Displacement vs Chain MBL

[Pete7]

How about a Dyneema soft shackle?

 

[BabaYaga]

You will also find retrieving a rode with 6mm chain is a real breeze compared to retrieving 8mm chain. The latter becomes increasing hard work, especially at 2am when you decide enough is enough and you will re-anchor somewhere more sheltered. . We use 6mm chain on a 38' cat and I have retrieved the old 8mm and the new 6mm and I have easily convinced myself which I really prefer.

Thank you for your detailed post – as I read it at least partly in reply to my post #14. Just a couple of comments.
To the above:
Unless I'm totally mistaken, the weight of the chain will in practice only become an issue once the anchor is broken free and the anchor + chain is to be lifted from the seabed. Up until that point I would argue that the weight of the chain is more or less irrelevant. What decides how hard work it is pulling the boat would be displacement + impact of windage, waves and current.
The only drawback that I can see in choosing 8mm chain over 6mm is therefore that the heavier chain somewhat restricts maximum anchoring depth (especially important in tidal waters of course).
So, in the context of this thread (single handed, no windlass, strong wind/current) one question that could be posed is this: Which part of the retrieving process is the more strenuous – pulling the boat or lifting the anchor + chain? In my experience it is clearly the former.
For this reason I think the choice between chain sizes has more to do with possible anchoring depths than with ease of retrieving.
(Added weight in the bow may also be a drawback of a heavier chain, but I already touched upon this in my post #3).

I'd tend to focus my attention in terms of length of chain to thinking that most of the time you will use all chain, so what sort of depth might that involve and simply have the rope spliced on, or a simply eye ready to attach a shackle at the bitter end, and then you will only use the rope in the extremes.

Just to demonstrate how differently one can consider these questions: When I set up my mixed rode (20m of 8mm chain + 45m of 14mm octoplait) my thinking was exactly the opposite. I figured I would use less than 20m (all chain) only occasionally, like in a tight or crowded anchorage, modest water depth, light weather. My preferred rode in normal conditions would always be 20m chain + a few metres of rope (for quiet at night).
In heavier weather I put out more rope (10, 20, 30m...) and get a correspondingly increased snubbing effect.

 

[PhillM]

Lots of good advice here. I need to go through it and have a think.

Currently my 8mm chain is attached to the anchor using a swivel. I confess do not know the make but it came as a 'package' from Jimmy Green a few years ago. So, knowing their reputation I have not bothered to look further into that. I was assuming, that it would work just as well for attaching 6mm chain as 8mm chain. Anyone see a problem with that?

Re snubber, I do indeed have one. Its a stainless chain hook attached to about 2m warp.

 

[Tranona]

Depends on which size connector you have. The smaller ones do 6-8mm and the larger one 8-10mm. Check that the pin will go through the chain link.

 

[Neeves]

How about a Dyneema soft shackle?

As, I think, already mentioned threading a soft shackle through a 6mm link is quite difficult (the links are so small). The issue gets worse if you are trying to do this one rainy night with a bit of chop.

Jonathan

 

[Neeves]

Thank you for your detailed post – as I read it at least partly in reply to my post #14. Just a couple of comments.
To the above:
Unless I'm totally mistaken, the weight of the chain will in practice only become an issue once the anchor is broken free and the anchor + chain is to be lifted from the seabed. Up until that point I would argue that the weight of the chain is more or less irrelevant. What decides how hard work it is pulling the boat would be displacement + impact of windage, waves and current.
The only drawback that I can see in choosing 8mm chain over 6mm is therefore that the heavier chain somewhat restricts maximum anchoring depth (especially important in tidal waters of course).
So, in the context of this thread (single handed, no windlass, strong wind/current) one question that could be posed is this: Which part of the retrieving process is the more strenuous – pulling the boat or lifting the anchor + chain? In my experience it is clearly the former.
For this reason I think the choice between chain sizes has more to do with possible anchoring depths than with ease of retrieving.
(Added weight in the bow may also be a drawback of a heavier chain, but I already touched upon this in my post #3).



