily, messing up your ability to see what is around you.  Think about when you finish watching late night TV in a dark room. You turn off the TV and suddenly you can't see anything in the room.  You have to wait a few minutes to get your night vision before you can navigate your way to the bedroom.  We have not had any red lights on s/v Honey Ryder (other than a dedicated one at the nav station) because most of our fixtures have only one switch.  With this two-way light, we can now have the red lights we need.  Check it out.  Red/White Switchable -there is a video on the page so you can see what I am talking about.
I ordered from Marine Beam.  I had questions and Jeff personally assisted me, answering all my questions.  The pricing was good and the delivery was super fast - 2 days.

    

We have not yet replaced our nav lights with LED's.  We wanted to see how this went first. 

ROXXXXANNE!