Building an Outboard Trawler - Ground Tackle -

Gord and Donna

Feb 27, 20232 min read

Feb 27, 2023:

Wow! Nearing the end of February. Time sure goes by. We'll be back on the water before you know it.

We got news at the beginning of the month that our order was ready at the marine outfitter in Kingston. I picked up the windlass on my way back from Mom's place a couple of weeks ago. It is a 'Lofrans' manual winch, made in Italy. We had ordered it with the 5/16" chain gypsy.

As was our intention all along, we will be using an 'all chain' anchor rode because it goes well with a windlass and because we want the (significant) weight of the chain to act as additional ballast in the forward bilge.

We got the chain too. It's 175 feet of 'Grade 43' HT calibrated 5/16" galvanized chain and it weighs 187lbs.

Aside from a good anchor swivel, the last thing we needed for our setup was a chain stopper. At anchor, the tension on the chain cannot rest on the windlass. Something else needs to take the strain. We plan to attach a line from the chain to the bow cleat to handle the stresses at anchor.

When the anchor is stowed, we need a solid stopper for the chain so we don't lose the anchor underway.

I found a stainless steel chain stopper online at a great price. I don't doubt that it's a Chinese knock off but it was one fifth the price of the American made model.

But nothing's ever easy.

When I removed it from the box, the swing plate was stuck. I took it apart and saw that one of the 'ears' was bent.