Just to demonstrate how differently one can consider these questions: When I set up my mixed rode (20m of 8mm chain + 45m of 14mm octoplait) my thinking was exactly the opposite. I figured I would use less than 20m (all chain) only occasionally, like in a tight or crowded anchorage, modest water depth, light weather. My preferred rode in normal conditions would always be 20m chain + a few metres of rope (for quiet at night).
In heavier weather I put out more rope (10, 20, 30m...) and get a correspondingly increased snubbing effect.

Unfortunately this is like asking how long should a rode be

I stick with the simple concept that most people look at both forecasts and the shelter offered by an anchorage to those forecasts. Consequently retreiving with 30 knots across the deck should not happen (and you will have moved closer to shore long before it happens). Normally I'd suggest being not to close to shore as when the tide goes out the chop can build up and be uncomfortable but if the wind is offshore (and you listened to the forecasts) then moving closer to shore would be sensible and the wind will reduce.

So though 30 knots is quite possible most of the time you will simply be retrieving chain from a few metres depth and once you have the yacht moving forward its momentum will support your efforts. I understand the yacht in question has motive power and if the chain is sufficiently long that the rope portion is seldom used then getting rope round the prop is very unlikely.

I agree one should look at worst case scenarios but having to use the engine to support retrieval (single handed) seems to mitigate most scenarios. It seems sensible to use a tiller pilot if the yacht is very frisky and to you use the engine with caution.

It is correct that you are only lifting a few metres of chain - but its amazing how heavy those few metres become if you are retrieving 40m of 8mm (hence suggesting 6mm).

Jonathan

 

[BabaYaga]

It is correct that you are only lifting a few metres of chain - but its amazing how heavy those few metres become if you are retrieving 40m of 8mm (hence suggesting 6mm).

This is where I don't follow.
Take two identical sailing boats anchored side by side in the same bay, 50m apart, 30 knots of wind over their decks, both laying to 40m of chain in water 5m deep. On each foredeck a single hander is preparing to retrieve the rode. One boat has 8mm chain, the other has 6mm.
At the outset, the pulling force on these two rodes must be more or less identical. If there is a slight difference, it should be to the advantage of the boat with the heavier chain, as the more pronounced catenary should somewhat reduce the peak loads. Probably insignificant.
Now the two men start pulling in chain. They have boats of identical displacement and windage. I fail to see a physical explanation for why the man pulling the 8mm chain should have a have a harder task than the man pulling the 6mm chain. The main effort for both men consists of getting and keeping the 3 t boat moving against the force of the 30 knot wind, doesn't it?
Which should be identical, because the boats are.
Or have I got this all wrong?

 

[Neeves]

This is where I don't follow.
Take two identical sailing boats anchored side by side in the same bay, 50m apart, 30 knots of wind over their decks, both laying to 40m of chain in water 5m deep. On each foredeck a single hander is preparing to retrieve the rode. One boat has 8mm chain, the other has 6mm.
At the outset, the pulling force on these two rodes must be more or less identical. If there is a slight difference, it should be to the advantage of the boat with the heavier chain, as the more pronounced catenary should somewhat reduce the peak loads. Probably insignificant.
Now the two men start pulling in chain. They have boats of identical displacement and windage. I fail to see a physical explanation for why the man pulling the 8mm chain should have a have a harder task than the man pulling the 6mm chain. The main effort for both men consists of getting and keeping the 3 t boat moving against the force of the 30 knot wind, doesn't it?
Which should be identical, because the boats are.
Or have I got this all wrong?

You have it all correct.

You still need to lift the chain from the seabed to the bow roller (and from the bow roller to your hands). So say 10m is off the seabed you are still lifting 10m, or 8kg of 6mm or 14.5kg of 8mm chain until the chain is vertical and you are breaking out the anchor and then its, say 5m + the weight of the anchor. There is no respite you can stop for a rest (unless you have some sort of chain lock). Additionally you will need to pull the yacht forward. If the wind is stronger and the amount of chain hanging in its catenary is longer then you need to lift more (because more chain is off the seabed and the stronger wind increases the tension). But its not only gravity that is working against you - there is resistance in the bow roller as well.

