Chain Marking

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Neeves

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I appreciate there might be expensive ways to mark a chain - but I don't like to throw money at a simple problem where a simple and cheap answer might be appropriate.

How do forum members effectively mark their chain (with a view to longevity, of the marks).

I know of cable ties (and presumably ribbons), I know I can buy fancy plastic inserts and I have also been told of 'weaving' in, a bit like a splice, different coloured ropes. I'm specifically thinking - which paint, type of, lasts longest - but I'm open to imaginative ideas.

Road paint?, concrete floor paint?? (whatever they use to paint lighthouses?)

Jonathan
 
Neeves said:
I appreciate there might be expensive ways to mark a chain - but I don't like to throw money at a simple problem where a simple and cheap answer might be appropriate.

How do forum members effectively mark their chain (with a view to longevity, of the marks).

I know of cable ties (and presumably ribbons), I know I can buy fancy plastic inserts and I have also been told of 'weaving' in, a bit like a splice, different coloured ropes. I'm specifically thinking - which paint, type of, lasts longest - but I'm open to imaginative ideas.

Road paint?, concrete floor paint?? (whatever they use to paint lighthouses?)

Jonathan
Click to expand...
bilge paint
 
I use (I think it's called) Small Job gloss paint, bright red. It's a little tin. I paint 5 links every 10 metres and 3 links every 5 metres. I then use coloured cable ties on the 10 metres using the resistor colour code as a basis. Black 10, red 20, orange 30, yellow 40, green 50. I haven't found a brown colour so I omit that for the 20 metre mark.
As I flake out the chain during the winter months it's an easy job to touch up when necessary.
I use a remote control electric windlass and can easily see the markings and colours from the cockpit.
I also use a series of very bright orange and green alternate cable ties to indicate when to stop the windlass when hauling up the anchor.
Mike
 
I just use paint. It wears a bit, but it's still easily visible after five years of use and when I do decide to renew it it's not hard to do (bit of cardboard to protect the deck or pontoon, quick spray of ordinary "metal paint" from the DIY shop).

When I had all-chain, I used a system of red, white and blue, representing 10m, 20m, and 30m respectively and capable of being added together (so 40m was red and blue, 50m was blue and white, and 60m was red, white and blue). The total length of chain was 80m; I can't actually remember if and with what I marked the 70m point. I don't think I ever put that much chain out.

There was an additional black mark at 5m, 15m and 25m; above that the 5m distinction seemed less important. Also a couple of metres of red-and-bare stripes just before the anchor, to warn that it's about to appear over the bow. I think there were red stripes before the inboard end came up the pipe too; again I never got there in practice.

Unfortunately Ariam's fine bow couldn't carry so much chain plus a 20kg anchor, so I kept the big anchor and cut back to 20m of chain plus lots of rope (the rope's weight is negligible and I did have space, so I threw in a full 100m of it). The chain still has its original red mark at 10m, the 20m mark is now the splice between chain and rope, and the rope is marked every 10m with small pieces of line woven through the lay with the ends hanging out. One scrap of line per 10m (so the first one has three tassels for 30m). The tassels don't go up to the full 100m length; at some point I got bored of threading them through and there are just the black bands of Sharpie that I put on when originally measuring out the line.

So, yeah, for marking chain: bog standard DIY-shed paint :)

Pete
 
Vegable said:
I use (I think it's called) Small Job gloss paint, bright red. It's a little tin. I paint 5 links every 10 metres and 3 links every 5 metres. I then use coloured cable ties on the 10 metres using the resistor colour code as a basis. Black 10, red 20, orange 30, yellow 40, green 50. I haven't found a brown colour so I omit that for the 20 metre mark.
As I flake out the chain during the winter months it's an easy job to touch up when necessary.
I use a remote control electric windlass and can easily see the markings and colours from the cockpit.
I also use a series of very bright orange and green alternate cable ties to indicate when to stop the windlass when hauling up the anchor.
Mike
Click to expand...

We have been doing something similar.

We have painted alternate metres for 5 metres, before the anchor 'hits' the bow roller - this also gives an idea how much of the chain is buried, when the anchor is 'invisible'. We have the same at the bitter end, so we know when we have 'run out of chain'.

We had marked, with paint, every 10m and added cable ties.

Problems:

The windlass is so fast we can need to stop to count cable ties. We could use a colour coded system, but cable ties break off, and its less easy in the dark

The paint has abraded off quite quickly - its still there on the insides of the link - but it would be better if there was a paint a bit more abrasion resistant and or adhesive strength. We had used a bright yellow - which stood out, both at the bow and underwater - but it abraded easily.

So 'small job' or 'touch up', maybe a model paint (as in aircraft or car, rather than young lady)


Or am I expecting too much?

