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Old 06-15-2009, 11:30 PM   #1
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Hi all,

I planned on making an anchor chain cleaning device myself--connect a couple scrub brushes together with some lead weight (to keep below the water level when in use as the chain comes back up to the boat)...then I saw two reviews (old..one 2000 in Ocean Navigator online and one by Lin Pardey in one of their books) on something called a Gunk Buster from Davis Instruments that well..pretty much is the same thing as I'd planned to make only it looked/sounded nicer than what I would make.

I couldn't find one anywhere so I called Davis Instruments. They no longer make it

Does anyone know of another brand? This really is quite simple and I suppose I can go back to making my own--but I was thrilled to learn that someone made a product that does what I want...I'd think that someone has one somewhere. The main benefit being that one uses the seawater at/below surface to do the cleaning rather than putting a scrubber on the anchor roller and using a water stream at that higher location.
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Old 06-16-2009, 12:53 AM   #2
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Hi Brenda,

Tried 2 brushes connected by a hinge one side and a 'hook & eye' on the other, does a fair job of cleaning the outside of the links but barely cleans out sticky clay from inside the links. 3 brushes worked a bit better - much better ! when combined with salt water from high pressure pump. In any event the anchor itself will need a different type of brush plus high pressure hose.

Here is one link : Website

Richard
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Old 06-16-2009, 05:05 PM   #3
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Quote:
Originally Posted by MMNETSEA View Post
Hi Brenda,

Tried 2 brushes connected by a hinge one side and a 'hook & eye' on the other, does a fair job of cleaning the outside of the links but barely cleans out sticky clay from inside the links. 3 brushes worked a bit better - much better ! when combined with salt water from high pressure pump. In any event the anchor itself will need a different type of brush plus high pressure hose.

Here is one link : Website

Richard
Hi, Richard,

When I said "a couple" I meant--and should have said-- three brushes as that's the only design I've seen. Also, I've never seen it used "above water" but rather below water (held down with lead weigh more than a few feet below water) such that the seawater itself helps clear the chain links of mud and muck.

The link you posted refers to the sticky clay of the PNW. It sounds to be a helplessly messy thing to get that all cleaned off. I do know a boat with a lovely and hard wearing large teak grid on the foredeck which the owners routinely piles up chain on the grid and blast the muck and "ick" off before stowing the chain in the anchor locker. It always seemed to me a waste to get that mud aboard the boat and then have to wash down the deck below the grid...etc. But, I suppose you do what you gotta do. In their case, their deck drains/scuppers exit the boat below the waterline. In our case, we just end up with mud and muck streaming down the sides of the boat since with the re-build we re-plumbed all our deck drains to exit the hull above the waterline.

How do you now deal with mud and muck on the anchor chain aboard your own boat(s)? scrubbers? washdown hose?
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Old 06-16-2009, 11:54 PM   #4
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High pressure hose activated before the dirty chain reaches the anchor roller, the operator controlling both the windlass and the hose - once the 'chain to anchor shackle' arrives at the roller then a brush (like the standard toilet-bowl brush) is used with the pressure hose to clean the anchor itself, if necessary the anchor is dropped back into the sea for a rinse.

I guess there is no easy way!
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Old 07-07-2009, 01:05 AM   #5
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We've been anchoring in mud....and I have a beautifully clean NEW anchor locker and the chain in it is so clean too...and just using high pressure water takes too long...so...we made our own anchor chain washer--took a long bristled brush meant for cleaning ceiling fan blades, cut it apart at the handle (so now it has two 1/2 handles that can be velcro'ed or tied together) to allow it to go around the anchor chain, tied a lead diving weight to one side and installed it on a long line that allows it to ride on the chain about 2 to 3 feet below the water.

Works great on getting gunk off all surfaces but the inside of our 1/2 BBB chain. However, we still have to spray down the chain with our deck washdown hose. Since the anchor roller is about 4' out on the bowsprit, one aims the hose has the chain as it comes up over the roller, the water gets the final gunk in the holes of the chain to drop off before it gets inboard on deck, if not, one can hose off the chain right before it gets to the windlass (another 4' aft from the stem). All this hosing gets the foredeck dirty but since we have a raised deck in the mid-part of the boat (raised deck starts 17 ft back from the stem) the dirt is limited to the foredeck and is easily washed down the deck drains.

Only problem is that the brush has to be removed from the chain before the anchor is stowed on the roller. This works out--in that we leave the anchor in the water until we've moved the boat a few boat lengths (at idle) to get mud off the anchor--and while that is going on, one can pull up the line and untie the brush from the chain. In this case "one" is hubby, David, since you won't find me 4 feet out on the bow sprit while the boat is moving and while we don't have a net under the bowsprit yet!

Fair winds,
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Old 02-15-2010, 11:54 PM   #6
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What if you were to build some kind of mounting for your high pressure washdown so that it would automatically spray the chain as it came aboard without you needing to hold it?

Or what if you incorporated that idea into your brush magic: Have the hose run the length of the handle and wash the chain after it leaves the brush mechanism? Maybe a fitting on the handle so it is a quick setup?

Just thinking. I usually just get muddy since I have to pull mine up by hand.

OK, I'm an idiot. I just noticed this thread is seven months old.
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Old 02-17-2010, 05:05 PM   #7
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Sometimes it's good to revive an old thread

The brush thing doesn't have a handle that we access via the boat. The brush is on a long length of line which runs down into the water at least 5 feet or so. The brush is weighted with the diving weight to keep it down in the water while it scrubs the chain all on its own. It actually has worked pretty good. Just that center of the link issue with some mud in there which requires the wash down. We now have a net on the bowsprit but we've kept the procedure for hubby to do the whole thing since he's much more agile than I am anyway.

I'd recommend some version of this for anyone. Even if you bring the chain up by hand and don't have a wash down, that brush really knocks a lot of mud off of the chain as long as the brush is suspended in the water at least 5 feet or so below the surface of the water.

Fair winds
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