Proper way to mark anchor chain?

[coachone]

I have bought some rubber markers that fit into the links of my anchor chain so that I can gauge the amount of chain let out as it goes over the bow.The coloured markers are red, yellow green and blue.Is there a convention as to the intervals and order the colours are used?
I've looked in the normal manuals and can find no information.
I have 40m of chain.

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[arran]

Forgive my ignorance, but what happens if you have to measure your anchor chain in the dark? If you're using coloured markers isn't this going to be a problem?

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[coachone]

I'll use one of those torches that strap onto your head!

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[LadyInBed]

You could use the colour code as used in electrical resistance /forums/images/icons/mad.gif

The acronym for it that I know is definitely non pc

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[trojan]

We mark our anchor cable in red paint every 5 meters. 1st 5 meters paint one link, 2nd 5 meters paint 2 links and so on. Of course there will come a point when you find you are painting all the cable but if you are carrying that much chain you will have sunk with the weight.

Trojan

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[Rowana]

I also know the non PC version, but here's one that is PC -
Bye Bye Rosie, On You Go to Birmingham Via Great Western.
Black Brown Red Orange Yellow Green Blue Violet Grey White
0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9

Jim


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[tome]

Better way is to use 2 colours, say red and white. Use white for 10m marks and mark 5m between each in red

1st 5m three red links
10m one white link
15m three red links
20m two white links
etc

Works for me. Don't see that the plastic inserts will last very long!

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[claymore]

It really doesn't matter as long as you know what each colour means. I have a small piece of laminated card in my wheelhouse which tells me that the red mark = 10m, the blue =20m, the yellow=30m, the green=40m and I have 50m of chain.

As far as colour goes, I've never anchored in darkness so black that I cannot see the colour, but even if I did, you normally count out the bands you've seen go over the roller. I normally lay 10 or 20m of chain out on deck anyway and then feed it over the roller which is a far more effective anchoring practice than feeding it out once you've found the spot where you want to anchor. In deep water this could take too long, especially when it's windy and you are being blown back - perhaps towards the shore.

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Claymore
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[snooks]

What ever you do....

Whichever way you do mark the chain, get a big black marker and write a legend under the fore hatch of the anchor locker

That way you don't have to remember it, and anyone lowering the anchor with have the info they need in front of them. You could also fit a clip for a pair of old gardening gloves under there as well, to save yer fingers, from that cold muddy chain

It might also be worth painting the chain in case the rubber things fall out!! I don't know whether they will, but it will save you measuring again

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[claymore]

Gloves

Are great for preventing jellie stings.
If you are kitting out the locker then put a bucket on a lanyard and a brush to swill/scrub the mud off the chain - particularly your nice new colourful markers!

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Claymore
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[Guest]

May not be proper, but I used canned spray paint (fluor red, fluor yellow and fluor blue), painting single and multiple bands about a link long, using the easy sequence "red - white - blue" (couldn't buy a fluor white). 5m RYB, 10m R, 20m RR, 30m Y, 40m YY, 50m B, 60m BB and 5m before bitter end RYB. Did this five years ago, will probably renew this year for first time. Reasonably visible in near darkness, altho we have deck lights if needed.

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[tcm]

ooer. That can't be the "proper" way, can it?

Surely the correct sequence would be that 10+ is in red, 20+ in yellow, 30+ in green, 40+ in brown, 50+ in blue, 60+ in [ink and 70+ in unpainted (black). The way claymore has done is it four points away and a deliberate "Miss" so I think he should do it all again and then again another time.

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[Cornishman]

There is no "proper" way of marking the chain. Ship's chains are marked at Shackle lengths (1 shackle = 15 fathoms = about 27m) so that's no use.

I offer this as a simple way without resorting to mnemonics, labels tacked to the forehatch, etc. At each interval (say 5m) mark 2 links, leaving a number of unmarked links to be multiplied by 5 between them.
Example: marked link -3 unmarked links-marked link = 15m.

I paint the two links using machinery paint which lasts about a season of fairly regular anchoring, which is probably longer than your fancy plastic markers.

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[claymore]

As long as I sing a shanty to myself - "Red and yellow and pink and green, Orange and purple and blue - I can sing a rainbow etc - it really doesn't matter for now as "proper" doesn't come into it.
When Jimi has been appointed 'Yachtmaster-General' and we move into the age of the compulsive colour disorder then we can talk about proper. Until such time is upon us, I quite rightly - in my own inimitable, yet humble manner - believe that I can mark my chain as I want.
I was using furry dice for a while interspersed with plastic tulips, daffodils and hyacinths as markers when I owned a Rib as I wanted to be a part of the MB fraternity - but I felt your tone was derisory and unhelpful to be brutally frankly honest - and I tried wearing a white shell suit and bought some of those rings with gold coins set into them and a few gold necklaces, went along to "Images" and bought myself a tan - but you never really made me feel one of you - I just never really felt accepted. Tried Morris Dancing for a while after that but kept falling off the bonnet - in the light of all of this - is 'proper' really an issue - because I've tried, My God - I've really tried.

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Claymore
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[tcm]

Note sure if you have the right seashanty: try using the acronym Raggies Bullshit Yachmaster in Gaelic to remeber your colour coding.

Meanwhile if you can forward photographic evidence I will urgently take up the matter of your dreadful treament at the hands of stinkies. Mind you, the regalia sounds more Essex that Glasgow, and you should what sticklers we are for protocol.

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[Gunfleet]

We may have furry dice but we don't have some twat in a peaked cap presenting a bill every time we put the anchor down. Perhaps that's why these boys in Glasgow have adopted the insignia.

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[vyv_cox]

Re: What ever you do....

Agree with all you say - that's just what we do, although as Claymore indicates, the wearing of gloves is as much to do with jelly fish stings as cold mud.

I bought two sets of the rubber things last Thursday at HISWA. I'm told the problem is more getting them in than them falling out. Seems heating them up in hot water is recommended. I shall follow my convention of one white for 10, 2 for 20, etc up to 50, where I start again at one. Even we can recognise if we have lowered 10 or 50 metres. All 5 metres between get one red. The rubber things will go in as well as the existing paint, so we should be good for a few seasons.

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[jimi]

Whatever you do....

Get an electric windlass .. that'll save the hands! Men of your advanced years should be careful of damaging yourselves with undue effort. Then you can get a wee meter thingie (techie term) that'll tell how much chain you've laid.

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[snooks]

Great till yer power goes! ;-)

Windlasses are all fair and well until yer power goes AWOL or a fuse blows...They're handy but shouldn't be relied upon, because that's when you'll need the gloves!

The gloves can be used for lifting the anchor back to the locker/deck stowage, unless you leave it on the bow roller.

I find it easier to flake the chain on deck and let it out that way. It gives you a visual idea of how much you've let out after the anchor has hold, and it's also quicker to set, once you've found yer spot



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[snowleopard]

cheapskates rule ok

tried the cable tie method- 1 at 10m, 2 at 20m etc.

didn't think they'd last long going over an electric windlass. replaced the first one after 6 months almost daily use!

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