T&T: Anchor chain washing

[Faure, Marin]

>I use a hand held pressure washer to clean my chain. But many of the
places I anchor the mud is so thick that I have to bring it up a couple
of feet at a time for the person to clean it off from all different
angles.

We know a boater with a fixed under-pulpit chain rinse and it works....
sort of.  It depends on what the bottom consists of..  Around here (PNW)
we get a fair amount of clay-like mud and it sticks to the chain and
anchor like wet concrete.  The fixed nozzle gets some of it off but the
only way to do an effective job is with a hand-held nozzle in the manner
you describe.  Also, getting it off the anchor is a major job and the
fixed nozzle on our acquaintance's boat doesn't even begin to accomplish
that.  With a looser bottom material--- sand, muddy sand, etc.--- the
fixed under-pulpit nozzle is probably more effective.

And fixed nozzle or handheld,  you're correct, you need a hell of a shot
of water to get this kind of stuff off.   Our boat has a Jabsco pump
with its own through-hull and seacock and plumbed to hose bibs on the
fore and aft decks.  The pump is powered by a big Westinghouse AC motor
which at the pump outlet  is supposed to deliver 23 gallons per minute
(obviously it will be less at the deck outlets and handheld spray
nozzle).  We boat with friends who have the more typical DC washdown
pump ("Blaster" I think it is) and with the gluey stuff we get around
here our friends say it's not very effective at all.

______________________________
C. Marin Faure
GB36-403 "La Perouse"
Bellingham, Washington