Maiden Voyage

[Hamish73]

We got a 'new to us' Whittley 630 this week and today was the maiden voyage. All went really well (except the fishing ::) )

I do have a few questions for those bigger boat owners.

1. We launched at abour 1/4 tide. I was in the boat with it in reverse as the mrs reversed the car back slowly until the boat started to move. She later informed me that the the rear bumper of the patrol was in the water :o . Other than reversing back the last metre then hitting the brakes does anyone have any other ideas?
Drive on retrieval was much easier than expected, even if I did have about 6 approaches
Ramp was the one beside RQYS

2. The boat has an electric anchor winch. How do you guage how much chain to let out?


Even when I let out way more than the depth, the chain was still going straight down from the bowspirt, obviously because of the weight. Maybe colour coding every 10 metres to guage how much to let out???

3. A couple of times the chain bunched up under the winch during anchor retrieval causing the winch to stall, any ideas to prevent this?


thanks in advance
Hamish

[Jabba_]

This what I did to to gauge the lenght off chain your letting out......

While on land. Lower you windlass and count to 10, then stop windlass... Measure how much chain was lowered....

On my "Quick Windlass" I get 4m off chain for every 10 sec....

I launch my boat by myself... I always roll the last 1/2 meter and hit the brakes.....

[Spaniard_King]

Hamish,

launching large boats is really dependant on the ramp!!.

My rig.. 2.7T .. always reverse intill engine can be started and placed in reverse.. this is the key..only enough to acheive this.. then a quick reverse and brake.

Things that will make it easier are:

trailer setup
Trailer maintenence Ie grease spindles on rollers regularly
use more throttle in reverse
a good decky(had to put that in :) )

large boats are difficult to launch.. using the same ramp will help alot :)

[Hamish73]

thanks guys, I had enough reverse throttle to create a small tidal wave ::)
I'll go with the 'reverse and brake' theory next time.

The ramp looks great at MBTBC but for $500 to join, I'll give the one at manly a few more goes :)

Thanks Jabba for the anchor idea :thumbup:

[tenzing]

Hamish I have a seafarer 6.0. and am fairly new to it as well.

My 14yo son generally helps. The rollers work well enough that he can just let me roll back a metre or so on the trailer , I have the motor running, I then motor forward just enough to let him unhook me then just roll back into the water.(this can quite easily be done alone too. Just get out of the boat with the motor in gear -it cant go anywhere.I hope )
This morning at 3.45 am(also at Manly) the tide was right out and the stern was only just in the water - same ritual without trouble.
It sounds like the rollers need attention, as the weight of that boat should pull it quickly backwards on most ramps.

I worried about the chain length thing at fist too. I also timed the winch etc. Now I know that I have 30 ft odd of chain and 70 m of rope. You should pay out at least 3 times the depth (in good conditions) and supposedly up to 7 times the depth in very poor conditions) so unless you are in less than 10 ft ,then run out all your chain at least and you'll sort of get a feel for how much rope after that. You should get out the tape and measure te whole thing. You could then mark the rope if you really want and/or check in the rope locker when you think you are about right.

My windlass used to jam at the rope/chain join. The spring in the plastic guide needed replacing. Check all the places the chain can get caught as you are retrieving , the chain pipe, bow roller etc. Could you have some stiff links in your chain?

Mate I used to do the High speed reverse and brake thing with the old tinny but I'd hate to think of all the things that could go wrong if you or "she who must be obeyed" mistimed it with the new pride and joy,

Good luck . Brendan

PS if you wanted to be really obsessive and had $400 plus labour (another 400) you could be the proud owner of a winch counter . Muir winches have one made for their range- and a dearer one too!

[Hamish73]

Thanks Brendan.
What do you mean by 'chain pipe'?
I dont have any rope, just chain about 40 metres.
Are most chain winches also rope compatible? Mine is a Simpson Lawrance brand, couldnt see a model # on it

[tenzing]

Thanks Brendan.
What do you mean by 'chain pipe'?
I dont have any rope, just chain about 40 metres.
Are most chain winches also rope compatible? Mine is a Simpson Lawrance brand, couldnt see a model # on it

Hamish. 40 m would only let you anchor well in 13m in good conditions. The' gypsy' of your windlass is the bit that turns around to pull up the chain. check to see if it has not only the chain shaped indents in it but also a wider generally flat but slightly grooved area to hold rope. eg mine runs 6mm cain and 12mm rope. it is a muir atlantic 600. Check it on their website for details.
If it does I would get a rope of sufficient length spliced on to inrease your length.

The chain pipe is the tube that the chain runs through after the gypsy that feeds it into the locker below

Cheers Brendan

Mate I just checked the simpson lawrence 1500 on the web and that model takes 8mm chain and 9/16 to 5/8 " three strand rope. The model no. may be written on the motor in the locker

[tenzing]

Just thinking , the all chain thing would explain more about why it was hanging vertically. What would happen if your winch wouldnt work . Need arms like popeye to retrieve 40m of chain. The chain is only really useful to act as a shock absorber by lying on the bottom. a little over boat length is the recommended length, Also it costs 3 times what the rope does to replace ( I left mine on the bottom last month) Would you consider replacing 30m of your chain with 50m+ of rope?

By the way , where did you go this am. we went to the east of mud and couldnt raise a scale . at least we had the place to ourselves pretty much for a few hours-it didnt help.

