Chains & more chains

[Christian Williams]

When in doubt...

 

[Eric Gordon]

I think I recall that in one of your videos. Good Idea!

 

[Eric Gordon]

240 feet? Wow! My 30+ noticeably drops in the bow with 60 feet of chain and 200 feet of rode. Let’s have before and after pics!

The boat is definitely riding higher in her slip with the chain removed… Here’s a photo.

and here’s one before… A little hard to see

 

[Eric Gordon]

I'll be very interested in hearing how your boat handles with that removed.

I went sailing yesterday in relatively light 8 to 15 knot winds, with one to 3 foot chop and I must say firstly I felt that in those light winds, we actually sailed faster (approximately 4 1/2+ knots) than I’ve sailed on her previously.

The interesting thing was in the chop, I felt the boat went through it a lot gentler than previously, (which was a constant Rocking horse effect).

That said, I also deep-cleaned the boat interior and removed probably another 50+ pounds of vacuum, electric drills, cleaners, tools, unused oil filtering, and other assorted bric-a-brac. I even found a homemade rake, in the bow anchor locker, which was probably used to manipulate that massive amount of chain that was there.
On board now are essential tools for working on the engine and electrical along with a bunch of spare parts and things like that.

The verdict for me is that the boat sails much better than before. I am a happy camper… Or should I say happy sailor.

Now, onto the electrical.

 

[ConchyDug]

How much chain rode are the E38 owners going with for cruising tackle? Did you notice a big difference in boat handling with the extra bow weight specifically on the 38? I just bought 125' of 5/16" G40 and plan to couple that with a 35lb anchor of some flavor(trying to be a little weight conscious). It'll be backed with 200' of rope rode as well. I'm trying to outfit the boat for extended cruising in the Caribbean so I wanted to see what others have gone with.

 

[Christian Williams]

My point of view is that there's not much choice and I don't think you'll notice much difference. A cruising boat is heavy loaded anyhow, and although we hope to keep weight out of the ends, well...

A handling test is just to have somebody stand on the bow. The difference isn't critical in my experience.

Racing, one would put the chain in the bilge, but that's nuts for cruising.

 

[jtsai]

How much chain rode are the E38 owners going with for cruising tackle? Did you notice a big difference in boat handling with the extra bow weight specifically on the 38? I just bought 125' of 5/16" G40 and plan to couple that with a 35lb anchor of some flavor(trying to be a little weight conscious). It'll be backed with 200' of rope rode as well. I'm trying to outfit the boat for extended cruising in the Caribbean so I wanted to see what others have gone with.

Most Ericsons do not have electrical windlass. If you do, then 125' G40 is not too heavy. But if you don't, that's a lot of chain.

 

[ConchyDug]

I'll hopefully have the Lofrans X2 on tomorrow and mostly wired up sans the large +/- wiring. Definitely not hand hauling 185lbs of tackle that would be rough. It's hard enough doing the 105lbs now by hand.

On a side note Mantus is doing an Easter Sale with 10% off if y'all need gear. The owners actually started the company on an Ericson 38.