Anchor rode re-build\switch - 3 of 3 Las Hadas, Manzanillo -final - 2014

December 2014 - Anchored in Las Hadas,  Manzanillo

The anchoring area here in Las Hadas in Manzanillo is small to us but rather nice. 

 We anchored in Las Hadas, Manzanillo with our rope anchor rode. We decided that we did not want to short scope it to a 5.1 and stay safer at 7.1. To that end we realized at 7.1 we needed to stay outside the preferred area to anchor. As we feel more comfortable with the new rode we will start to go in closer and short scope it some. We always “power set” our anchor and we have never yet dragged and do not want to start that now.

No snubber needed!

Our rode feeds back to the gypsy just fine. We put the pin in the chain stopper but not the chain stopper. This way the rode ran over the pin and did not chafe on the wheel bracket. The cleat we installed is working just fine. It is thru-bolted and has been secure. We have not had any real conditions at anchor. Seas have been somewhat rolly because we are on the outside of the anchorage. The winds at the most were 10 knots and lasted most of the night each night.

So far all is good with the rode. It is quieter than chain. Because our chain was rusty as heck and stretched out and small it was jumping out of the gypsy and flinging rust all over the bow making a real mess. This rode is a great relief. It just pays out and comes back into the boat like a dream, the way chain or rode should. This is making our life much easier. This summer we will get new chain, until then it is rode time! 

The rode does not seem to need any chafe but we put some "Sumbrella' on it just in case for now. We will use some fire hose type chafe we have later if it proves to need it.

We have 220' tied to the cleat in the anchor locker. That is a little less than 7.1 at our 32' depth.
But a big swing area at about 250'.

Alarms:

 We do not usually set anchoring alarms. However because this 8 plat rode is all new to use we decided to alarm up.

Using the Garmin HD 18 GRM radar we set a “Sentry” alarm. We configured  it to “spinup” (start up) every 15 min and scan for 5 min then turn off for another 15 min ect. This saves battery power. We set a “Guard Zone” so anything that appears in that zone sets of the alarm.

Next using the Garmin chart plotter and depth gauge we setup a deep water alarm in case we drag out to deep water.

Then a low water alarm of course for dragging into shallow water.

Also we set an anchor drag alarm using the Garmin chart plotter in case we drag like the other alarms.

We started off the night with 12.80 on our Xantrax Link 2000 battery monitor and in the morning we had 12:60. So not bad at all.

12.80 = over 100 percent

12.60 = over 90 percent.

None went off!

Also we used the Samsung 10” Galaxy Tab 3 tablet we have to set up anchor alarm using a fee app for this purpose. We used it two nights in a row and it still had 58 percent of it’s battery power. Good deal. We can put that in our stateroom so that is cool.

Lewmar 8 Plait (8PLT) Anchor Rodes are designed to ensure the smooth running of the windlass.

Features:

• ·        Anchor rodes complement rope chain gypsies fitted to all Lewmar windlasses
• ·        Chain is hot-dipped galvanized to minimize corrosion
• ·        Chain is welded for high strength; calibrated for even pitch
• ·        Enables 50% moreline in locker than 3-strand rope
• ·        Hand-sewn whipping guarantees against unraveling
• ·        Eliminates hockling and kinking
• ·        Resists stiffening with age