Jonathan
 
The previous owner to me on my boat painted each 10 metres of the 50 metres with a different colour, no idea what paint it was but its still there after 10 years. The ease by which I can instruct anyone in how much chain to allow through (with the addition of a small cable tie every 5m) is worth it being a bit rainbow coloured.

"Lets have 2 and a half colours please" - simple and easy.
 
I also use red metal paint. One stripe at 10m, 2 stripes at 20m, up to 4 stripes at 40m and then back to 1 stripe at 50m etc. Very easy to see and no confusion whatever the conditions.
We’ve tried plastic chain markers but they discoloured in mud and became invisible. Paint renewed every couple of years seems to be cheap and idiot proof!
 
Any old paint, usually gloss, in red white and blue. In that order at 10,15 and 20m then combinations. Most of our anchoring is in shallow or very shallow water, so this is our usual range. It just needs re-ding evey 2-3yrs. We used to mark at numbers divisible by three because of the rule-of-thumb calculation, but we could never remember if it was 9,15,21 or something different.
 
Ive used cable ties on several boats. Suppose it depends how much you anchor but I found on school yachts that use the anchor several times a week, paint eventually flakes off and blocks the drains from the anchor locker.
 
Greek metal enamel paint, white every 10m, red the intervening 5. Coloured cable ties on the 10 marks, green 10m, yellow 20m, red at 30m repeat to 80m. The paint wears off the first 30m by the end of the season as we anchor most of the time (and when we don’t, it’s stern to against the quay using the anchor....). Rarely loose the cable ties and we always put a lot (say about 10) on each 10m section so they’re easy to spot and identify.
We nearly always free fall the chain and it’s not a problem spotting the cable ties as they go through as the painted chain warns you to look out for the colour. Headtorch when dropping in the dark sorts that problem out.
We tried using the fancy plastic inserts but they rapidly got dirty and stained and therefore next to invisible.
 
Vegable said:
using the resistor colour code as a basis
Click to expand...

That makes more sense to me (as an ex electronics engineer). In the 70's we were taught a mnemonic that wouldn't be acceptable in this PC world. Most of the books I read suggest billiard/snooker colours but they would be meaningless to me.

Our charter boat had no such luxury so I timed the electric windlass and approximated 2 seconds per metre. On one particular day, we needed more chain then my (mechanically unsympathetic) first mate discovered the last third of the chain hadn't been used in a while and was twisted as it went through (and jammed) the gypsy.

Fortunately it was holding well enough whilst I took the head off, untangled the rest of the chain and reattached it to the boat.

Because of the small size of the boat (SO33i), the cabin sits under the locker so it's not deep enough to accommodate the chain and raising involves scooping up handfuls of chain and chucking it forward in the locker to avoid it bunching up at the gypsy and jamming again (learning from experience).

The other boat I sail (Bavaria 36) has a deep locker where the chain can just fall into.

In Duncan Wells' book "Stress Free Sailing", he uses coloured silk ribbons and the picture of them at 3 years old (p 109) shows they are more hardy than you might imagine. Also easier to see and won't get eaten by the gypsy.
 
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snooker system, ebay, silk ribbon £7 delivered for all the colours 1m of each.

red 5m
yellow 10m
green 15m
brown 20m
blue 25m
pink 30m
black 35m
red red 40m
 
Previous owner painted the chain different colours every 10M and each mark is about a meter in length. I wrote it down but still can’t remember the order. The chain needs galvanising and I’m told it won’t be a success unless I remove all the paint - I think I may be getting a new chain soon.
 
wonkywinch said:
Because of the small size of the boat (SO33i), the cabin sits under the locker so it's not deep enough to accommodate the chain and raising involves scooping up handfuls of chain and chucking it forward in the locker to avoid it bunching up at the gypsy and jamming again (learning from experience).

Duncan Wells' book "Stress Free Sailing", he uses coloured silk ribbons and the picture of them at 3 years old (p 109) shows they are more hardy than you might imagine. Also easier to see and won't get eaten by the gypsy.
Click to expand...

I just use yellow string one link knotted for 10m, 2 for 20 etc up to 60m which works for me.

But it's not just the small size of the boat that give the chain locker problem - our Jeanneau 42.2 has a locker that is only inches across at its deepest and has far too shallow a slope on it's aft bulkhead to all more footroom for the forecabin bunk.

So I have an old broomhandle with inverted hooks to pick up and lay the chain out as it comes up. Irritating but I am now thoroughly used to it. I can only dream of being able to use a remote control for raising the anchor.
 
Paint, usually cheap spray paint which lasts a season or two. Easy to re-do when the chain is flaked on the ground when the boat is out for the winter.

We use a colour code which has been used in our sailing family for generations, no idea of the origin! Red, white, blue, yellow, black, then double band colours in the same order. Spaced 6 metres, so covers 60 m of chain.

Being of Northern Irish origin, there is a twist to the way our chain is painted. We paint the last 3 links green, white and orange as, after these have gone over the side, you are in a free state ;)
 
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