I've retrieved both 8mm and 6mm chain - I know what I prefer.

The ideal of course is to position the yacht over the anchor and then most of the lifting is related to depth of water. The problem being you are not sure where the anchor actually is (single handed, chart plotter not at the bow roller) and usually you are 'following' the chain.

Your 2 boat analogy is fine - they have the same windage so 'similar' tension (ignore any catenary effects). I'm also ignoring the difference in weight in air and water

Go into a chandler and transfer 30m of 6mm chain and 30m of 8mm chain from drum to floor and back again. Tell me don't notice the difference - and if you don't - take your 12 -18 year old granddaughter to conduct the same procedure - she'll tell you the difference.

Now - recall that at 17 knots of wind, which is really not much, and at 5:1 scope in 6m of water all, 30m, your chain is off the seabed and the tension in the rode for 8mm chain is actually about 70kgs - that's what you to produce to retrieve the chain, but less if it is 6mm. I've measured all this as I wanted to know what the tension was to lift the last (or first) link and have all 30m suspended - for 8mm chain, I've not done the test for 6mm (except I know it is markedly easier). Now in less wind, or no wind - different scenario - but as I say - 17 knots is hardly extreme.

Jonathan

 

[Stemar]

I've retrieved both 8mm and 6mm chain - I know what I prefer.

Me too - that's why I downsized!

Doing the sums on the difference in weight doesn't make it seem like a lot, but those sums don't do justice to the extra effort involved in heaving it in.

 

[TernVI]

The reality is that if the wind gets up, the sea will quite likely not remain like a millpond, so instead of lifting the dead weight of a chain, you are working against a chain being moved around by the boat/sea motion.
I've done quite a bit of anchoring RIBs and racing marks in not-very-sheltered water.
When you're retrieving the anchor, the bit when the anchor is aweigh and you 'just' have to lift the dead weight is the easy bit.

A lot of people seem to like elaborate analysis of some surreal steady-state anchoring where the sea is flat and the boat isn't moving at all. Reality is often not terribly similar.

 

[Pete7]

As, I think, already mentioned threading a soft shackle through a 6mm link is quite difficult (the links are so small). The issue gets worse if you are trying to do this one rainy night with a bit of chop.

Jonathan

Johnathan, you have lost me. Why is it difficult and why are you doing it at night in the rain. Here is a link to a 6mm chain size. Why can't a 6mm piece of Dyneema be threaded through a 8mm hole whilst sat in a marina in the sunshine?

6mm DIN766 Lofrans Grade 40 Calibrated Anchor Chain

 

[TernVI]

Johnathan, you have lost me. Why is it difficult and why are you doing it at night in the rain. Here is a link to a 6mm chain size. Why can't a 6mm piece of Dyneema be threaded through a 8mm hole whilst sat in a marina in the sunshine?
.....

Because anyone with any sense has filled that 8mm hole with an 8mm shackle pin?

Dyneema is luvly stuff, it is mildly chafe resistant, it is not chafe-proof.
I think you'd be potty to use it on an anchor that's going to get dragged through the seabed.

 

[Pete7]

Because anyone with any sense has filled that 8mm hole with an 8mm shackle pin?

Dyneema is luvly stuff, it is mildly chafe resistant, it is not chafe-proof.
I think you'd be potty to use it on an anchor that's going to get dragged through the seabed.

So the gap is 18.5 x 8mm. 6mm of the gap will be taken by the previous link leaving about 12mm give or take.

Agreed, I would also use a shackle pin but the question was raised because apparently he can't.

