Chain often skip

[marioxp]

I have problems with the windlass, the chain can skip.  When it goes down, everything is fine, but when I raise the anchor, it can skip and jump so that it completely falls off the gypsy and then the entire chain falls uncontrollably to the bottom of the sea.   The chain and anchor are a year old, and the windlass is as old as the ship.  when I bought the chain, I asked for it to have a DIN mark ( I can't remember which one) only if I was deceived and it was not calibrated.  Can i measure the chain link to check if it is calibrated.  The anchor is 25 kg.  Or is the gypsy already worn out?

[symphony2]

First the anchor is far too heavy for the boat. 16kg is norm although some might go up to 20kg if they are planning to anchor in extreme conditions. There is no benefit in having such a large anchor only negatives including putting far too much strain on the windlass. If it is the original windlass it is probably a Cayman with an 8mm gypsy that takes Lofrans chain.

[sunshine]

I cant totally tell from the pic, but it looks like you do not have a straight run from the bow roller to the gypsy. The windlass looks like it it points left a little which might encourage the chain to run off the right hand side. Can you put a straight edge on the side of the gypsy to check alignment?

[sunshine]

In fact, I cant even see a bow roller!

[Yngmar]

This windlass on a lowered shelf design has a problem where the chain doesn't make the minimum 90 degree turn around the gypsy, so in less than ideal conditions (poorly fitting chain, worn gypsy, heavy load, etc.) the risk of chain skipping increases.

Someone here there's a thread from long ago where somebody fixed this by making a small roller that pushes the chain further around the gypsy, entirely solving the issue. Have a look around - couldn't find it in a hurry myself.

[marioxp]

Thank you

[JEN-et-ROSS]

First the anchor is far too heavy for the boat. 16kg is norm although some might go up to 20kg if they are planning to anchor in extreme conditions. There is no benefit in having such a large anchor only negatives including putting far too much strain on the windlass. If it is the original windlass it is probably a Cayman with an 8mm gypsy that takes Lofrans chain.

   

We have the same windlass in the same or similar installation with a 25kg Lewmar Delta on 8mm chain (65m), and it never jumps off the gypsy... So it can't be weight, I would agree with Yngmar, it must be insufficient chain in contact with the gypsy..

[Yngmar]

Found it - it was on PBO: https://www.pbo.co.uk/practical-projects/stop-chain-jumping-anchor-windlass-18946

[Franck Bavaria]

DIN and ISO chains have from 10mm onwards slight differences in length that can make a huge difference in windlass efficiency under heavy loads: check a good match between gipsy and chain.

On mine, I found out when I bought my boat, in 15m deep waters, that chain (10mm ISO) and Gipsy (8mm ISO) were not matching, although it still had enough grip in shallow waters (!!). So I changed the gipsy for 10mm and happy life again.

[JEN-et-ROSS]

DIN and ISO chains have from 10mm onwards slight differences in length that can make a huge difference in windlass efficiency under heavy loads: check a good match between gipsy and chain.

On mine, I found out when I bought my boat, in 15m deep waters, that chain (10mm ISO) and Gipsy (8mm ISO) were not matching, although it still had enough grip in shallow waters (!!). So I changed the gipsy for 10mm and happy life again.

I'm not really surprised, we have 30m and 35m of 8mm chain connected with two 'Wichard' shackles, they generally happily jump over the gypsy without too much drama...

[SYJetzt]

Maybe your gypsy and chain are not matching (you bought the wrong type of chain...?!?). For 10 mm chains, however, the pitch "t" (see drawing above) is different. In accordance with DIN the pitch is 28 mm, in accordance with ISO 30 mm. See attached picture.

[sunshine]

The original quote said the chain falls completely off the gypsy. Is it falling off the side? The replies about calibrated chain not matching the gypsy are correct - but wouldn't they cause it to slip rather than come off altogether?

[symphony2]

Maybe your gypsy and chain are not matching (you bought the wrong type of chain...?!?). For 10 mm chains, however, the pitch "t" (see drawing above) is different. In accordance with DIN the pitch is 28 mm, in accordance with ISO 30 mm. See attached picture.

Pretty sure from the photo it is a Lofrans Cayman88 with 8mm chain. That was the original factory fit with a 35 CQR copy anchor. The chain should be DIN766 which is almost universally available in Europe so unlikely it is the wrong calibration. However the gypsy may be worn and the poor chain lead does not help, neither does have an unsuitable overweight anchor.

[Captain Jan]

There is good discussion here on possible reason for slippage However, when I bought my boat, there was 10mm chain on a 8mm gypsy. Incorrect chain to gypsy size appears common.

[Viviane2000]

We had our chain slipping as well quite often. What helped reduce this amount by 95% and thus making it bearable was the two plastic bow rollers were the chain is running over before it hits the anchor winch.

The first roller (on the side of the anchor) had a shallow groove compared to the second roller (on the side of the winch). So when the chain was being retrieved the chain would not sit nicely on the first roller but it would tip side ways, looking from the front the chain links would look like / and \ instead of | and --. Sometimes the second roller could correct the chain links to the correct vertical and horizontal alignment so the winch had no problems. But especially retrieving the chain with some twists would make it slip the gypsy.

With a drill I deepend the groove on the first roller to the depth that one link can sit inside the groove vertical and the next link will sit horizontal, like it should and the same way the second roller was made.

I hope my explanation makes sense, if not I can add some pictures. I'm not sure if our bow roller is Bavaria factory or not. This works on our Bavaria 42 - 2000

[marioxp]

I bought a new gypsy and completely solved the problem.  I am aware that the windlass is not perfectly aligned and that this could lead to wear of the gypsy, but if the gypsy will last approx. 10 years, that's enough for me, the last one lasted 20 years.  I have other and bigger problems anyway, so I consider this to be behind me.  Thank you all for your thoughts because it leads us to quality solutions, and that is the quality of this forum.  greetings to everyone.