Windless

danrod

Hi guys,  I lost my chain and anchor and replaced it, but 200 ft of rode and 50ft of chain, the windlass / gypsy brings in the rode fine but once it gets to the chain it skips and will come off the gypsy. I replaced the control arm and tried it again and it broke again, do I have too much rode? And do I need to let the chain and rode out completely and then try again maybe?

Willhound

Did you buy the correct size chain for your gypsy? Proper size chain should lock right in to the gypsy unless the drum is totally trashed.
1/4" to 5/16" is "only" a sixteenth of an inch difference. But a huge difference to the gypsy.
As a carpenter friend always says "Anybody that doesn't think a sixteenth of an inch makes a difference has never got the last sixteenth of an inch of their johnson caught in their zipper!"

danrod

I bought a 5/16” double D and when I got the chain and tried to use it we found out it was 51/6D not double D. So we changed it and put a new control arm on and it still does not work, but I only let out about 25ft of chain. I had to hold down the control arm with my foot so the chain would stay on the gypsy. It was coming off at times so I went down into the chain locker and pushed rode and chain around and then went backup on deck and continued bringing in chain. Do you think I have too much rode?

Handymans342

Did you tighten the Gypsy?

Cableguy Greg

How deep is the water where you boat at? You might not need that much. My 280EC came with 130' of line and 30' of chain.

Willhound

Hard to have too much rode unless it doesn't all fit in the locker. What model boat? I have 40 feet of chain and 150 feet of rode in my FV270 witj room to spare.

danrod

I live in Vancouver Canada and we have some deep waters, but I have not had a chance to anchor as yet with this new boat. I have a 2008 280ec, 

Willhound

Only things that would make a chain jump out of a windlass bad enough to break off the control arm are wrong sized chain or severely worn gypsy drum. In my opinion. Not all chain is created equal. Windlass chain is graded and sized to spec. Off the shelf hardware store chain won't work.