Rode Storage Area

Good morning,

The other day, I pulled out the entire length of of rode to inspect and repair. This is the first time I have done this as my E-27 is relatively new to me. I also checked to see that bitter end was firmly attached. Check. Ready to put the rode back but ran into problems fitting it below decks as it was before. Shame on me for not looking at how it was stored before pulling it out.

So I went below into the V-birth to do some investigating and tried a few different things to try and stow the entirety of the rode below decks but to no avail. This is what I came up with (please see attached photo for reference). I removed the panel at the forward end of V-berth. You can see the chain coming down from the deck above, and the rope disappearing into a n area below the floor of the V-berth. I stuck an endoscope down into this mystery area to find that the bitter end was fastened to some connection that looks to be pretty substantial. After trying a few attempts at stowing the rode, this is what I came up with.
1 - The whole of the rode (100' plus) doesn't fit within the cubby hole forward of the V-birth (i.e. behind the panel I removed)
2 - Feeding the rode down into the compartment below the V-berth was very difficult because once you feed what I am guessing is about 20 to 30 feet of rode, you're literally pushing on a rope to feed the rode down a very narrow opening.

This area below the floor of the v-berth is a mystery to me because I cannot find any access to it. How would I attach a new rode to the connection point I mentioned earlier? How do you feed rode down into this area for storage? At the end of the day, I just want to stow my rode again so that it is ready for rapid deployment if necessary. It seems there is something that I am missing. Do you need to be infinitely patient in feeding/cramming the rode down through the narrow opening to the compartment below v-berth? Please advise. Thank you.

So it sounds like you are new to anchoring as well! There is no attachment point that I know of down below unless it was added. At least, NOT on my boat down there. E27 does not have a formal anchor locker. The Haws pipe was likely added by a previous owner and the "mystery area" just goes down into the bilge. The empty bow area is a convenient place to store your ground gear (chain and rode). When you anchor you will feed out the chain and cleat off the line to one of your bow cleats to the length needed for a minimum of 4:1 scope. I use 30' feet of chain and 100' rope. But then, I'm on a river. You may think about glassing in to create a compartment just for the chain and rode and provide a drain on the side of the hull at the bottom of the compartment and well above the waterline. I have seen it done mostly because owners complain about of the smell of the rode so close to where they sleep. If you don't anchor much, do bother. I usually tie up to friends with bigger boats to save the hassle of anchoring at all! Seriously. My boat did not have the Haws pipe so I would carry the rode to the bow in an old cloth bag, attach to anchor, and deploy.

Ande, as an aside, while you are up there it would be a really good idea to clean up that rats nest of unsupported wiring. That is a LOT of wire for what can only be two small nav lights. Some proper connectors and maybe a cpl of terminal strips would neaten that up nicely and recuce the risk of failure (typically when you least expect or need it!)

For what it's worth, in the days of manila rodes, they were stored on deck. A neat coil, lightly seized, still looks very yar on any foredeck. With modern line there is no issue with UV or rot either.

I am fond of saying that it was traditional to not fasten the bitter end of a rode to the boat. Many new boats have a dinky fitting to that end, which I believe is to reassure owners. But if you think about it, what is the purpose of securing the bitter end to a convenience fitting? Ah, I have it! False security!