Pete

 

[oldmanofthehills]

I am going through a similar exercise for my Sadler 25, I had thought to reduce from 8mm to 7mm, but from this thread am now considering 20m of 6mm which is twice the length of 8mm I have and porbably slightly lighter. I was then going to add 30m of octoplait for those occaisions I need more. Ths challenge I am now working through is how to shackle the anchor to the chain as anything small enough to go through 6mm chain will be way too small to through the anchor slot where I need something like a 15mm gap to get over the slot corner to outer shank corner distance?

6mm hooped shackle with 8mm straight shackle through it an anchor? Dont use cord, even strong but brittle stuff like dyneema

 

[Neeves]

6mm hooped shackle with 8mm straight shackle through it an anchor? Dont use cord, even strong but brittle stuff like dyneema

You take a drift and enlarge the end link and use the appropriate shackle. This works with G30 and G40 chain - I would not recommend it for G70.

The alternative is to use a Omega link or hammerlock. Neither of these will be galvanised (or I have not found a source of galvanised components), but I have mine coated. They are not very expensive, treat them as consumable, chop them off when they look ugly and replace with a new one. The Omega link and Hammerlock have been developed and used for decades by the lifting industry. Using a drift to enlarge a link is used by people on this forum - using dyneema is simply a hair brained untested idea.

If you do opt for the Omega.hammerlock route - keep your eyes open for someone galvanising their chain and anchor, contact them and ask if you can add a few items to their batch. Have some acres galvanised.

I love the idea - no-one ever regrets using a big anchor when the chips are down - they just cannot sleep because they followed some untested idea of using a soft shackle! Not that they needed the big anchor anyway - but there is no accounting for people's gullibility.

Jonathan

Johnathan, you have lost me. Why is it difficult and why are you doing it at night in the rain. Here is a link to a 6mm chain size. Why can't a 6mm piece of Dyneema be threaded through a 8mm hole whilst sat in a marina in the sunshine?

6mm DIN766 Lofrans Grade 40 Calibrated Anchor Chain

Because those of us who anchor in varied seabeds change our anchors, we replace our Excel with Fortress in soft mud. Our coast line is riddled with navigable rivers, if you can get over the bar, whose bottoms are invariably soft mud (and is where our, famous, oysters come from).

I would not use a soft shackle to attach the chain to the anchor. An anchor when it sets does so with the shackle and toe engaging at the same time, the anchor is moving, it will move a shank length as it sets. This means the soft shackle is subject to abrasion every time you use it. You need something that is unquestionably abrasion resistant and a very thin piece of dyneema that is difficult to thread through a 6mm link is simply not robust, nor reliable.

The other factor that is not obviously apparent is that our 6mm chain replaces 8mm chain. Our 6mm chain has the same strength as the 8mm chain it replaced, I tested both. The soft shackle of which you talk has to be the same strength or stronger than the chain, even after some use - that's a big ask for dyneema of a size to thread through the hole in 6mm chain. Dyneema large enough to thread through the hole on G30/40 might satisfy some in theory - but most people would be sceptical, and rightly so. Its a yacht, funny things happen, use proven mechanisms where the application is critical - don't pander to the latest must have device (of which soft shackles and LFRs are top of my list) - especially so where people are spruiking the device they actually don't use themselves.

If your anchor is not set too deeply then as your yacht moves with a yawing wind then the chain is constantly swinging. Hopefully you chose a good anchor and the anchor is stationary - the dymeema on which you rely is constantly swung though an abrasive environment. The dyneema is going to accept sand into the structure of the rope - you are not going to remove every grain of sand when you wash down. Your anchor sits on the seabed or your bow roller and it is possible it will move and the constant movement of the sand in the dyneema does not sound like an ideal recipe for longevity. Dyneema is very shiny and smooth but has poor abrasion resistance over rough surfaces - if you check - this has been tested.

Why do I keep getting the impression that people are conjuring up uses for dyneema as if its god's gift to the marine industry. There are perfectly well proven means to attach an anchor to a chain - use them. I am all for people experimenting but to promote an idea that has not been tested is dangerous (and you have just read about but not actually used yourself)..

