Nylon Mega-Braid II

R

russoboat

New member
Does anyone us this type of rope on there Windlass.

My Sprint 600 Windlass is giving me some problems with rewinding rope is bunching up and not going below to locker.

I change the rope to the Nylon Mega-Braid II will this help solve this problem, I also have 10' of chain, unit is only two years old.
 
I use New England 3-strand and 15 ft. of 3/8 chain. No bunching here. Do you have a good swavel on your anchor at the point the chain attaches. This will keep your anchor rode from twisting and that my be the only problem with your setup.
 
russoboat-

It's a common mistake to use too soft a rope.

The three-strand twisted nylon rope needs to be soft enough to be gripped by the gypsy, and yet still tight and stiff enough to feed through the windlass and down into the rode locker.

A rope that is too soft bunches up and jams as it comes off the gypsy and is led down into the locker.

Often a softer line will work OK at first, but as it softens as it ages, it begins to jam and bind.

The stiffer and tighter line also resists twisting more, and thus is less likely to bind up coming off the windlass where line twist can be concentrated at the bending point as it turns to go below deck as the line is moved through the windlass and into the locker.

Many windlass manufacturers recommend the relatively stiff Premium 3-Strand Nylon Anchor line from New England Ropes for their windlasses.

Others have their own brand of windlass ready prespliced rope/chain rodes.

Joe.
 
Agree with Sea Wolfe--you need a stiff 3 strand. The mega braid II is very difficult to splice (I have spliced 12 braid before, and would use the same splice--but I would not recommend it for a first time project or even the casual rigger.)

The Mega braid is supple--which is what you don't want for an anchor rode--it also has less elasticity, which is also a negitive. The real feature is that the abrasion resistance is very low, and it is extremely nice to handle.

I would advise against it.
 
Certainly the Simpson Lawrance combo is a good choice. I went with 30 feet of 1/4 HT chain and 230 feet of 1/2" premium New England Ropes three strand. The reason the more chain, is that I rarely will anchor in more than 30 feet, and the windlass will be pulling all chain when it pulls the anchor up. (not break the anchor out--I do that with the boat)--the cain will not slip, and there will be less chafe on the rope.
 
thataway-


Bob, that exactly what I think about using chain in the primary area (front end) on a rode!

Because I'm in a steep side-walled lake. I like a long (100') chain up front on the rode to have all chain to retrieve itself, since it doesn't slip, period.

The chain weighs enough to help quiet the wave and wind wandering (searching) of the boat, since all of the chain weighs 74 lbs.

Can't safely get a 5:1 scope in a 50 foot deep cove 100 feet across!

Of course, for other situations, there's 200 feet of 1/2" three strand Premium New England Rope after the chain.

Joe.
 
On our long distance cruising boats we used from 160 to 200 feet of HT chain and then 400 feet of Nylon rode--with a second rode if necessary. Exactly as Sea Wolfe says--you want more chain if you are in deep water.

If I was primarly in the PNW, I would consider 100 feet of chain also--but on the Florida Gulf coast people don't believe that water could be more than 100 feet deep!

Because of the weight, we use less chain in the high speed planing boats.
 
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