hawsepipe. The chain drops directly from inside the windless. Actually, I have two windlass's and the chain drops from inside both. I put an 8 inch bronze deck plate behind each of the two windlass's. To make the process a bit quicker, I installed a bronze drawer knob on each of the covers to help turn the plates off and on. Kind of like a knob on an old cars steering wheel. Once I get them spun up close to tight I use the deck plate tool to finish it really it tight. The "O" ring is important as I don't have a water tight bulkhead between the anchor locker and the V birth. There is a vented hatch that could leak if there were leaks while punching into a sea. The procedure is to remove the deck plate lid when I come into an anchorage and leave it off or at least loose until I leave. That's to insure a quick get away if the need presents itself. Bringing in the anchor is done from on my knees and as the chain comes in I just reach in at about every 50 feet and push the pile over. Once the anchor is up, I just screw the lid down tight and off we go.