Anchor chain needed. 25ft boat BC west coast

[istion]

This summer first time placing my catalina 250 wk into the ocean. Used to lakes so need some adjustments...

What chain length size for a 25ft, 6000 lb boat do I need for BC west coast.

Stern rope suggestions, good length, type?

Good places to purchase.

[GordMay]

Greetings and welcome aboard the CF, istion.

Minimum anchor rode size, for your boat would be: 1/4" - 5/16" PC chain, and 3/8" - 7/16" nylon rope.

[chris mac]

Welcome to cf from a fellow canadian[emoji16]
If you plan to explore the gulf islands, I would recomend a stern line long enough to double back to the boat. I know they make reels for it as well.
On Wallace island there is a great place to go, but very narrow. You have to anchor and stern tie to rings in the shore wall.( I think it's called princess cove)
For your main anchor, you will want some chain at the anchor for weight and chafe against rock, but nylon after that makes it much easier to retrieve. (I'm assuming no windlass on a c-25)
Enjoy the bc coast, I've chartered there twice and loved it.

[istion]

Thanks!! Sooo excited/nervous. Thinking 300 ft stern. Does this sound right?

[canyonbat]

We did 400 ft of stern line on our Seaward 25 and it was barely enough. The problem is, the wind is never blowing toward the shore so, once you drop your main anchor, your boat swings either sideways or directly away from the point you want to tie your stern. It is really difficult for even an experienced helmsman to keep the stern pointed to the shore while someone rows over, loops the line through the ring or around a tree then rows back. There are some all aluminum hose reels on amazon that work well for storing and deploying the line.

[NewMoon]

For your main anchor I'd suggest at least 25' 1/4" HT chain and at least 250' 7/16" or 1/2" rope. Our 26 footer cruised the Inside Passage for many years with 40' 1/4" chain and 250-300' 1/2" rope, always adequate even in fairly deep anchorages (50-60 feet) and considerable wind.

[hamburking]

Originally Posted by chris mac

Welcome to cf from a fellow canadian[emoji16]
If you plan to explore the gulf islands, I would recomend a stern line long enough to double back to the boat.

AGREE.... I sailed a C&C25 in the thousand islands region of Lake Ontario. Us locals know the location of many steel rings located on park islands that allow a stern line to bring you into shore once anchored. I carried 200 feet of 1/2 inch nylon braid for this purpose, and it worked well. Doubling back to the boat makes leaving simple and safe, especially when sailing solo (or with kids).

FWIW, my main anchor rode was 10 feet of HEAVY chain with 150 feet of 1/2 inch nylon. Being a small boat with no anchor locker or bow roller, it was all kept in a laundry basket (which I called my anchor locker), kept in the cockpit lockers, along with a 7.5 kg bruce and 10 kg spade anchor (aka kingston plow). Although the bruce never dragged, I would have slept better with a 10kg bruce, which is massive overkill for a 25 foot sailboat.

I also carried a 5kg bruce on 200 feet of 3/8 nylon 3 strand twist (and 6 feet of chain) as a lunch hook...which was likely the correct size as a "main" anchor on a 25 foot sailboat. It was a breeze to setup and retrieve.

Yes, I like anchors, rodes, and anchoring very much. Pulling up a big anchor by hand, several times a day, is a great way to get impressive "popeye" arms.

[nwdiver]

Stern line of 300 foot is fine, I have a bigger boat but use a simple technique, drop bow anchor , someone rows ashore and ties off stern line I pull boat into position then they bring the end back to the boat after everything has calmed down, I’m never more than 125 feet from the shore tie off point......

[canyonbat]

Another suggestion, have a hard shell dinghy. Some places, like Predeau Haven for instance, have nasty oyster shells below the tie off rings that will slice through an inflatable dinghy in a second. Don’t ask me how I know....

[TrentePieds]

Hallo Istion and welcome :-)

As others have indicated anchoring in the waters you can comfortably reach in a 25 footer out of Vancouver, or even by towing on a trailer to various launching points such as Comox or Powell River, involves some tricks of the trade you will find more essential here than they are elsewhere.

To what degree you need to employ these tricks depends where you go. Codfish Cove requires a different approach from, say, Buccaneer Bay. Doing an overnight in the month of August is a different kettle of fish from doing it in March. But we can come back to those things once you are ready to "get your feet wet".

In my 12K lbs pilot house job with roller furling, Head and Main, and therefore with lots of windage, I have not yet been let down by my antique 22lb Bruce anchor on 40 feet of 5/16" chain and 200 feet of 7/16 rope. This gear serves as my Bower, shipping in a very satisfactory way on a stem roller, and therefore always ready for instant use. I have a "Fortress" with 250 feet of 5/16" rope (no chain) for a sheet anchor. The rode can obviously be taken ashore for a stern line to preclude swing. This lot stows in a cockpit locker. This amount of gear is IMO minimal for my boat and MY PURPOSES.