Brendan

(http://coastalsailing.net/Cruising/Seamanship/Anchoring/resources.html)

[tenzing]

Try this link for useful info
http://coastalsailing.net/Cruising/Seamanship/Anchoring/resources.html



Brendan

[Hamish73]

I'll look into the rope situation. No tube on this one, directly out of the winch and into the locker.

We were at the e side of mud (remember seeing a boat like yours there), then around to the northern side to escape the wind, a few baby bream/squire came aboard, along with the usual grinner which was returned to the ocean on our hooks :)

Wanda did get smashed by something big, when she got home she had a read of the 'fishing knots' book ;D There is a fish swimming around with a hook in its chops dragging some leader, a sinker and a swivel around the ocean floor :P

[PinHead]

I had a 30' boat with electric anchor winch...had a mixture of chain and rope. All chain can be noisy when swinging at anchor hence the rope was good in that respect. Mine used to bunch up also as it went into the anchor well but I had foor switches on the bow also which allowed me to stop and clear the rope into the well and go afain without any problems. As for gauging amounting of rope (chain) out...just time and experience soon sorted out that problem.

[tenzing]

I'll look into the rope situation. No tube on this one, directly out of the winch and into the locker.

We were at the e side of mud (remember seeing a boat like yours there), then around to the northern side to escape the wind, a few baby bream/squire came aboard, along with the usual grinner which was returned to the ocean on our hooks :)

Wanda did get smashed by something big, when she got home she had a read of the 'fishing knots' book ;D There is a fish swimming around with a hook in its chops dragging some leader, a sinker and a swivel around the ocean floor :P

Mate there are a few of those around. Caught a 60 cm cod the other night with about a foot of mono hanging out of its exhaust. Actually It was one of two cod that picked up different baits on my two unnattended baitrunners simultaneously at 1am at Curtin. It still had all the terminal tackle in the tummy in near new condition. A sucker for punishment I guess.

Brendan

Did you check out the anchoring link?

[Hamish73]

Just checked it out now thanks Brendan.
Mine is a Simpson Lawrence 600, which also takes 1/2 strand rope.
What is the prefere3d method to attatch the rope to the chain to avoid jamming?

[tenzing]

As I am certainly not an old salt , I had the giys at northside splice mine on for me last week. I had to replace it all after donating the pick and chain to the briny a few weeks ago. You just tell them how much of whtever and they will join them.
I put 70m of 3 strand nylon and 10m of 6mm short link chain.

I have about 40m of 3 strand 1/2 inch from the previous one that could always find a new home. It will normally set you back a few bucks a metre.

Brendan.

The reason I put 70m on is to increase the scope , but also if I had to cut loose again ther should be enough left to re-use. It gets to be an expensive excercise.

[Hamish73]

I just clicked that the other rope I got with the boat may be the right size for the winch, will check that out. Pretty sure I wont fit much in the anchor/chain well though

[seatime]

Hamish, here's a couple of methods for splicing rope to chain:

http://home.cogeco.ca/~mquill/chain_rope_splice.html

http://www.bluemoment.com/warpchainsplice.html

The ramp next to RQ has a shallow incline compared to some others in the area which can make it harder to launch larger boats - have to back down the ramp further.
The ramp next to MBTBC has a greater angle though it's more exposed to the weather. The Bill Gunn pontoon can be used for dropping off passengers if beaching isn't an option, they will have a short walk to the car park.

regards
Steve

[Hamish73]

Thanks Steve, forgot about that pontoon, will try that one next time. :)

Just went outside, and I have plenty of rope suitable for the winch, but the problem is I only get about 20m in the anchor locker before it starts bunching up. >:( Looks like its back to all chain

[tenzing]

Hamish ,does the space shortage include all the chain.
did you give some thought to just leaving 10m or so?

Brendan

[Chimo]

Hi Hamish

Can you run a second anchor setup with a boat length of chain and the rest 10 or 12 mm warp?
Use an anchor retriever ball and split ring to raise it and then hand over hand it into a bin in the boat.

Obviously its still tied off at the bow but for deeper water its IMHO a far easier way to go and just use the current setup for shallow work.

Sure has been interesting watching your evolution from tinny 1 to 2 and 3 and then to the latest rig. Enjoy.

Cheers
Chimo


the boat

[boatboy50]

Hamish,

About the launching. Are you sure the anchor/bow roller wasn't stuck on the top of the winch post. I've seen it happen many times when a plough anchor hanging can reach and stick on it when on the angle of a launch ramp. It will stop the boat from pulling back easily.

Regards

Darren

[Hamish73]

Re anchor space, the rope was just bunching taking up too much room.
I have a plan :)
a small tube from the anchor well to the rope storage under the LH bunk. Leave the 45m of chain there for general work, and have the rope spliced to it and fed through the tube. The end of the chain would be shackled off onto the existing point. In need of deep water anchoring, the shackle would be removed and the rope would simple feed out. Retrieval would just require a crew mamber to keep the rope taught. This would still allow winch usage.

Darren, nothing was jammed up the front, this trailer has a bow roller, not a V.
I think maybe some roller maintainance and slightly different technique will solve the problem. BTW this was our fist attempt at launcging and retrieving something this size, so there are bound to be the odd teething problem. Stay tuned :)

Chimo, I blame you for my boat addiction ;) When we were down for the tinny swap we were admiring your rig :)

[Hamish73]

Ok, the keel rollers seem to be the culprit for my launching issues.
Cant even turn them by hand :'(
Does anyone know any places that sell stainless roller shafts? else I'll just buy some bar and make my own