Chain Marking

[vyv_cox]

We've been using the plastic inserts for the last 14 years. One for ten metres, two for twenty metres etc. For the first thirteen years they never fell out and then I added some more chain and end for ended the whole lot and one of the forty metre markers has promptly fallen out... Bah humbug.

My experience with the inserts was that, apart from the odd ones that fell out, after a season or two they all seemed to assume the same muddy colour. It didn't take long before they were almost indistinguishable, something that never happens with sail ties.

More on the paint/regalvanising issue. My second chain done by Wedge came with the boat and had been painted for depth marking. Their method for removing the paint is 'burning off', which means running the chain through the molten zinc without going through the acid and flux baths beforehand. This added something like 50% to the regalvanising cost.

 

[Muddy32]

To those that use cable ties , remember that they are made of plastic , and small amounts on a large scale does not help our oceans , yes the water will still be there to sail but nothing to sea in the future , would you through your plastic bag overboard , mmm dont think so , and to be honest you should not be placing any plastic be it deliberate or non deliberate into the sea

+1

 

[john_morris_uk]

My experience with the inserts was that, apart from the odd ones that fell out, after a season or two they all seemed to assume the same muddy colour. It didn't take long before they were almost indistinguishable, something that never happens with sail ties.

More on the paint/regalvanising issue. My second chain done by Wedge came with the boat and had been painted for depth marking. Their method for removing the paint is 'burning off', which means running the chain through the molten zinc without going through the acid and flux baths beforehand. This added something like 50% to the regalvanising cost.

We don’t worry as we use all red anyway. They do go a bit murky but they’re usually easy enough to spot.

It’s all going to change on Serendipity soon as I’ve bought a remote control with a backlit digital display that will tell us how many meters are out. (Well it will do when I get it to work...)

 

[capnsensible]

Bits of string do work too. If you want a fancy code, write it inside the locker lid. If you dont, mark with string at 5m intervals and learn to count up to six. That will get you anchored in most places.

 

[Neeves]

I have been galvanising high tensile lifting components (part of my investigation into HT chain) and most, if not all, of these components are powder coated. We did try grit blasting and burning off but for the embossing of the components it did not really work, too well. Possibly carbon residue was left in the embossing.

Recently I've been using 'bog standard' paint stripper - works a treat.

For chain marked for depth the markings are going to be small, or short, and it should be possible to drop the short sections altogether into a bucket and treat - and then abrade with a wire brush - you do need heavy duty rubber gloves and patience - but beats doubling re-galvanising costs.

Jonathan

 

[Neeves]

Bits of string do work too. If you want a fancy code, write it inside the locker lid. If you dont, mark with string at 5m intervals and learn to count up to six. That will get you anchored in most places.

Love it !!

 

[Kelpie]

Your family must be recent immigrants to Scotland.

Jonathan

Eh?

 

[Neeves]

Eh?

Stated with tongue in cheek -

Wheras it is possibly 'an' answer it is slightly more expensive than a dab of paint or judicious placement of bits of string and therefore appears to lack Scots renowned frugality.

I confess to preferring simple options, where little can go wrong, excepting that paint wears off, and thus 'goes wrong' and having been brought up (in Scotland) with the very parsimony I imply I try not to throw money at a problem when a simple answer would suffice.

Jonathan

 

[prv]

Exactly, and how does that work when it's dark?

I turn the deck lights on

Pete

 

[gregcope]

Previous owner fitted shorts bits of bungee. Not fallen off yet...

 

[duncan99210]

I turn the deck lights on

Pete

+1 and I went all spend thrift and bought the winch wench a headtorch....

 

[Kelpie]

Stated with tongue in cheek -

Wheras it is possibly 'an' answer it is slightly more expensive than a dab of paint or judicious placement of bits of string and therefore appears to lack Scots renowned frugality.

I confess to preferring simple options, where little can go wrong, excepting that paint wears off, and thus 'goes wrong' and having been brought up (in Scotland) with the very parsimony I imply I try not to throw money at a problem when a simple answer would suffice.

Jonathan

Ah OK. I'm way too tight to buy an electric windlass with chain counter, so it will be cable ties and bits of string for me

 

[Neeves]

Ah OK. I'm way too tight to buy an electric windlass with chain counter, so it will be cable ties and bits of string for me

Not 'tight', - I am sure you mean 'careful' ('tight' perpetuates an inaccurate image ), I or the owner can find better (to her)/other things to spend that money on when paint or string costs nothing (and I, or the owner, prefer to be on the bow for both deployment and retrieval anyway).

Jonathan

 

[Yngmar]

Yellow paint, most recently from the China shop in Albufeira, for €1.60 a spray can. Wears off a little bit from the most used 30 meters, but plenty left after each year, and then we pull out the chain to clean the locker, inspect and respray anyways. Not much work and the locker needs cleaning anyways.

