Anchor chain ... Given the choice what would you do ?

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arh

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Hi all

Christy a hylas 44 is around 14 tonnes, the present anchor set up (which is as purchased) is:

30 kg stainless steel delta anchor
70 metres of 10mm chain galvanised which needs replacement due to excess corrosion
Windless which is broken and needs replacement

Future use is long term liveaboard. Given that the chain and windless need replacing (so can match any chain) what would the learned formites select ..

Stainless chain 8 MM. duplex or 10mm .?
Galvanised chain 8 MM grade 70 or 10mm grade 40 ?
Length ? 70m X 10mm or 90m X 8mm for the same weight ?


Without consideration of cost .. What would you pick ?

Would you keep or change the existing anchor, and if change the what too ?

Very open ended I know .. But really don't know or can decide the way forward

Thanks

Tony
 
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Apart from weight.
Is there enough space in the anchor locker to fit the 90m of 8 mm chain so it will all self stow.
Replacing or repairing the winch is must.
I would stick with galvanised and would be tempted to replace the stainless anchor with a similar galvanised. salt water and dissimilar metals generally not a good combination.

As for choosing the amount of chain. How often do you intend to anchor in water deeper than 15m or 20m.

Personally I would prefer the heavier chain in the water. But I am old and happy with a CQR despite what all the experts say.
 
I have seen some alarming corrosion on stainless steel chain when used long term for anchoring. Mixing stainless and galvanized is not recommended.

So replace Delta with a galvanized Rocna. After many years of relying on a CQR I gave in and bought a Rocna when my CQR got real rusty and quite worn on the hinge. I am happy with the Rocna.

After trying some 10mm x 28 mm European chain which required replacement after 15 months use I have returned to buying 3/8th BBB ACCO chain which seems to be standing up well. I am a full time liveaboard on a 44 ft sloop in the Caribbean. I frequently anchor on coral sand which is abrasive.

I have a Lofrans Tigres windlass which I fitted when I bought the boat 8 years ago. If it failed I would buy another. Boss bit of kit. The Lofrans foot switches are poor and usually fail after a year or so. Tried Quik and they fail too but fail closed which is alarming. So I have returned to the Lofrans switch and carry a spare. I can manage with up only and if the up switch fails I can just swap the connection on the solenoid.
 
CAPTAIN FANTASTIC said:
I would select the 70 m x 10mm or even better: 35m x 10mm and 55 m warp.
Click to expand...

Havng something close to the latter (30m x 10mm chain + 50m warp) I would go for more chain and less warp. Too many times I anchor I want to put out around the same amount of rode as the chain length, so either I have to leave the rode a bit short for comfort or faff about with the rope skipping on the windlass and then tying it off on a cleat. I would prefer if I only needed to use the rope on the much rarer deep water occasions.
 
If money was no object I would go for stainless steel anchor and chain. Many of us use a mixture with ss swivels etc on galvanised chain or anchors and it's not a big issue but if I was permanently at anchor I would have ss throughout.

Type of anchor and length of chain depends upon where you are anchoring of course.

Richard
 
I've seen a boat in Trinidad a boat on stainless chain break free because of crevice corrosion caused by rubbing on the sand. The only suggestion for chain is make sure it is test chain.
 
For what it's worth, I'd go for 8mm high test chain, as long as you can sustain in terms of weight and stowage space. We left UK with 50m of chain, soon found that was too little and now have 80m, which is just about OK in most circumstances in the Med. Thats linked to a 20kg Rocna (bought after completely losing faith in the original CQR) which does what it say on the tin.

I wouldn't go for stainless steel chain. I did think about it once until I looked at the price of the stuff. Soon forgot about it even as a concept......
 
I was recently in a similar position of looking to change both my windlass and chain, I opted to go from 10mm to 8mm chain (Tested G40) and have increased length from 40m to 80m, but my boat is 12 metres and halve the weight of yours. I also fitted a remote control which I bought off ebay for about £12, sorry I don't have a link as I bought it a couple of years ago, and it's brilliant especially when I'm sailing alone :)

Regards anchor, a 20kg Spade :)
 
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Any of the modern 'new design' anchors will be fine. Choose from Spade, Rocna etc. There's diddly squat difference between them in the real world of anchoring. We have a spade but I managed to pick one up second hand otherwise the cost might put one off. (They are a bit expensive!)

The deciding factor might be on the self stowing ability?

For that size boat I think 10mm chain and I suggest 80 or 90 meters all chain (assuming it will also self stow) will be fine.
 
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>I very much doubt that is possible. If it were it would probably be the only example in the world. :-)

It certainly happened I saw the chain afterwards about two feet of chain had crevice corrosion and it broke in the middle of that.

>No disrespect to Kelly , but he does seen to write some strange stuff considering he says he sailed the world .

See above. Jane and I have sailed over 12,000nms but not around the world. We chartered boats two or three times a year for over 20 years and sailed into the following countries - Seychelles, Croatia, Greece Aegean top to bottom, most of the Turkish coast, Malta, Corsica and Sardinia, the Balearics, Puerto Rico to Grenada and the Bahamas visiting those places once to four times or more. Then we went long distance sailing for six and a half years. Spain, Portugal, Canaries, the Caribbean islands from Puerto Rico to Trinidad, Venezuela and the out islands, Bonaire and Curucao. We did a circuit of those most years.
 
KellysEye said:
>I very much doubt that is possible. If it were it would probably be the only example in the world. :-)

It certainly happened I saw the chain afterwards about two feet of chain had crevice corrosion and it broke in the middle of that.

>No disrespect to Kelly , but he does seen to write some strange stuff considering he says he sailed the world .

See above. Jane and I have sailed over 12,000nms but not around the world. We chartered boats two or three times a year for over 20 years and sailed into the following countries - Seychelles, Croatia, Greece Aegean top to bottom, most of the Turkish coast, Malta, Corsica and Sardinia, the Balearics, Puerto Rico to Grenada and the Bahamas visiting those places once to four times or more. Then we went long distance sailing for six and a half years. Spain, Portugal, Canaries, the Caribbean islands from Puerto Rico to Trinidad, Venezuela and the out islands, Bonaire and Curucao. We did a circuit of those most years.
Click to expand...

But if the chain has free access to water on the seabed, where are the crevices?

Richard
 
Thanks for all the feedback and ideas, from the comments so far this is my plan (rightly or wrongly) :

1) change the existing stainless CQR to a new generation anchor (either rocna, Manson or ultra) appropriately sized
2) have 60 metres of 10mm chain spliced to 50 metres of rope
3) use the existing anchor as a spare with the best 10 to 15 metres of the existing anchor chain plus 80 metres of rope.

Jury still out on whether galvanised or stainless steel .. Will weigh up the 'flow' advantages of the stainless chain into an anchor locker which can't be accessed from the deck against the not inconsiderable cost difference and the possibility of failure due to crevice corrosion, which appears very rare.

Any comments to the above plan appreciated. Christy is going to be my home for the next 10 to 15 years and don't mind spending money while I am still working to get it right the first time .. Funds will be more limited after I move on board.

Thanks

Tony
 
Don't know about all this crevice stuff but I bought 60m of 8mm s/s chain. It is a delight to handle, flakes beautifully and disappears into the chain locker like it is coated with butter.
 
I had 10mm chain with warp but the truth is that the chain to warp join is a pain in the bum, it was always appearing from the locker just at the wrong moment. Changed to 80m of grade 70 8mm chain with a new generation anchor - in my mind a proper solution worth the expense.
 
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