Anchor Chain.....

BarryH

BarryH

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......do I need it all. I was cleaning out the anchor locker today. That meant hauling 30 mtrs of chain out of the locker and dumping it over the side onto the ground. Looking at the chain I'd say at least a third of it has never been in the water. Looks a bit cruddy as its always in the bottom of the locker.
I found one or two areas where the galvanizing is start to to flake off.
The boat is a Leisure 23, so with all that weight of the chain plus the weight of the water tank right up forward I was wondering wether I really need 30 mtrs of chain.
I'm in chichester so depths are not that great, even when I venture into the solent anchoages , depths are not to deep. I was wondering rather than forking out loads of hard earned on a new 30 mtr length of chain, could I get away with say 10 mtrs of chain and the rest in anchor rope.
Do you think I'll get away with that on a 23ft boat or does a 23ft boat used in the solent and around the south coast need 30 mtrs of chain?
 
Not familiar with your cruising area, but as far as I am concerned one cant have too much chain. The day you need it in an emergency will be too late if you reduce the length.
 
It depends on your anchoring requirement. If you are only going to stop for lunch, and stay aboard, you can get away with very little. If you're going to spend nights aboard, or leave the boat unattended for any time, you need as much chain and anchor as you can carry. it's your boat, your life, and your decision.
 
I can understand your liking the idea of reducing weight for'ard. However, other considerations may sway your choice. Even if you disagree with the oft quoted three times depth with chain and five times depth with rope, you will need to use a greater scope with rope than with chain. I find the motion anchored to a chain rode much smoother than with rope and the boat has far less tendency to veer between tide and wind. Indeed, in a tight, popular anchorage such as Newtown Creek collisions occur when boats with rope rodes swing violently within their rather large scopes.

Rob.
 
If you bought grade 40 chain you could reduce the diameter by 1mm without compromising strength (compared to grade 30 chain). Going from 7mm to 6mm for example would save 20% weight. My personal opinion is that for your type of sailing, 20 metres of chain plus rope should be adequate but I agree with the sentiment that if things start going pear shaped you will want lots more (and a bigger and better anchor but let's not go there).

One benefit of including rope is that it will absorb shock loads.
 
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Although my boat is 34' I very rarely put out less than 30m (even in shallow depths - the numbers show that in just 2m of water I require 18m in heavy conditions). Reduced swinging room in good conditions might be one case.
Have you end-for-ended the chain - this should give you a few more years?
You might get by with say 20m of chain and rope spliced on the end but if it were me I'd keep the 30 just in case. (I have 75m chain plus 50m rope but anchor in deeper water).

I agree that stronger lighter chain would be better when you come to replace what you have. Andrew
 
BarryH said:
......do I need it all. I was cleaning out the anchor locker today. That meant hauling 30 mtrs of chain out of the locker and dumping it over the side onto the ground. Looking at the chain I'd say at least a third of it has never been in the water. Looks a bit cruddy as its always in the bottom of the locker.
I found one or two areas where the galvanizing is start to to flake off.
The boat is a Leisure 23, so with all that weight of the chain plus the weight of the water tank right up forward I was wondering wether I really need 30 mtrs of chain.
I'm in chichester so depths are not that great, even when I venture into the solent anchoages , depths are not to deep. I was wondering rather than forking out loads of hard earned on a new 30 mtr length of chain, could I get away with say 10 mtrs of chain and the rest in anchor rope.
Do you think I'll get away with that on a 23ft boat or does a 23ft boat used in the solent and around the south coast need 30 mtrs of chain?
Click to expand...

Irrespective of whether or not you will ever need to use all 30m the boat may be designed to trim correctly with that weight of chain in the locker."

My Sea Wych trims correctly with 15 fathoms ( that's nearly 30m) ¼" chain. It is advised that if rope is used in its place additional ballast should be fitted to adjust the trim.

What does the Owners Association advise?

Do the original brochures indicate what was supplied as original or optional equipment ?
 
"What does the Owners Association advise?". Not a lot. Opinions vary greatly. Theres also not much info on what was supplied/reccomended by the builders. I understand that people have different views. I was looking at it from thhe point of view that the boat used to have an inboard. This would to some extent couteract the weight of the chain and full water tank right up front. The inboard, a saildrive unit, got removed before the boat got to me. There is a 30kg Mercury 8hp 2 stoke sitting on the stern on a bracket. I can't see this adding upto the weight of an inboard diesel with a full tank of fuel. The upside is I have a massive storage area where the engine/tank used to sit!