It's yellow, because that's best seen underwater and visible in the light of a red or white head torch at night.

The marking goes like this:

-        .      - -      .     - - -     .    - - - -    .   - - - - -   .
10m     15m     20m     25m     30m     35m     40m     45m     50m     55m     ...

Easy to remember even when sleep deprived - one dash is 10m, two dashes 20m, three dashes 30m, and so on. Every 5m in additionally marked with a dot.

We gravity drop using the winch clutch, and ridicule people who stand at the bow holding a button while winching the anchor down. Gravity drop means chain goes out fast, and you will not see any cable ties. They also tend to pop off sooner or later after a bit of UV decay and then you have put more plastic trash in the sea (ok, we put chips of yellow paint). Our dashes are some 10-15cm long with about 10m space between. A dot is maybe 5cm long. This is easily seen as the chain rushes past.

The above system works very well and we've been using it two years now and will repaint again this winter.

Chain being sprayed before leaving England. Had to fashion a spray box because the wind wouldn't stop howling.

 

[Poey50]

I use the commercial yellow and red plastic inserts. 5 and 10 metres are marked with 5 yellow and 5 red respectively. Then 15 = 1r+1y, 20 = 2r, 25 = 2r+1y, 30 = 3r etc.

I have 8mm chain but find the 10mm markers can be worked into the gaps with some effort but stay in better.

 

[Neeves]

Yngmar,

Love the box !

The paint was chosen to match those glasses of the delightful, and cheerful, young crew member - identification underwater was purely accidental

Your paint lasts a bit longer than ours (from Bunnings) - I had hoped there might be a better paint.

Glad to hear you clean the locker, you are an example for many.

And from memory G70 chain? any issues??

Jonathan

 

[john_morris_uk]

We gravity drop using the winch clutch, and ridicule people who stand at the bow holding a button while winching the anchor down. Gravity drop means chain goes out fast, and you will not see any cable ties.

I'm delighted that your system works well for you.

Please feel free to ridicule us as we drop anchor paying out with the windlass. Our windlass pays out very quickly and it gives me confidence that the anchor chain isn't piled on top of the anchor in an unholy mess and getting ready to snag it one day as we drop back. I know it works lots of times, but it doesn't always work and chain piled on anchor is not a good thing.

Also, (once I can get the wretched remote and it's display to work!) we will be able to drop anchor singlehanded from the helm in a controlled manner. (The non working new remote means we just use the backup buttons I've left fitted on the deck.)

 

[vyv_cox]

I'm delighted that your system works well for you.

Please feel free to ridicule us as we drop anchor paying out with the windlass. Our windlass pays out very quickly and it gives me confidence that the anchor chain isn't piled on top of the anchor in an unholy mess and getting ready to snag it one day as we drop back. I know it works lots of times, but it doesn't always work and chain piled on anchor is not a good thing.

Also, (once I can get the wretched remote and it's display to work!) we will be able to drop anchor singlehanded from the helm in a controlled manner. (The non working new remote means we just use the backup buttons I've left fitted on the deck.)

+1. Lowering the chain using the windlass provides far better control. Those who like to drop a large mound of chain on one spot are welcome to continue, but not ahead of me please.

 

[Yngmar]

And from memory G70 chain? any issues??

There's some light rust appearing on a few of the links this year (Maggi Aqua7 chain, new 2017, direct from Maggi so definitely genuine). Perhaps I should paint the whole chain!

+1. Lowering the chain using the windlass provides far better control. Those who like to drop a large mound of chain on one spot are welcome to continue, but not ahead of me please.

We never drop piles of chain in one spot, that'd be a silly thing to do. The clutch lever provides far better control than the down button, because it's a clutch, so you can adjust the friction and thus the speed the chain pays out. We drop the anchor in freefall, because once we've decided where to drop it, we want it in that spot quickly (e.g. when aiming for a small patch of sand surrounded by Posidonia). We instantly know when the anchor has reached bottom, as the weight of it is removed from the equation and the chain payout speed slows down considerably or stops. I then continue to control the friction and payout speed, laying out chain on the bottom as the boat drifts back (or gently reverses on calm days), until it reaches the desired scope and is snubbed to set it.

The only thing is the friction brake on the clutch needs maintenance about twice a season, which takes maybe 15 minutes (take off clutch cones, wipe off dirty grease and replace with new grease). I've met people who do not use their clutches because they're seized up from lack of maintenance (which is also bad as the clutch protects the windlass gearbox). I suspect most simply never tried and don't know the advantages of it (which is why they would think it causes piles of chain, when in fact it provides much finer control than downwinching).

 

[Plum]

.

Chain being sprayed before leaving England. Had to fashion a spray box because the wind wouldn't stop howling.

The box somehow did not stop the paint blowing onto the spectacles though.

Www.solocoastalsailing.co.uk