Hi fellow Seal 28/850 owners,

I've noticed some of the 28's online have had their anchor chain pipe deck fittings repositioned right on the bow forward of the anchor well with the hinged flap facing aft. In my efforts to further "child proof" the boat by reducing possible trip hazards,I wondered whether this was something people have found to work well or not.

At the moment I'm thinking that it will be okay in calmish conditions to have the anchor left locked in the bow roller whilst under way. The chain would have to run out of the pipe and across the well, or probably wrapped around one of the cleats at the side, both leaving a bit of chain and the pipe fitting itself as potential trip hazards.

Of course the kid/s would be micromanaged whilst young anyway but I will consider any means of making things safer for them.

So, does the chain feed into the locker below freely? Do people have some pipe leading it to the triangular locker under the v-berth? Could this be a worse place to allow ingress in heavy seas?

I've still never had the boat in the water yet, or taken the kids out on any boat, so I might find this is not a worthwhile consideration once I've actually sailed her for a season.

Thoughts and experiences welcome please.

Best regards,

Lee

Seal 28

Whiskey Mac

Yes - I've moved the navel pipe to the front corner of the well. I didn't like the pipe that came through the focsle V berth, I wanted the chain locker for 'better' things and I felt that Andi was a bit stern heavy with her Bukh DV20. I had to build the navel pipe up about three inches to increase the 'drop' into the new chain locker. I have 40 metres of 8 mm chain and it all feeds down the pipe as long as you are careful. It is much more convenient to have the navel pipe in front of you when hauling on the chain. Latest thinking, though, is to just pile the chain up in the well when retrieving the anchor and tidy it away later. That gives time for it to drain/dry off or be rained on to wash the salt off. That wouldn't work for rough weather stuff but is OK for us Southern softies!

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Hi Neil, that's interesting, thanks for the reply!

So it does seem to work okay. I think in worse weather when the boat is moving more erratically, the chain should be even less prone to piling up on itself. So if it's a little pernickety in flat calm, i can live with that. Not a job for this year anyways.... plenty to do still.....time is running out.... how naive were we to think that because it looked brilliant, it was ready to go in the water. Keeping me out of mischief anyways.

I don't anticipate any mass distribution issues on ours bow to stern. I do from port to starboard though maybe, with the Diesel tank, gas and with a 100l flexible water tank under the V-berth to port. Only two lead acid batteries to the starboard of any significant weight. That'll determine where all of the tools/spares go i guess. Or maybe a good excuse to add a few extra Amp hours.

Thanks again Neil,

Nearly time.......~2 months and counting :)

Lee

Seal 28

Whiskey Mac

Hi,

Thought i'd update about the navel pipe deck fitting position now we've had some experience using the yacht: In practice, the factory position of the deck fitting is ideal. Standing in the natural position to haul the chain/anchor, the chain feeds effortlessly into the locker. The kids, 2 and 3 yo, happily sit either side of it 🙂

So I've decided i'm very happy with here it is and have resolved to leave it.

Lee