How much chain do you have on your kedge anchor

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blackdogsailing

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And where do you stow it ?

We are off in 2015 on our ocean travels ( so I will be posting a lot of questions from now on !). After a lot of thought and research I am going with the following anchors. A large modern design plough type on the bow with 50 m chain and warp. (The make is irrelevant to my question to avoid being told I have the wrong anchor !:)) A 50 lb fishermans and a 35 lb danforth as kedge/stern/back up.

I am undecided on how much anchor chain (if any) I should put on these. There is absolutely no way of having 2 anchors permanently on the bow so they will be both stowed in the lazarette. So, should I have 1 length of about 30m chain and attach it to whichever anchor I intend on using and should I adapt my chain locker to accomodate it, or shall I have 2 x shorter lengths permanently attached to both anchors. Or something I havn't thought of.

We intend on anchoring 99% of our time away and the bottoms will be a mixture of mud,sand, weed and rock. The boat is a First 435 and excess weight forward is a big issue. The majority of the time we will be double handed. Any suggestions especially ones based on experience welcomed !

Chris
 
I'm in the E Med I have 60 metres of chain and wish I had more. I've just spliced 40 metres of warp to this chain and use it regularly because of steeply shoaling bottoms and deep anchorages.
On my kedge I have 10m of chain and 75m of warp. I haul this in by hand and regard the chain as protector for when the scope may drag on a rocky sea bed.
If you're more specific on "ocean travels" you'll get more relevant advice.
cheers
 
I have 10 meters on my kedge on a 34' boat, plus a lot of warp. But I'm cruising around the central Channel, not voyaging to Patagonia.

Not sure why you want to cart an old Fisherman around the place, incidentally.

Pete
 
Amount of chain depends on what you expect to use the kedge for. If you regularly use it deployed from a dinghy or dropped over the stern for going bows to a quay then 10m is plenty. If you intend more demanding work as you 35lb Danforth suggests you ought to have more. A Fortress is probably better as an everyday kedge as it keeps the weight down for manual handling. You might consider stowing a 30m chain, 70m rope warp down below for emergency use with your alternate anchors and have shorter lighter permanent gear for occasional use.
 
120lb FOB anchor on the bow with 100 meters of 1/2" chain, power winch. 80lb halls pattern, 10 meters of 3/8 chain, 2 x 50, 24mm warps, 65lb CQR, 10 meters of 3/8 chain, 2 x 50m 24mm warps. I stow the chain separate in very strong canvas bags, with the shackles on them. Makes it easier to handle the chain.
 
Like cg scott49 said, The only way to go,
Im the same, 100 mtrs 1/2 inch chain,35 kg delta and 33 kg manson
two 120 mtrs 20mm reeled warp on deck, two spare 25 kg Brittany on deck,
Stern danforth 15kg 10 mtrs chain 100 mtrs warp, and a partridge in a spare tree

I like to sleep at night
QUOTE=ccscott49;4456390]120lb FOB anchor on the bow with 100 meters of 1/2" chain, power winch. 80lb halls pattern, 10 meters of 3/8 chain, 2 x 50, 24mm warps, 65lb CQR, 10 meters of 3/8 chain, 2 x 50m 24mm warps. I stow the chain separate in very strong canvas bags, with the shackles on them. Makes it easier to handle the chain.[/QUOTE]
 
0n a 44ft yacht we have 60mm chain with 30kg anchor, three aluminium anchors of varying size and weight. Buckets of chain in the lazarette but kedges normally get deployed without chain. 100m of warp in deployment bag and lots of other warps for god know what.
 
For my kedge, I have a Fortress, mainly on nylon but with 5 metres of 11mm chain. My main anchor, a Bruce is on all 10mm chain. The Fortress is an excellent kedge, being comparatively light, and so easily laid out by dinghy if required. The logic behind the fairly short, but heavier kedge chain is that if it has to be retrieved using the warping drum on the anchor windlass, by the time the chain comes over the bow roller, the anchor has normally been broken out. I also carry a Fisherman. Don't knock them, they have their uses.
 
LOA: 13.1m 15 tons all up weight for cruising.
Main: 20Kg Delta, 66m of 10mm chain, stored in chain locker.
2nd: 44lb Danforth, 30m of 10mm chain + 50m 20mm warp, anchor on deck, chain and warp in aft locker.
Kedge: Fortress FX11: 10m of 10mm chain + 50m 18mm warp, stored in a plastic barrel on stern, can be deployed in seconds.
Spare: Fortress FX37 and 100m length of 20mm warp, seems I could do with a length of chain here.....
Want: 60lb collapsible Fisherman anchor, plenty of times it would have better than any of the above!
 
