Anchor Chain

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stownsend

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Afternoon All

We'll I'm nearly there, hopefully lifting the engine in this week (although I did say that 2 weeks ago), now working my way through the shopping list of odds and ends. For a 23 ft cabin crusier with a 25lb anchor, possibly 6mm / 8mm galvonized chain but how much do you recommended ?

Cheers

Stu
 
I'm surprised you've not got lots of different opinions on this! You won't go far wrong with 30m of chain and 20-30m of attached nylon anchorplait rope. If weight is a problem then 6mm chain is OK, but most people would probably go for 8mm. There are many who would use all chain, but that's a LOT of weight upfront in a small boat. If mainly just for lunch stops, etc, you could even use less chain and more rope. Hope that helps.
 
I've just spent the afternoon sorting out my anchor rode. I now have 40m of 8mm chain and 50m of 3core nylon (16mm). That is for a 10m 8+ton boat. I think my previous boat, 22ft approx 1ton, had approx 20mm of 6mm chain and 30m of anchorplait. I would suggest you carry an extra long rope to extend your rode if needed. As far as I can see, as long as you have enough chain to give a horizontal pull, the rest can be rope to save carrying too much weight.
Allan
 
I asked this question a year back. I ended up buying 50m 8mm chain, for a 28ft yacht. Based on the fact thta I might be anchoring in (say) 3m, with a tidal range of up to 10m, and using a 4:1 ratio of chain to max depth.

I also carry 50m of 12mm nylon rope.

I just figured that if I do ever end up anchoring during a blow in the Bristol channel, I'd rather have too much than not enough.

I have no idea, yet, whether this was the right thing to do.
 
You dont see many cabin cruisers anchored for the night so my guess would be that your anchor would likely be used in the event of engine failure or for fishing. Both scenarios suggest more use in deeper water than in shallow. Again that in turn suggests more swinging room but at 22 ft you dont want a lot of weight in the bow. So my inclination would be to go for 10m of chain and a good 50m of stretchy nylon 3 strand.

The chain should be enough to avoid abrasion from sea bottom rubbish and the 50m of rope will allow you to anchor in a good depth of water albeit at the expense of swinging around a bit. If you could manage the weight / cost of another 50 m of rope to make 100m in total, so much the better.

Whatever you do, dont load up a boat that small with 50m of chain. That weight in the bows may even be a stability risk.
 
I would go with wotayotties recommendation. 10m 8mm chain and 50 m 3 strand nylon about 12 mm will do. A seperate 50 m line that could be added if ever neccessary would be good and also usefull as a towrope or long line to moor on a harbour wall etc.

Not only would the weight of extra chain be undesirable for the boat it would also need considerable strength to haul it all back on board when weighing anchor.
 
I'm not sure if you are a member of CYC, if you are I put 2 lengths of 8mm chain in the skip tonight. If you can get down early in the morning it may still be there.
Allan
 
One length was, I think, between 10 and 15m, the other was shorter and rusty. I believe in the theory that putting things in the skip is not throwing stuff away, it just give fellow boaters the chance to recycle it. None of the stuff I have put in recently has stayed longer than a few hours.
Allan
 
Thanks for the advice, now looking at 10 to 20 m of 8mm, i'm not planning to anchor over night as I'm still trying to convince SWMBO that we can sleep on it. UNfortunatly i'm not a amber of cyc but I agree, putting things in skips is a great way to recycle, i'm a great fan of routing through them for bits !!!

Cheers

Stu
 
Skips are great, last week out of CYCs skip i had two 3ft lenghts of mahogany and some very nice brass screws, just right for repairing my cockpit locker.
 
For my Sea Ray 220 which is 23.8 ft, I have 10 meter of chain and 50 meters of 14mm multiplat rope whihc is better on hands if you have to pull the anchor in by hand. That has worked for me so far.
 
got to say I dont envy him diving into the bins at cbyc. might be an upmarket club compared to cyc /forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif /forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif but the bins certainly arent.
 
Would agree with Wottayottie and Graham, except I'd suggest anchorplait rather than 3 strand nylon as it is much less prone to tangling and therefore easier to store when hauling in by hand.
 
[ QUOTE ]
Your right Graham is our yacht club dustbin diver. I misread the YC.

[/ QUOTE ]

Cheeky Barsteward /forums/images/graemlins/smile.gif I have to say that allowing hardwood to go to landfill is close to criminal.

The cockpit table on Vega was made entirely from "rescued" Brazillian Mahogany. from the skip.Waited ages for someone to ditch half a tin of varnish but bought some in the end. /forums/images/graemlins/laugh.gif

Table2.jpg
 
I agree about the hardwood. Unbelievable.

However, something springs to mind.

You are walking past a skip and you spot a doughnut. Would you 'recycle' it, or leave it there................?
 
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