Anchor chain locker question

[Don]

Hi to all

Had a look over a 2008 27/3 today and noticed that the anchor chain locker was accessible from inside the front of the boat via a louvre door in the front of the v berth

Just wonder how you keep the mud smell out of the inside of the boat when you have been anchored in mud and the chain comes up muddy and drops into the locker or is there something i am missing

This boat is as new apart from a section of laminex bubbling and lifting off the bulkhead timber around the opening on the forward face of the bulkhead behind the v berth

Is this something others have found happening with theirs

It seemed well put together and i was impressed with the overall build quality and fittings used on the boat

I am wondering if there is any other common faults i shoud be aware of

This is a link to the boat i am looking at http://yachthub.com/list/yachts-for-sale/used/sail-monohulls/com-pac-27-cruising-yacht/114796

Any help or advice would be appreciated as Com-Pac is not a common boat here in Australia and there is not a lot of information on them

Thanks in advance

Regards Don

[skip1930]

" Just wonder how you keep the mud smell out of the inside of the boat when you have been anchored in mud and the chain comes up muddy and drops into the locker or is there something i am missing  "

Wow. Was never a problem or even a thought. But boy is that a good question/comment.

Our hook comes up through fresh water [not salt] and has very rarely had anything on the anchor, a few foot of anchor chain, or the anchor line. Hence no stink. Oh a few pieces of grass and once a rock stuck in the flukes of the Danforth. The line though was clean. No mud.

When hauling in the nylon three strand anchor line I assume that access to a bucket of fresh water is not available, so no rinsing or dipping through the bucket on the way down the pipe.

So this boat in Australia is using 100% chain [?] for an anchor line? That way it's not cut on choral?

I believe the bulkhead that creates the aft wall of the chain locker at the Vee birth is open for ventilation and to aid in drying the chain or line. Any accumulation of moisture that can not escape is just asking for rot and mold to form in and around that area. Move air in and out of the locker for best drying. A solar fan? But that puts a hole in the deck above the chain locker. A boat with limited battery power is not going to have an air moving fan that can run long enough to dry the chain locker.  

Is it a good idea to spray with a sprits bottle the mass of anchor line or chain with a bacteria killing solution of Clorox or some sort of a hospital sanitizer on the way down the rope pipe? I use a hospital sanitizer on everything people can touch when I clean the pharmacy in the flu season.

After all that verbiage above I have no good ideas.

skip.

[relamb]

Hmm, I've had several boats with this arrangement, including a CP27 I recently bought.  My CP23 has the same arrangement.  I've never had an issue with smell.  however, I definitely make a habit of not bringing sand/dirt/mud into the anchor locker, I wash it off with a bucket, brush, whatever before putting it down the hawse pipe.  I had a fishing boat with a nice high-powered washdown pump that I could attach a garden hose to.  I'm going to add one of those to my CP27.  Currently on my CP23 I keep the cheapest 1/4 hp sump pump I could get at Lowes, with a garden hose and nozzle.  Although it's a 110v pump made for a home sump pump, it will run from my 800 watt power inverter and is great for washing down the boat. I just plug it in, lower it over the side of the boat, and start washing away.

[NateD]

As relamb said, the CP23 has the same design. I keep my boat on the Mississippi, which can have some pretty sticky nasty mud on the bottom. I rarely have any stuck to the rope rode, but sometimes there will some stuck to the 30' of chain or on the anchor itself. I usually try to dunk it back into the water a few times (depends on how close the lee shore is and how hard the wind is blowing), which gets most of the crud off. I haven't had any olfactory issues with the chain locker. Some mud typically gets on the bow sprit/deck when bringing the anchor up. Once I get underway I put the autopilot on and hit the foredeck with a brush quick.