anchor rode and chain

[Rockter]

About a decade ago, I fitted about 200 ft of anchor chain to my olde 35 lb CQR.
I have grown a little tired of the bow being "down" and the ship being bow heavy and tending to nod more than it should.....

Image of At Cairnbaan, Crinan Canal - Photobucket - Video and Image Hosting

I searched the garage this afternoon and found the old rode... about 200 ft of it.... but I cannot find the chain as yet.

I anchor very rarely indeed.... once in the last 10 years, and so far, not in anger. There is no windlass and the chain was very difficult to retrieve (as it should be, I suppose).

Right now the ship is in the Caledonian Canal, and anchoring will be rare. A motor failure in high winds may be one occasion when it might be needed. Where possible to anchor, the water is normally shallow... perhaps 20 ft. Elsewhere, it's too deep to anchor anyway.

I just want some chain to hold the rode down. If I remember there was about 25 ft on there at one point.

What would you recommend?

Thanks.

Rockter.

[Brezzin]

A boat lenth of chain would be sufficient.

[Rockter]

Brezzin...

Thanks.
So, 36 ft then.
It will certainly be lighter than 200 ft.

[MedSailor]

Have you considered just adding more weight to the stern?

I agree, conventional wisdom states that a boat length of chain is sufficient. You may also be able to get by with a little less and also be able to pull up the entire rode and anchor by hand, if you desire this feature.

Concerning your not being able to find the shorter chain, if you take your current 200ft of chain to a friendly marine shop that sells chain they will have a chain cutter there that you can use to make yours to size. Although, hauling 200ft of chain around doesn't sound much more fun than spending the time with the hacksaw on deck.

Fair Winds

MedSailor

[Craig Smith]

Chain, Rope, and Catenary - Anchor Systems For Small Boats

[JohnRPollard]

Rockter, I would think for your purposes and in the depths you're talking about, you could even get away with a half-boat length of heavier chain. I wouldn't want to set off on a distant cruise with that arrangement, but it should be okay for emergency purposes if the engine dies unexpectedly.



Craig, How are you? Where have you been, we've been calling you:

http://www.sailnet.com/forums/gear-m...-anchor-8.html

[Rockter]

Thanks for the advice and the links.

[MABON01]

How about 30-40' of chain and backing it with 200 - 300' of 1/2 or 5/8 3 strand? Been on Lake Michigan for 20+ years and a boat length of chain and 7-10 lenghts of depth have kept things happy. Crewed 30-70' and now have a 26' all my own.

Hope this helps
Nik.

[Brezzin]

Criaig- The web page you referenced in your post. You lost me here.

In fact, we shall see that catenary rarely offers much benefit which is truly worthwhile, and the weight of the chain (weight bearing heavily on the minds of any boater) is often far better invested in other elements of the anchoring system.

How can the catenary effect not be worthwhile. I'm not agreeing with you or disagreeing with you I just don't get it. My thinking is that if you have insufficient scope then you have no cantenary effect. But even if your 3 or 5 to 1 initial pressure on the boat and the cantenary effect of the chain will put less pressure on the anchor. I will admit that I didn't the whole web page simply because I don't need the sleep right now. Can you explain?

EDIT: I currently own and am pleased with a Rocna 40

[sailingdog]

Brezzin-

When the boat is anchored out in storm conditions, the wind is usually such that an all-chain rode would be stretched taut, meaning that there is no catenary curve to the rode. A combination rope-chain rode will not shock load the boat or anchor as much since the nylon portion of the rode will stretch quite a bit. The all-chain will shock load the fittings on the boat, and the shockloading may cause the anchor to break out of the bottom.