Anchor Chain

[z1ppy]

i know the subject is not exactly exciting as has been known to cause more than a few rows around here but..

Our boat has 11 meters of chain and some three strand warp with a delta anchor (dont know the weight) to hold us in place. we have used it and it worked well but i cant help but think 11 meters of chain isnt really enough for a 37 ft boat at 6000 Kgs

the other annoying thing is, our foredeck isnt the easiest place to be and when feeding the warp through the windlass it often jams which is a pain!

so the question, how much chain and of what size?

usually we are solent based boating and anchoring in between 5 and 8 meters of water, usually for lunch with the occasional overnight.....

thanks for your help!

 

[[2068]]

Our S28 has about 40m of chain.
Not sure what size.
Boat weight 4500kg.

 

[z1ppy]

Hummm, 11 meters is more than a little light then!

 

[grumpy_o_g]

I'd wouldn't have thought 40 metres of chain in the bow locker of a 60kt boat was desirable though? Can you bung 40 or 50 metres of rope on it? Just make sure the gypsy can handle both rope and chain especially the join. Either that or make sure you can get to the foredeck safely.

 

[hlb]

11 metres of chain is hopless, I used to have 20M with about ten metres of rope, but going onto the rope was a pain in the bum. It very much limited where we could anchor.

I now have 60 M of chain (bought off the forum), so I can stop happily most any place.

You need calibrated chain to the size of the gypsey, 8mm in my case.

40 metres would be ok mostly.

 

[RIN]

Hummm, 11 meters is more than a little light then!

Depends how much warp is attached to it. If I remember the RYA stuff correctly you would need 4x max depth for chain or 6x max depth for warp. Can't remember anything about chain plus warp but if you based it on the latter, you would need a total of 48M plus a bit for what doesn't reach the water so say 52M So you would need approx 40M of warp

We used to have 30M of 8mm chain plus 50M warp on our 30ft boat but we now only have 30M chain as we found we never ever ran the rope out. Based on the 4x rule for chain, we can anchor safely in 6.5M

 

[MapisM]

I'd wouldn't have thought 40 metres of chain in the bow locker of a 60kt boat was desirable though?

Agreed 100%, as long as we're talking of small(ish) speedboats, as is normally the case for 60kts stuff.
On my 60+kts 27' boat which I just sold, I had no winch at all, zero chain, and the smallest foldable anchor I could find, wrapped in foam rubber and stored inside a locker, just because down here it's mandatory to have one onboard. Never took it out from there.
These boats are meant to be driven, not anchored...!

 

[hlb]

Speed has nothing to do with it, though weight would, but only to the size of the chain.

It all depends what you want to anchor in, or what the tides are.

Long ranging boats need more chain. as they have no idea where there going to be anchoring next.

 

[MapisM]

Speed has nothing to do with it

I can see why in theory you might say so, but try to throw just 20m of chain in the anchor locker at the bow of a small boat, go for a ride at 60kts in some choppy waters, and see what happens. You might be disappointed.

 

[Elza_Skip]

I tend to agree with the 40 foot of chain that will be suffient for most anchoring, I also then have 30M of octoplait spliced on that will also run through the windlass.

As for the weight, our 32' flybridge tends to sit bow high so extra weight forward is good, not so sure for you though

 

[hlb]

I can see why in theory you might say so, but try to throw just 20m of chain in the anchor locker at the bow of a small boat, go for a ride at 60kts in some choppy waters, and see what happens. You might be disappointed.

Yep but the question asked was, it's a 36 ft boat, how much chain.??

There is no short answer, except it's about four times how deap it is.

I think I'd just keep your boat on the traier and not try to anchor.

 

[MapisM]

I think I'd just keep your boat on the traier and not try to anchor.

Oh yeah, indeed I never tried to anchor the boat I was talking about.
Which doesn't mean that I kept her on the trailer, though...

 

[oceanfroggie]

We have 40m chain for 38ft boat, no rope but we have never dragged despite some windy anchorages. Where lots of chain really helps is when anchored in a tidal current that will reverse during the night. Anchor always seems to self reset after the 180 degree swing. Change of wind direction can have same effect.

 

[longjohnsilver]

My previous boat was about the same weight as yours, 32' long and I had 10m chain plus loads of anchorplait. It worked well for me, anchored lots and never dragged.
I'd stick with what you've got. Especially considering the weight issue.