>We are off in 2015 on our ocean travels ( so I will be posting a lot of questions from now on !).

If you are going ocean sailing and not stopping in the Med you will never use a kedge anchor all the marinas are alongside not stern/bows too which the Med is. However you will need two anchors for strong winds put out a 45 degrees off each bow. We also carried a monster Fortress for storm conditions but never used it was really for peace of mind.

> with 50 m chain and warp.

Don't use warp first the boat swings around much more and it can be cut by a small coral head or broken coral. We carried 57 metres of chain plus chain for the other two anchors but we were a heavy displacement boat so he weight didn't matter.

A few other thoughts everything boaty is made for weekend and holiday sailors so everything will break more than once and you will be repairing things once or more a week after the first thing breaks. It's not unusual for two or three things to break at the same time. So keep two spares of everything, the parts diagram and all the appropriate tools including open spanners and box spanners, long and short screwdrivers etc, nav bulbs, fan belts, spare alternator, duct tape, spare rigging cut to size and Sta-lok fittings, a palm needles and thread for sail repairs, sail repair tape, spare gearbox/engine oil - I could go on and on. If you haven't taken anything apart before the lay the parts out in a line the right way up then you know how to put it back together. Check the spares packs in the chandler and if there isn't a spare for something you have ring the manufacturer and explain what you are doing and ask what will break, they will tell you. Electrical kit radio etc tends not to break.
 
We have a 35 kg anchor on the bow and 70 m 10 mm chain. Kedge is an FX 66 aluminium with 30 m 10 mm chain but we usually deploy it with just 3 m of 10mm ss chain. We also have a 30 kg Bruce but not used it in anger.
 
Kedges.

Pic of our kedge arrangement. http://i1155.photobucket.com/albums/p543/OldBawley/DSCN1698.jpg

Nr 1 a Northill, 7 m chain, 60 m 12 mm multiplaid on a drum.

Nr 2 a huge aluminium Viking, ( Sort of Fortress FX 55 ) on 17m of chain and 45 meter 14 mm multiplaid on a drum.

Nr 3 Small fortress fx 16, useless, to light.

Nr 4 a Med style rock anchor. Used with 10 mm light chain and 40 m of warp.

We mostly moor bows to on town quays, our bowsprit is an excellent passerelle. On approaching the spot I want, a pull on the securing bar launches the big allu anchor, the chain and line goes down with it. The line is taken over a sheet winch and roles out automatic. About one boat length from the quay I bury the anchor just by holding on to the line, the winch takes the power.
That way I can stop the boat with prop still in forward gear ( Very slow ) and adjust the distance bowsprit – quay with one hand, steering with the other.
At the right spot, with the prop still in forward ,the line is belayed, then I walk forward and step on land to belay a bowline. Only then the gearbox is put in neutral and the engine stopped.

One problem with mooring bow- to is that some jerks sail there boat so close to the quay that they gut stuck in our kedge warp with there keel. All chain would be better but is more difficult to control running out.

The stern anchor is taken back on board over the roller. By hand, witch is sometimes a real hard job.
Getting older all the time, I have to start looking for a small anchor winch.

All kedges are often set from our rigid dingy who has a sturdy roller for the rode in the stern.

The contraption at the back of the boat was fist only used to sheet the yawl sail. It is never used as a pram handle. Now it carry s the kedges, can lift de dingy.
Last year I made three new bearers out of 3 x 9 inch iroko to replace the old ash bearers seen on the photo. Just last week I suggested to build a chicken house on it. Small and yachty, you know.
Swimbo says she will leave me forever if I do.
 
Tranona said:
Amount of chain depends on what you expect to use the kedge for. If you regularly use it deployed from a dinghy or dropped over the stern for going bows to a quay then 10m is plenty. If you intend more demanding work as you 35lb Danforth suggests you ought to have more. A Fortress is probably better as an everyday kedge as it keeps the weight down for manual handling. You might consider stowing a 30m chain, 70m rope warp down below for emergency use with your alternate anchors and have shorter lighter permanent gear for occasional use.
Click to expand...

+1 and I have hard eyes spliced into the ends of several warps so I can easily make them longer with big shackles.
 
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