Anchor line twists

[Harbor Ranger]

To all anchoring Tug-Nutters. We frequently anchor our R-25 on lunching cruises or overnighters. The last time we anchored I encountered some twisting in the anchor line. So, I have two questions.
1. Is there a way to prevent anchor line from twisting?
2. If there are twists in the anchor line how do you get them out?
Thank you. Gary, Harbor Ranger

 

[Stella Maris]

Gary,
Occassionally, you need to find some deep water, let your anchor line hang straight down and untwist itself. There is no way to prevent the twisting when using a windlass.

 

[JamesTXSD]

One thing that we've found to help: occasionally give the line a fresh water rinse and run it through a bucket with some fabric softener in it. We have done this when at our dock or on the trailer, where we can lay the line out. Keep a slight tension on it as you run it back in with the windlass. Besides getting the twists out, it makes the line feel like new.

Hope that helps.

Best wishes,
Jim B.

 

[Bay Ranger]

Gary -

I have not used one personally, but West Marine and others sell an anchor rode swivel for about $50. The swivel attaches between the anchor rode and the shackle on the anchor shaft forthe purpose of reducing twisting of the anchor rode. They come in various sizes to match the size of your anchor and rode. You might want to talk to someone who has used one to see how effective they are.

Ed

 

[denny]

Use brait line rather than three-strand. Several top windllass makers, including Lewmar I believe, recommend this line.
Yale cordage has written a tech paper on this topic (http://www.yalecordage.com/pdf/anchoring_tech.pdf).

Basically, brait has four advantages over three strand:
1) Less storage space is required
2) Lower pull-out force on the anchor compared to other types of rope and chain
3) Superior performance in power windlasses
4) Non-hockling; torque-balanced performance.

Read the Yale Cordage paper and I think you will be convinced. I bought my brait line at Fisheries Supply.
I use brait with my Lewmar 1000 with flawless results.

Denny

 

[baz]

Denny: Thanks for that pdf white paper ref. Very useful & interesting reading. 🙂

 

[RProffer]

I read an article somewhere about a study that had been done about using a swivel on the rode. The study concluded that you will lose a lot of strength if a swivel is used. I think if you only used the anchor for brief stops for lunch and such, the swivel might be okay. But, if you had to depend on the swivel during a big blow, you might have a problem.