How much chain?

  • Thread starter Thread starter Alcyone
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Alcyone

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Do you guys carry? My surveyor suggested cutting a rusty bit off the end of mine. When I got it all out of the chain locker, it seems he had missed a number of very badly coroded links at several points along the chain. Looks like I'll have to replace the lot. Ouch.

Peptimus/Ishtar is 28ft, so it looks like 8mm, but how much do you guys carry? The calculations I have seen for 4 or 5 times the depth, given the tidal range in the Bristol channel would suggest I may have a lot to spend here.....
 
I'm in the same 'boat' so to speak. We've only got about 5m of chain (attached to 15m of rope) and that clearly wasn't enough on the 2 or 3 occasions we anchored up last year, so I'd also be interested to hear how much others have got as I've got to get a load more this year.
 
Most of the fishermen around Portishead use rope rodes, with a short length of chain for the anchor. They also have electric winches!

I have a manual windlass and I anchor a lot - I carry 45m 10mm chain, with 60m rope spliced to that. To get a 3:1 scope over HW in the upper BC I would usually have to use all the chain, and if it was windy/strong current I would use half the rope as well. The problem is changing over from the drum to the gypsy so I don't use the rope unless I have to, which is why I would ideally like about 75m chain!

"75m shock horror!" I hear some cry /forums/images/graemlins/smile.gif Personally I would find it easier to have all-chain, and I can cope with the weight forward (which many boats couldn't), but whatever you use, if you only have 20m in total then IMO it is about 25% of what you should be carrying for anything but a calm day in shallow water.
 
Hmm, that's what was concerning me. I'd calculated around 60m+ of 8mm, which seems a hell of a lot. The second anchor on the boat is a 15kg Danforth with about 10m 6mm, and it seems well light.

The plan is, and I qualify this by saying that we have next to no experience at the moment so it's some way off, to find some of the more secluded places to stay, so anchoring needs to be pretty secure for me to get some kip.

I'd better book some overtime for Louise.......
 
I'd say it also depends on your windlass and usual style of cruising. A manual windlass and single-handed can be a PITA with any wind and wave action, because I have to keep running back to motor forward, so the rope/chain changeover is another hassle I could do without. With someone on the helm as well, it may make more sense to have a mixed rode, when say 20m chain and 60+m rope would do the job in most conditions - and that is a relatively cheap and light option as well.

Some experts are convinced that a mixed rode actually has better holding and is a stronger system (search on posts by hylas) but that is a whole other argument... /forums/images/graemlins/smile.gif (and it's a good job you asked the question here, and not on the main forums /forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif )
 
Ours is all chain, about 70 mtrs. at anchor we unually tie a length of climbing rope to the last few mtrs. to stop it snatching.
 
Well I'm pretty sure it will always be Louise and I, plus others when we know enough for it to be safe enough to take them. No windlass.

I've read many articles on it, but the main reason I posted here rather than the main forum is simple, the huge tidal range which means I could anchor in 2m water and wake up in 12m. Or deeper if I have got it wrong........

From the opinions so far though, it seems that a lot of chain, certainly more than what she currently has, even without the rusted links, is in order.

Thanks. It's going to have to wait a while anyway. It's been an expensive month.
 
20m of chain and 60m of rope sounds like a workable solution for me and that should just about fit in the anchor locker (we're only a 22ft cuddy sportsboat). It's only got the short length of chain / rope because of where the previous owners kept it but tbh I doubt it was enough anyway.

Bearing in mind the windlass is my arms and the rope has to be attached to the boat everytime as there's nothing in the locker to attach the rope to on our boat, it has to be clipped onto the trailer strap eye on the front. Even pulling out what we have at the moment was hard work last year, guess I'll have to go down the gym /forums/images/graemlins/frown.gif
 
We had this question for our 25' mobo as we trail her so were concerned for weight.

We went for 30M 8mm chain plus 20M Octoplat, and our windlass has a combination gypsy that works well with both chain and rope.

We have a bit less now as we had to cut free a fouled anchor last season so would like to replace the chain .

We do not often anchor, only usually for lunch and never overnight, probably never will in the BC, but we might if we are away on the south coast or somewhere in a sheltered spot
 
I'm not going to add any figures to this thread but would like to add some points to consider. I see three reasons for an anchor. 1. Quick stops, for lunch etc. We have stopped in Blue Anchor bay and Minehead on the trip from Cardiff to Watchet. If I have a kedge on my next boat I would think of using that, as the water is normally quite shallow and it is slack tide. 2. Overnighting, most people will know the depth and conditions they expect in any anchorage they a likely to use. With these figure you can decide how much chain/rope you will need. 3. Emergency, in most cases the overnighting anchor is suitable for this. While in France a very good sailor showed me his procedure for emergency anchoring. He carried a kedge in a cockpit locker and at the first sign of a problem he would take the end of the rode to the bow and secure it. If the situation required an anchor he would drop it from the cockpit. His thought was that this is instant and it would buy time to sort the problem or allow the time to go forward and deploy the main anchor. This may include adding some extra length to the rode if the depth required it. I should add that where we sailed the tidal conditions were similar to the BC.
Allan
 
I guess our problem is that this is our first boat that we are likely to overnight in. I'm really not concerned about a lunchbreak. Having not much experience of the Bristol Channel, either, apart from a couple of seasons diving off the Gower over 10 years back.

I guess I will probably err on the side of caution and end up with too much chain - I can always leave some ashore if it is not needed. Rather that than find out at 3am one morning that I should have brought more....
 
Some years ago I aquired two 100m lengths of nylon rope (ex-MOD) I always carry these on the boat. My thought is they could be used to tow or be towed and I could add them to the anchor rode if required. So far they have not been needed but I would always carry something similar.
Allan
 
NB nylon rope was thought to degrade with time, whether or not it had been used. I am not up-to-date on the subject, but bear in mind that the breaking strain may be a lot less than when it was first manufactured. The last time I was involved in purchasing/maintaining safety equipment (for climbing), we worked on a 4 year life in storage while the manufacturers were doing long-term testing.
 
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