Anchor chain marking length

[Seastoke]

I tried those bits of rubber not impressed any ideas

 

[Blue Sunray]

Coloured cable ties

 

[Seastoke]

Do they not snap in the windlass

 

[superheat6k]

Coloured cable ties using a Snooker ball system - Red at each 5m, double red at 10m then Yellow, Green, Brown, Blue, Pink then Black at the 10 m intervals. If you have more than 70 m then double the marks in the same sequence. After the first 10m mark each will equal the ball colour x 10. If you can't find pink then grey is a standard electrical colour, along with the others listed.

 

[PurpleKate]

Paint the links with Hammerite metal paint. I paint 1 link to be the length of chain I want when there is 1m water under the keel (in my case 12m chain) , 2 links for 2m etc. Makes it very easy when anchoring, just shout to the crew 3m under the keel, go down to 3 links. (From a Yachty who just noticed the title in the forum, do Motor boat even have keels?... anyway sure you get the idea)

 

[benjenbav]

Red paint every 10m.

You want to let out 30m. That's one finger, two fingers, THREE.

You want to let out 100m: really, you may need to reassess some priorities!

The paint fades. Yes, I'm afraid there's no way round it, every few years you need to spend 10 minutes with the spray can.

Yes, I know this is a bit of a carp system if you happen to be a billionaire with a superyacht but, if you are, I would suggest getting the help to worry about this sort of thing.

 

[benjenbav]

Paint the links with Hammerite metal paint. I paint 1 link to be the length of chain I want when there is 1m water under the keel (in my case 12m chain) , 2 links for 2m etc. Makes it very easy when anchoring, just shout to the crew 3m under the keel, go down to 3 links. (From a Yachty who just noticed the title in the forum, do Motor boat even have keels?... anyway sure you get the idea)

Some do have keels. Some don't.

 

[guernseyman]

Coloured cable ties

Cable ties seem a good idea unless you are letting the chain run through your hands....the heads will tear your palms and fingers to shreds.

 

[prv]

Another one for paint here. I use red for 10m, white for 20m and blue for 30m. They can be added together, so blue and red is 40m, blue and white is 50m, and red, white and blue is 60m. At the shorter lengths I also have a small black mark at the 5m points, and the 2m nearest the anchor is painted with red stripes so I know it's about to appear over the bow.

At least, that's how it was till I realised 60m of chain was weighing the bow down too much, and replaced most of it with rope instead

Pete

 

[Gentlemanracer]

I tried those bits of rubber not impressed any ideas

What's the bad news about these things? Just fitted them & shipped the boat to Spain!

 

[Bazzer]

Do they not snap in the windlass

I put about 4 cables ties (red) at the first 10 m then 4 cables ties yellow at next 10m and so on.

if one cable tie breaks off which they do occasionally doesnt really matter.

simplest and cheapest way of marking.

 

[Nick_H]

What's the bad news about these things? Just fitted them & shipped the boat to Spain!

They've worked fine for me on 10mm chain for years. Shame you can't buy brown ones, so we use white for 40m, but otherwise the snooker system.

 

[pmagowan]

I just use car enamel paint. Lasts a good few years. I use red, white and blue then double red, white and blue. This gets me to 60m which is all I have. You don't even have to double the colour because it would take a numpty not to know the difference between the first red and the second, one being at 10m and the other at 40m.

 

[DavidJ]

What's the bad news about these things? Just fitted them & shipped the boat to Spain!

I've had the rubber things for 5 years or more. Never lost one yet. I have 5 in a row to show anchor breaking water (The Sealine has a beak so not so easy to see the anchor chain when you're on top of it)) and 1 for 10m, 2 for 20m, 3 for 30m