Marking nylon anchor warp (octoplait), etc.

[Anonymous]

I am presently servicing my ground tackle and splicing nylon onto my existing chain to get a better scope without the extra weight of chain. What is the best way to mark lengths along nylon anchor octoplait? I have considered self-amalgamating tape but discounted cable ties (potential for chafe and risk of sharp corners on hands) and any sort of paint (chemical weakening of warp).

Secondly, I think I asked a while back but did not get a perfect answer, my 50m chain is presently marked at 5m intervals with quite long red marks. I would like to know how many 5m sections of rode are actually out. Keeping a log of what has gone out is not very reliable (esp. in the dark, or when you forget how many are already out). Years ago my father solved the problem by using the resistor colour code and that works fine but you do need a lot of colours - i.e. a lot of pots of Humbrol 'enamel'. I have three pots of Humbrol - Red, White and Blue - any suggestions how best I can mark the chain using only those colours, or a reasonable number, or any other marking system? Maybe mark the length in the base 3? Bit clumsy and difficult for non-scientific crew, perhaps?

Many thanks

 

[Ships_Cat]

With respect to the chain part of the cable ours, which is 75 m long, is marked off with paint with each mark being a single colour - first bar around 400mm long at 20m and every 10m thereafter to 60 m. The first bar (at 20 m) is white and we find that a good choice, both from the point of view of visibility and position.

I suggest sticking to light colours as one of our marks is black and without light it is difficult to see in the dark. Last mark at 60 m is orange - a kind of warning that the end is nigh. There is a laminated list of colour versus length fixed so can be viewed through the forepeak hatch.

We just use house type enamel and find that ideally the bars need repainting quite frequently and the main culprit is the gypsy for knocking the paint off. 2 pot epoxies last better but it becomes expensive buying 5 different colours of that, even in the small packs.

I have yet to find anything better for our case of a tight drop into a tight hawse under the gypsy (as Maxwell vertical windlass) as non painted markers just get ripped off or precipitate a jam. A bigger hawse and less close entry off the gypsy would probably be ok for tag type markers though.

Could not comment on marking a rope cable, the few times I use it I judge the length veered by the number of loops run out or if in a bin (we use a super sized plastic rubbish bin in the forepeak) by the volume gone.

John

 

[Coppershield]

What is octoplait ?

Good morning David, /forums/images/graemlins/smile.gif
what is octoplait? I have just wrote you a post , but somehow it did not post it . so I'll try to do it again tomorrow.
Thanks .
Muzaffer

 

[jerryat]

Hi Lemain,

We mark our multiplait every ten metres using ordinary 'permanent marker pen' ink. Whilst this sounds like a short term method, because ours is spliced to 50 metres of chain, it seldon gets wet, but the makings do last well!! However, the spare 50m length is used a fair bit for a variety of things and the markings (one at ten metres, two at twenty etc) last at least a season. No good at night though!

With chain, we push short lengths of narrow nylon webbing through the links at the appropriate places, fold them together and stitch them as tight as possible to the link. Again, similar markings, and this set-up passes smoothly over the chain gypsy of the windlass. Despite scores of anchorings in our travels, we have only had to replace one. When they get dirty (as they do!) they are easily washed to restore most of the colour. obviously, this is ideal for nightime anchoring as you can feel the tabs without cutting or scratching your hands.

Hope this helps

Cheers Jerry

 

[Talbot]

Re: What is octoplait ?

Octoplait is a type of rope used in europe. It has 8 strands which are loosely woven together. The advantage of it is that it is much much easier to handle. It is very flexible, yet does not have a tendency to unwind. It doesnt kink and it is very easy to coil. It is excellent as anchor cable and as mooring rope. It splices well onto chain with a resulting splice that is strong yet can go through a chain/rope gypsy. Splicing instructions are here
and it looks like

 

[snowleopard]

permanent felt tip works fine but does need to be renewed annually on the bit that often comes out of the locker. 1 narrow band for 10m, a wide one for 50m and red for the last one.

one of the mail order novelty outfits sells rubber inserts for chain but i find that cable ties, loosely tied, last an amazingly long time considering we have an electric windlass and as i bought 1000 of the smallest size from screwfix i'll never run out.

in ptactice, having only 22m of chain, i always put all of it out so the markings are academic.

 

[Krusty]

We mark nylon rodes with 1-inch bands of common whipping. It is easily done tight enough to compress a plaited rope and so avoid wear, less effective on 3-strand. Coloured waxed whipping-twine is available in most chandlers. e.g. Red at 10m, 2 reds at 20m, etc, with a single blue at the 5m intervals. In the dark they are easily felt as the rope is run out.

 

[whisper]

Re: What is octoplait ?

It seems not to be liked by some electric windlasses - tends to slip - so I'd recommend going to the next diameter up if you are going to use it.
As Talbot says, it is otherwise excellent.

P.S. Clicked onto your splicing link only to be told that it doesn't exist. ??

 

[snowleopard]

Re: What is octoplait ?

lofrans specifically say not to use octoplait, only 3-strand, and the hard version at that.

 

[Anonymous]

Thank you, everyone, for that very useful input. I finished the work on the anchor today and can tick that on my (still too long) To Do list.

 

[Coppershield]

Thank You Talbot

Hi Talbot,
Thank You for the picture, it was most helpful . .
Muzaffer

 

[Coppershield]

Re: Marking anchor warp for night time use

Good morning Piotaskipper,
I wrote a similar explanation as yours . last night , but unfortunately , I lost it during the posting process.
I would like to add a couple of points so the new users(boaters) will benefit from our combined experiences.
1 - by adding small rubber hose i.e. unreinforced vacuum hose in the center of three strand line at the location where the marking should be and then whipping it makes it much easier to sense the marks at night with the gloved hand.
2 - I put my first marker at 50 ft. that is because on my boat . that is the minimum amount I will put out in ideal conditions of Sea State to achieve three to one ratio.
The remaining markers are in 50 ft. intervals . number two marker will be two marks , approximately 4 in. apart . each one being approximately 1 in. long and remaining line will be marked accordingly.
A single marker will farther mark the first three positions in the midpoint of the marks for the 25 ft. positions, remaining part of the line is not marked with this 25 ft. positions because in the deeper waters . this level of accuracy is not necessary.
Above marking system is not necessary in the ordinary situations , but it is very useful for nighttime severe weather anchoring in total darkness with the gloved hands , which should be worn whenever anchoring operations are being carried out on heavy yachts.

After three years of use there were no noticeable wear on the marks,
after that , I switched to using all chain, which I use a different marking system.
If above explanations is not clear I still have the old-line I can take a picture of and posted here.
Thank You all for reading
Muzaffer

PS: from the looks of the picture inserting a small rubber hose in the middle of the octoplait line might work out just as well

 

[Anonymous]

Wearing gloves when anchoring

Hi Muzaffer, I am amazed at how few wear gloves of any sort, let alone reasonably protective gloves, when handling the ground tackle. If I forget to take them onto the foredeck I go back to get them. I use the cheapest leather gardening gloves I can buy, the yellow and blue leather ones - around £2 in bargain shops. Quite apart from the safety issue, you can handle chain and steel anchors far better with leather gloves than would be possible with bare hands - you improve the grip by factor of two. David

PS - I never did get that message you mentioned yesterday, was it an email?