If you had painted your anchor carefully you can use the painted surface to indicate where most abrasion occurs - I've done this and the toe and shackle end take most abrasion. If, of course, you have been beguiled you will use a Mantus, which sets shallow and the shackle end buries last - this would give you extra longevity of a soft shackle - but not enough to convince me to even consider it.

Jonathan

 

[BabaYaga]

You still need to lift the chain from the seabed to the bow roller (and from the bow roller to your hands). So say 10m is off the seabed you are still lifting 10m, or 8kg of 6mm or 14.5kg of 8mm chain until the chain is vertical and you are breaking out the anchor and then its, say 5m + the weight of the anchor. There is no respite you can stop for a rest (unless you have some sort of chain lock). Additionally you will need to pull the yacht forward. If the wind is stronger and the amount of chain hanging in its catenary is longer then you need to lift more (because more chain is off the seabed and the stronger wind increases the tension).

I've been giving this some further thought during the day (while working on the boat) and have come to this:

We are in full agreement that it takes a bigger effort to lift a heavier chain compared to a lighter chain (8mm vs. 6mm for example).
This is very obvious when the anchor has broken free and is brought up to the bow roller, because then lifting is the only action taking place.
The more difficult question is what is taking place before the anchor is broken free. I think you are correct that it is, generally speaking, a combination of lifting chain (where weight of chain matters) and pulling the yacht forward against wind/current (where weight of chain is irrelevant).
So what are the proportions between these two components of the total effort? I would argue that depends totally on the amount of wind/current present. In very light conditions, say 2 knots of wind, very little force is required to drive the boat forward towards the anchor, so the effort consists almost entirely of lifting chain.
On the other hand, like in my example earlier, with 30 knots of wind, the force required to lift the chain will be the same as in 2 knots of wind. But this will be almost totally dwarfed by the much greater effort needed to move the boat.
So my conclusion (for now) would be that the advantage of having a lighter rode diminishes with rising wind/current and when the force on the rode is such that the chain is more or less straight, then this advantage is practically all lost.

 

[Neeves]

If the wind is over 17 knots then you need to take the tension of 30m, say, of chain. It is all off the seabed so you need to support the whole lot (of chain) as well as any tension/windage of the yacht.

To me - that makes a significant difference when you are lifting 6mm or 8mm chain. The windage might not be insignificant (and will be the same whether its 6mm or 8mm but you have that windage + 30m of chain (assuming 5:1 scope and 6m depth). The tension alone for 8mm chain is 70kg. Now some of the tension will be 'supported' on the bow roller - but there is no respite - unless you can hold in one hand the combination of tension + the extra tension from windage with one hand and operate a chain lock with the other.

Again having lifted both - 6mm is much easier to handle.

Jonathan

 

[Neeves]

Baba,

I've left my original posts intact but I think I need to qualify what I have said - I was being a bit lazy, apologies.

With a tension in the rode of about 70kgs a 30m x 8mm deployed rode in 6m depth (from bow roller to seabed) will have the very last link lifted off the seabed. I know this as I deployed 30m x 8mm chain at the defined scope and measured the tension, in air, and made a crude allowance for seawater, to arrive at the 70kg. I checked that the last link was just lifting. I've not checked the same for 6mm chain as being excited at having my new chain I installed it and now that its installed I'm a bit too lazy to remove it, bring it back to shore in a dinghy, manoeuvre it into the car etc etc. I also have not checked other chain, as I don't have enough other chain. I have also not checked other scopes as it is simply fortuitous that I had access to a 6;1 scope, that I could measure with accuracy, that allowed deployment of 30m. If I had the opportunity I would make other measurements in the future.

I've also measured the tension in the rode developed by winds at windspeed from 0 knots to 35 knots and a 70kg tension equates to about 17 knots of wind where the tension is developed by a typical 45' AWB (actually the equivalent of a Bav 45)

The 70kg includes weight of rode and is the windage developed by the yacht.

