Stinky Chain

[mikehar]

My anchor chain has gotten nasty. I was at a med mooring in Baja for about 8 weeks and when I pulled up the chain it was covered in barnacles and growth. I hit it with the pressure washer but it didn't do much. My chain locker smells like , well, something nasty. I've been pressure washing it as I use it (I'm at anchor now) but it's not really improving. Ideas?

I am thinking it's time for some new chain, I suspect this was original 2009.

-mike

 

[HeadMistress]

Pull all your anchor rode out of the chain locker and lay it on the dock in the sunshine...power wash it with a strong solution of detergent and bleach. Scrub with a stiff brush if necessary. As for the locker...do the same thing and leave hatch and any other openings to the locker open to let plenty of fresh air into it.

In the future pull up your anchor rode and power wash it off once a week.

--Peggie

 

[Max1]

Great tips Peggie. Thanks!

 

[cafesport]

So we’ve had to deal with this issue a few times over the years. You might have noticed that the growth only occurs on the chain hanging in the water column. Deeper water more barnacles and bigger stink. Best to prevent this problem than to remedy it, but since it’s already too late, you might try the following if you can’t access a dock or pressure washer.

Move the boat to an area with a shallow sandy bottom and drop the barnacle clad section of chain not the anchor (detach the anchor) to the seabed. Drag the chain around to remove as much muck and barnacles as possible. You might be surprised at the amount of power it takes to drag your crusty chain through the sand. Rinse with a fresh water and bleach mix. To deal with the stink and flies that will likely appear, douse the chain liberally with peppermint oil.

 

[mikehar]

@cafesport, Thanks. We're at anchor in about 15 feet on a sandy bottom right now. We'll be here for a few days at least. It'll be interesting to see how that section of the chain looks when it comes back onboard. It's a bit windy (20kts) so we're sailing around a bit, so that should do some scrubbing, at least for the 100ft of chain I have out.

 

[mikehar]

This worked! Well, mostly. I didn't take the anchor off, but I put out a bunch of extra chain in a sandy anchorage. We were at anchor for about six days and much to my surprise, when we pulled up the chain is was clean! I'm shocked because I couldn't get the barnacles off with the pressure washer, I had little hope that they would just come off in the sand. Yay!

 

[HeadMistress]

I lean something new every day! Now all you need to do is "de-stinkify" the chain locker.

--Peggie

 

[DavidM]

I would try a combination of chemical and Peggy’s mechanical cleaning.

Soak the chain overnight in a strong clorox solution. PPeggie, what strength would you recommend, at least as strong as what you recommend for potalble water sterilization. That will kill the critters. Then power wash and scrub it.

You can also soak the chain locker overnight with Clorox if it is sealed ok.

David

 

[HeadMistress]

I wouldn't use bleach at all. A very thorough cleaning/power washing with a strong solution of detergent (Dawn dishwashing liquid will work just fine) and water. If you use a power washer, do NOT put the detergent in its reservoir...that dilutes it. I'd wet each surface, then use a pump garden sprayer to apply it full strength,the power washer will scrub AND rinse.


Once all the walls are at least 90% dry, treat with PureAyre which is available from Amazon (the "household" version will work just fine)...buy a gallon...you'll need it again) using the garden sprayer (rinse Dawn out of it first). Do NOT rinse...just let it dry, keeping the "door" to the locker open with a fan aimed at it for 24 hours.

About PureAyre:
It's [FONT=&quot]not an air freshener, nor is it a cleaning product...It's the only product I've found that eliminates ANY odor when used according to directions, which means you have to clean before using it. Not only will it get of diesel and residual odor left behind by stinking sanitation hoses, but PureAyre is also rated for use around food...which means you can even use it to get rid of the odor left in your fridge by the steaks or fish that spoiled when a natural disaster took out shore power for 3 days....bait and fish boxes too. Also does a great job on musty PFDs and foulies.[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]
[/FONT][FONT=&quot]Btw...the chain needs to be out of the locker to clean and treat it. While it is, give it a good "bath" with detergent and water and treat it with PureAyre too.
[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]Questions?[/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]--Peggie
[/FONT]

 

[Kit_L]

Bookmarking this thread—and now I plan to pull all the chain out of my locker, put it on the dock, and make absolutely sure that the bitter end really IS fastened to the boat!