Obviously 30 mtrs of chain is preferable to anchor rope. I see an awful lot of boats that use rope instead of chain. I could cut 15mtrs of chain off and then add 25mtrs of rope. The weight saving would be significant and yet my normal anchoring areas would still only use the 15mtrs of existing chain an leave the rope in reserve. Lets face it, I'm a fair weather sailor. If its blowing, or looks like it may, I'd rather stay tucked up on my mooring or in the Sussex with a decent malt.
Even if the anchorage did get slightly lively then surely 15mtrs of chain and 25 of rope would give me less snatching. I've noticed snatching on my mooring, which is all chain. After all the boat is only 23 feet and no heavy weight.
 
I think it would be a rare 23-footer that anchors on all chain. All-chain is better if you can carry it, but 10 metres of chain and the rest rope would be perfectly normal on a boat that size. If the weight in the bow is affecting the sailing then this may be a sensible move; if the boat is happy with the weight then leave it.

Pete
 
Even if the anchorage did get slightly lively then surely 15mtrs of chain and 25 of rope would give me less snatching.
Click to expand...

I have always under stood that the weight and catenary of chain reduces snatching.

I have always felt that the increased space required to swing when using rope is something of a handicap in crowded Solent anchorages
 
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You say that you sail Chichester and Solent, is that just summer w/e's?
Do you ever do summer cruise further afield?
How often do you anchor compared to using marinas?
Do you ever anchor in lumpy conditions, or do you up sticks and go to a marina?
If the answer is that you don't anchor much, then I would say that 10 or 12 mtrs is adequate.
 
On our previous boat, a 32' catamaran, we used 10metres of 8mm chain and the rest octoplait (about 50 metres). That proved perfectly adequate along the south coast and northern France. It would certainly be adequate for a 23' monohull. The only real downside is the swinging room you may need in some anchorages. Having said that, we never had a problem.
 
I'd certainly agree with your view that a reduction in the length/weight of chain you carry is reasonable. I've asked myself what I would be at ease with, in the circumstances outlined, and I'd probably reduce it to 15 metres initially, with 30 metres of rope. Should you still think you have too much, then you could cut some more off.... but I'd be reluctant to reduce the available chain much below that I've suggested.

Do you have a kedge/second anchor, maybe a Danforth? I'd want 5 metres of chain on that, with 25-30 metres of lighter warp.... which could be a couple of 12-15 metre mooring lines in everyday use, tied together if the kedge is needed for its primary purpose.

Good anti-chafe tubing is IMHO essential, and is economically provided by some lengths of time-expired layflat commercial firehose - easy to get free, if you ask around.
 
I have 30m of 8mm chain on my 22 footer. It has been tested in a F7 so far with a bit of tide too and wasn't doing much more than hanging straight down. It is quite hard work to haul it in though.
 
I have a 25-foot bilge keel boat. I understand the maker considered about 7 m of 6mm chain and a 7.5 kg copy plough anchor to be adequate. (That's ridiculous, I hear you say, and I would agree.)

What it has now is 15 m of 8mm chain (plus some octoplait) and a 10 kg anchor; I used to have 25 m of chain but never used if all. I should add that the anchoring was in the W Solent and Poole, with a small tidal range and generally in shallow water, quite often taking ground at low tide. Incidentally, I doubt if having the last few meters as rope rather than chain makes much difference to anything. The liberated 10 mm of chain is now on the kedge. So that's what works for me, but I might use more chain if I wanted to anchor in deeper water, or somewhere with a bigger tidal range.

On a boat the size of mine, a hundredweight or so of anyoldiron high up near the bow is probably not going to do a lot for sailing performance.

Using 8mm rather than 6 mm chain probably helps to stop the boat wandering about. Might help the anchor to set but I don't really feel a need to discuss that! The RYA boat safety handbook favours 8mm for a boat the size of mine (a 23' boat would fall somewhere between 6mm and 8mm, so take your choice). Though not everyone would agree; Newtown regularly shows much bigger boats anchored with what looks like bathroom chain.

Strength arguments ref 6mm or 8mm chain are probably irrelevant; as I understand it, either is strong enough to pick your boat up with.
 
I have a 7.5m monohull (3t) and have 50m of 8mm chain spliced to 50m rope- OTT maybe, but would rather have options than not. I have never deployed the rope but I anchor to fish in 9knot tides so I feel the chain is a must for me. I have a Y shaped 16mm rope harness that connects to the forward cleats and then to the chain to prevent snatching on the windlass . If you go the rope route check that your gypsy handles it ok. I had to change my rope because during a test on the hard the previous rope just got bitten and damaged going through the gypsy.
 
I have 60m on my 28 foot long keel boat. I cruise on the west coast of Scotland and although I like the convenience of marinas I really enjoy anchoring in nice remote spots. We often leave the boat for a few hours to go ashore for a walk or visit the pub. I rarely use the last 20 meters even though I have weathered a few gales. It is inevitably too tight to let it all out but I like knowing I have it if I need it. I replaced the whole lot last year as well as getting a Rocna anchor. As others have said it all really depends on your needs, your adversity to risk and what it takes to give you a good nights sleep.
 
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