Anchor - how do you count?

I inherited one of these on my existing boat http://www.quicknauticalequipment.com/?lng=en&cs1=01&ms1=2&ms2=2&ms3=18&ms4=18 and so far its worked pretty well. In the past I have used painted marks every 5m in the snooker ball sequence and yes I got some brown paint! The marks needed repainting every season. The only problem was that every time we anchored I had to explain the game of snooker to my SWMBO who normally controls the windlass on our boat. That got a bit wearing in the end and often ended in stony silences for a couple of hours afterwards but hey, every cloud has a silver lining;)
 
I inherited one of these on my existing boat http://www.quicknauticalequipment.com/?lng=en&cs1=01&ms1=2&ms2=2&ms3=18&ms4=18 and so far its worked pretty well. In the past I have used painted marks every 5m in the snooker ball sequence and yes I got some brown paint! The marks needed repainting every season. The only problem was that every time we anchored I had to explain the game of snooker to my SWMBO who normally controls the windlass on our boat. That got a bit wearing in the end and often ended in stony silences for a couple of hours afterwards but hey, every cloud has a silver lining;)

Same as my one, agree it's things like the chain counter, cameras and headsets that have dramatically reduced arguments on board....
 
This is what I printed, laminated and stuck on the underside of othe anchor locker on our last UK based 41ft boat. It was only the basic start point used on arrival, forecast conditions, expected additional tidal rises and panic allowance for not using a ROCMantus when just after I've been reading forums online can be factored in separately afterwards. :rolleyes: We never failed to set our then Delta 35lb on all 10mm chain with this and never dragged once in the ten years and over 20,000 miles we cruised that boat. We have the same colour code system on our now USA based 36ft boat with a 45lb Delta on all 3/8HT chain rode. NB in both cases the rode length in use gets extended again by the nylon snubber line ( another 7 or8 metres maybe and including a rubber dog bone snatch absorber) once the anchor is actually dug in. WE are still new to crusing the skinny waters round here and are in amongst a majority that anchor on string and toothpicks it seems so our systems may well evolve over time, for instance we now use a bridle (a pair of 20ft nylon lines with rubber dog bones wound in) for our snubber arrangement as our foredeck layout with only one roller and rail area cleats makes a single line, over the 2nd roller we don't have, impossible. These days 20ft of water is 'deep' and the tidal range hereabouts is pathetic and mostly a few measly feet.

Roxanne Chain Markings (coloured cable ties)

NB 1 metre is 3.23ft, or near enough 3'3"(1 yard + 10%)


5 metres One Yellow
10 metres One Blue
15 metres Two Yellow
20 metres One Orange
25 metres One Yellow & One Orange
30 metres Two Yellow & Two Orange
35 metres Two Orange & One Yellow
40 metres Two Yellow & One White
45 metres Four White
50 metres Two Red (warning almost everything is out!)
55 metres Rope joins if required.

Depth (Feet) Chain length to use
(At HW) (3x HW depth in feet in metres of chain + 5m)

15 feet 20 metres (66feet) ratio 4.4
20 feet 25 metres (82 feet) ratio 4.1
25 feet 30 metres (98 feet) ratio 3.92
30 feet 35 metres (115 feet ratio 3.83
35 feet 40 metres (131 feet) ratio 3.74
40 feet 45 metres (148 feet) ratio 3.7
45 feet 50 metres (164 feet) ratio 3.64
50 feet 55 metres (180 feet) ratio 3.6
60 feet 55metres (180 feet) ratio 3.0
 

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