Chain size help please.

This may help. It was a test done by an Italian sailing magazine looking at the effects of rode weight on the anchor’s holding ability. They tested the holding power achieved with all chain, a combination of 10m of chain and the rest rope, and finally an all rope rode. This was done for three different scopes 3:1, 6:1 and 10:1. It was a 12kg anchor (Delta from memory) and 8mm chain.

The results were surprising with a very substantial improvement gained when using the heavier rode. The results are in Italian, but the holding powers in Kg are easy to see. “ara” is the maximum force just before the anchor started slowly dragging and “speda” is the maximum force just before the anchor broke out completely. The table below summarises the results:

9XmYvft.jpg


A few cautions:
This is only one test. It would be nice to see other holding power measurements with different rode weight combinations. It should also be noted that the total weight of the chain was significant in some of the options (given the anchor weight). Adding all or indeed only some of this weight to the anchor by using a larger sized model would have, I suggest, resulted in higher holding power numbers. Finally, with all these tests you are better to read the full article rather than just the summary, but unfortunately I do not have a link.
Intuitively what I would have expected. Thanks.
 
Maybe some contribution from the combination of Delta and the seabed consistency? My Fortress FX16 kedge has about 5 metres of 8 mm chain, otherwise anchorplait. It is the nature of kedging in all its varieties that it is rarely possible to place the anchor on an ideal bottom, particularly because the Fortress tends to 'soar' underwater, rarely going straight down. Despite this, I cannot remember a time when it failed to hold first time. Two years ago, due to a series of unfortunate incidents, I finished up anchoring in a full gale on the Fortress with a scope of only 3:1. It held first time and continued to do so for a couple of days. My previous experience with Delta on chain in a soft seabed was nowhere near as satisfactory and led to my purchase of a Rocna.
All vey well but a rocna is not an option for me. The anchor goes up inside the front of the boat and it has to be a delta.
 
There are options:

Kobra, cheap and cheerful, recommended by many here
Spade, recommended by many - pricey
Excel, not available in the UK but if you contact Anchor Right direct in Oz, they do deals for individuals

Each of these will be better than a Delta

Vulcan, not one I recommend as untested.

We have the same issue as you - anchor needs to come up through confined slot, we use Spade and Excel. I've tested a Kobra, it will work - its shank is a bit flimsy. We also carry Fortress - I need to deploy by hand.

If you are happy with the Delta - save your money. Lots of people use them with success - though anyone who 'upgrades' does notice the difference (in terms of reliability, ease of setting.

Jonathan
 
There are options:

Kobra, cheap and cheerful, recommended by many here
Spade, recommended by many - pricey
Excel, not available in the UK but if you contact Anchor Right direct in Oz, they do deals for individuals

Each of these will be better than a Delta

Vulcan, not one I recommend as untested.

We have the same issue as you - anchor needs to come up through confined slot, we use Spade and Excel. I've tested a Kobra, it will work - its shank is a bit flimsy. We also carry Fortress - I need to deploy by hand.

If you are happy with the Delta - save your money. Lots of people use them with success - though anyone who 'upgrades' does notice the difference (in terms of reliability, ease of setting.

Jonathan
I quite like the colour of my delta, it fits my boat, does what I need and changing it has never crossed my mind.
I don’t like the colour of the chain which is what the thread is all about.
 
I quite like the colour of my delta, it fits my boat, does what I need and changing it has never crossed my mind.
I don’t like the colour of the chain which is what the thread is all about.

Apologies Elessar but I was simply commenting on your post No 42 (in which you seemed to allow a bit of thread drift, in your own thread).. Sorry if I misunderstood.

Jonathan
 
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