Questions about anchor chain?

[Greenheart]

Thanks Vyv. I've used my little 2kg danforth to hold a 300kg boat at sea using nothing more than rope, but I'd somehow persuaded myself that chain was a seamanlike essential.

Given my dinghy's feeling of readiness to roll over in any kind of swell, I doubt I'd ever need heavy gear, but it's still a leap to accept that catenary isn't basic to secure anchoring.

Plus, a long tangle of warp is no more welcome in the boat than a few extra kilos of chain. I reckon I'll get five meters of 6mm chain, 20m of line, and continue to delude myself...

 

[KellysEye]

>to which a certain poster advised that I needed 250 metres of chain, we sat for four or five days in winds reaching 42 knots or maybe more.

Sorry I multiplied by 100 not the 10 I meant to. With 35 metres of chain out that's more than the 10 x depth I would normally use at that depth but with the wind speed you mentioned it was right to do, I would have put more out or a second anchor.

 

[ropeysailer]

Three or four anchor chain failures per year are reported or come up in forums and most seem to be well rusted ones.

. I had an anchor chain break a couple of years ago. The chain, although 2 years old, had been in use for 8 weeks therefore no corrosion. It was sourced in Europe not the Far East. Weather conditions in the bay were quite light winds with a moderate swell as a result of stronger winds out to sea. I had about 30 metres of chain out in about 2m depth with a line ashore. We did recover the chain, anchor and broken link and the fault identified as a faulty weld and the complete chain was replaced FOC.

Very useful thread, I didn't realise how much I didn't know!

 

[vyv_cox]

. We did recover the chain, anchor and broken link and the fault identified as a faulty weld and the complete chain was replaced FOC.

When I tested chain for a YM article in 2011 one of my samples appeared somewhat unusual. The welds were very short but otherwise looked OK. The chain failed at something over 2 tons, well under minimum specified figure. Later, I carried out my bend test (on the website) on all samples. The ones with bad welds all broke open when bent 90 degrees.

Here's the one with the bad weld. I recommend this test, easy to do and only requires one link.