My calculations are based on a 45' yacht and lifting the last link of the rode would occur under an average and steady windspeed of about 17 knots. A steady windspeed of 17 knots is unlikely and if you were struggling you would retrieve in the lulls and lock off in the gusts.

As a 24' yacht will have a, much, lower windage, more chain will be on the seabed at 17 knots and the last link would only be lifted at a higher windspeed. So the 70kgs is an over-estimate.

70kgs is about the tension an average fit and healthy male could cope with (I believe the rule of thumb is an average fit male should be able to lift his own weight - which is easy for me as I'm weedy ).

To retrieve the chain you will need to increase the tension to have the yacht moving toward the anchor (whose weight is irrelevant until we break it out). But this increase in tension will be the same for 6m as 8mm chain.

8mm chain weighs about 1.45kg/m and 6mm chain about 0.8kg/m, total weight of chain deployed @ 30m is 43kg and 24kg, respectively. Now assuming we have this 30m hanging vertically from the bow roller in deep water and no wind - which is easier to lift, 43kg or 24kg? If we add back the windage (of 27kg) which is easier to retrieve 70kg or 51kg. Would anyone notice the difference?

My guess is that if push comes to shove 'a' wife, daughter or granddaughter could retrieve the 6mm chain (assuming the 45' yacht) but might actually find the 8mm chain impossible. If the chains were hanging vertically the wife, daughter, granddaughter would by far prefer to retrieve the 6mm chain - given the choice and actually might refuse, wisely, to attempt to retrieve the 30m weighing 43kg


I discovered some of this the hard way - though if I had thought about it I would have planned ahead, lateral thinking was not with me - too focussed at thinking how clever I was to have a box into which to deploy from the yacht!.


When we changed from 8mm to 6mm I dropped the old 50m of 8mm into a plastic box in our dinghy. This is the obvious way on a cat as you can locate the dinghy between the hull and simply feed into the dinghy - no need to touch the chain at all. I then took it ashore. When I got to shore I very quickly discovered I actually could not lift the box (at all - but I'd not say I'm perfectly fit) from the dinghy, but then it weighs, 72.5kg, more than me. It is slightly embarrassing when you arrive on a beach and cannot move the contents of your dinghy! Having learnt the errors of my ways when we replaced the 8mm with 6mm I had 50m in a paint drum and the balance 25m (we replaced with a 75m rode) in another drum. The 50m of 6mm now weighed 40kg and was manageable - I could even lift it from the car (without any serious damage to my back). In addition to being lighter the 6mm also takes up less room, unsurprisingly, and 75m of 6mm fills a paint drum but 50m of 8mm chain fills 1.5 paint drums. I took the 6mm x75m back in the dinghy and fed the whole lot into the chain locker - using the windlass.

Jonathan

 

[PhillM]

Going back through all the good advice, for which I am grateful. I have no idea how much force I have to pull when hauling the boat back to the anchor. I have only ever once had to use the engine to move the boat forward and that was because of a combination of wind with tide and a desire to get out against them both. I can reach my anchor chain through the fore hatch by standing on the heads box. Its only four steps back through the cabin to the throttle, so I could give a little burst of power to get momentum going, nip forward, pull in some chain. Repeat until just about to haul up the anchor. This worked great with chain .... but I am not sure that I would wish to do the same with a rode that could in theory get caught on the prop.

I had not considered the issue if shackling the chain to the anchor. I will have a look at my swivel when I get on-board again.

 

[Neeves]

So the gap is 18.5 x 8mm. 6mm of the gap will be taken by the previous link leaving about 12mm give or take.

Agreed, I would also use a shackle pin but the question was raised because apparently he can't.

Pete

I'll explain slowly - especially for Pete 7 who wants to belabour the issue

If a 6mm link has a 8mm wide hole it will take a 8mm clevis pin of a shackle. Our chain is 6mm but replaces 8mm chain consequently the 6mm chain. needs to accept the same strength of attachments as the 8mm chain and the 8mm chains held a 10mm clevis pin.

Hopefully Pete 7 follow this.

When you down size chain, in our case from 8mm to 6mm you need to ensure that the new rode has the same strength as the old - which is why people use G70 chain when they downsize. Our 6mm HT chain has the same strength, as measured (not as specified) , as the original 8mm chain - I measured them both. Over 4t UTS. The recommended shackle to use with this chain is a 3/8th" (or 10mm) shackle from Crosby which has a MBS of 9t (designated as a G209a). This is well over strength but as a shackle can become locked up and the pull is not in straight line then the strength can be reduced by 50% if loaded at 90 degrees. Smaller shackle have an even lower strength. So assuming a worst case scenario - and I have seen side loaded failed shackles - you need to accomodate the side loading in your calculations.

So to match 6mm HT chain to shackle you have to find a way of attaching a shackle with a 10mm clevis to a chain with an aperture of 8mm. If you were to use a soft shackle the shackle would need to be sized to have the strength of the soft shackle used in 8mm chain - and the 6mm aperture makes this decidedly fiddly. However no-one has tried using a soft shackle in the rode to connect anchor to chain, or if they have tried it is not documented. Dyneema is not particularly abrasion resistant so the idea might have merit (or not) - but being untested introduces an unnecessary risk - when there are a number of other options that do work and involve no risk. You could use a dyneema sleeve to protect the load bearing dyneema - but this will make the soft shackle even more difficult to thread into a small aperture. Soft shackles might be very fashionable - but that does make them applicable universally - and suggesting they be used to connect chain to anchor without actually using them yourself - is dangerous. Floating the idea is excellent - and has concluded its not a great idea.

Historic answers have been to have enlarged end links welded to the end of your chain. This works fine, if the chain maker will make the addition at a sensible cost and warrant the work. The issue arrises when you chop the first few links off as they preferential corrode. You can have large end links at both ends - this obviously helps. You can have a large number of large end links - if there is room between shank and windlass. The other option is to use 'other' connectors' and we used off the shelf Omega links which are made to match HT chains, they are of the right size cannot suffer side loading and will then accept the clevis of an appropriate shackle. There are alternatives to Omega links and some are called long Omega links or pear links. I have some of these connectors to try (they are sitting waiting for me to arrange them to be galvanised). Another option are hammerlocks, which we have been trialing (with success). They come in a range of designs for different applications, some are made for chain to chain connections some are for sling to chain connection and I have some of the sling hammerlocks also waiting to galvanise and try. Hammerlocks have been used by some forum members, ungalvanised, they simply use them until they become grotty and then use new ones. Hammerlocks can be attached direct to the shank - depending on the anchor you are using - it s easier to use a shackle.

In our case we have a 6mm chain which is as strong as the 8mm chain it replaced, weighs per metre slightly more than 60% of weight of the 8mm chain, takes up less room and has attachments/connectors that are stronger then the 6mm chain. All the components fit without any fiddling about. In the event of needing to cut anything off due to wear - we had spares galvanised at the same time as the original chain. The chain (and connectors) has a 100 micron coating, as measured along the length of the chain, and the galvanised coating is harder, thus more abrasion resistant than conventional Hot Dipped Galvanising ( I tested the abrasion rate). By chance - the galvanising on the 6mm chain has polished and it looks like 'black stainless' which reduces towering. The chain works out, significantly, cheaper than the chain it replaced. The chain and all the components have been tested for strength.

What's not to like?

The US Navy uses similar HT chain, the same galvanising process and has a coating specification of 80 microns. They use the chain as anchor chain on small craft and as tie downs to secure tanks etc on landing craft. They use their chains because they are lighter and the coating more abrasion resistant. Since we made our chain 3 more rodes have been made in Australia (trimaran, catamaran and an aluminium monohull), another 6mm x 100 and 2 x100m x 8mm all with matching connectors, Omega links and chain hooks (for the snubbers/bridle).

Jonathan