I capitalize "my purposes" because much depends, as I said, on just where you anchor, and on this coast you can, to some degree, pick you spot to suit your gear rather than the other way about. Nor are you ever more than a couple of hours away from a marina or other hidey-hole.

If your sailing has been done in the lakes you'll have to learn to deal with our having 15 foot (or more) rise and fall of tide. So think about this: I have a 4'9' draft, so I count it as 5 feet. I like to have 5 feet under me at low low water. From my stem roller to the water line is 4 feet, so I count that as five. If I anchor at low low, and expect (from the tide tables) a rise of 15 Feet, the total depth to use for the calculation of scope is 5+5+5+15 = 30 feet.

As you probably know the rule of thumb for "scope" (length of rode out) is 1) for a "lunch stop: 3 times, 2) for an "overnighter" in calm conditions: 5 times, and 3) an "overnighter" in blowey conditions: 7 times. So you should be able to payout from your stem roller, or your chock at the stem head, if required 30 x 7 = 210 feet of chain and rope combined. This will see you through safe enuff until you get some experience. Remember that as you swing on wind and tide, the circle around you that you need to keep clear, is roughly 2 x 210 = 400 feet in diameter, and ALL your neighbours need to do the same thing. Not all boats swing the same so in practice you need think in terms of a "safety zone" all around you of more than 400 feet at low low water. In aforementioned Codfish Cove you most certainly cannot do that, and this is where taking a line ashore to obliterate the swing comes into play. When everybody does that, you can pack the boats in with only a boat length between them if you have to.

We cannot tell you in detail how to handle your anchoring in your boat. I've said what I said only to encourage you to think along certain lines that will get you off to a good start and keep you safe for now.

So good luck with it all and don't hesitate to come back with specific questions.

TrentePieds

[01kiwijohn]

Originally Posted by istion

This summer first time placing my catalina 250 wk into the ocean. Used to lakes so need some adjustments...

What chain length size for a 25ft, 6000 lb boat do I need for BC west coast.

Stern rope suggestions, good length, type?

Good places to purchase.

I've spent about 20 odd years cruising that area, anchoring over 100 nights per year. My first boat was not much bigger than yours. Here's what I'd do:
Your boat is light so you'll want to minimize weight up front. I'd go for 30 feet of 5/16 chain, not so much for strength as for keeping the hook laid down. This will weight about 30 pounds.
Onto that, splice on 250 feet of 1/2 inch three strand nylon. (Most anchorages will be about 30 odd feet deep, so you'll typically deploy about 150 feet) Having no windlass, it needs to be big enough to easily grip in your hand. This will have adequate elasticity to minimize shock loads in bad weather.
Stern line length is dictated by anchorage environment, not boat size. Ultimately, I ended up with 400 feet of 3/8 inch braided polpy-pro line. It floats, is long enough to go "round trip and spools onto a regular garden hose reel. Take along some lengths of line you're prepared to sacrifice, in case you have to make your own shore-side tie ring.
Have a great trip.

[Scorpius]

Originally Posted by canyonbat

Another suggestion, have a hard shell dinghy. Some places, like Predeau Haven for instance, have nasty oyster shells below the tie off rings that will slice through an inflatable dinghy in a second. Don’t ask me how I know....

Yup. Lots of the very best anchorages have oyster covered beaches that just DESTROY inflatables. Just barnacles and rocks do a pretty good job too.

One trick for settng a shore line is to send the crew ashore with the shore line and have them bring it to the mother ship as she is setting her main anchor facing away from the shore. That way you can get the line on before the mother ship swings away. Do this with the shore line single for maximum reach, then double it up at your leisure later.

[istion]

I am awed by the amount of information shared here. Thank You Everyone!!

Wonder if the locals could mention good paces to launch from- will be leaving from Calgary.

[TrentePieds]

Istion:

Well, if you are coming from Calgary, you'll (presumably) be hauling the boat on a trailer.

Your first concern will be getting over the mountains. Are you sure your vehicle is up to it? You'll be hauling at least 8K lbs on some very long and steep grades. Up is not so bad, but mind that your trailer brakes are up to the task of coming down hill. The down-grade on the Coquihalla Highway from the summit down to the town of Hope in never-ending, and if you burn out your brakes, you are NOT going to be going sailing!

Recommendations as to launching sites are almost impossible to make because once you are "on the coast" you will find that distances are greater than you expect. Just to motor from the east end of Vancouver's harbour (Port Moody, where there is a launching ramp) to the bell buoy at the west end of English Bay in preparation for crossing the Straits may well take you three hours!

You could launch at Shelter Island on "the river". If you do that on the freshet in May/June you'll certainly get out into the Straits, but you may not be able to drive the boat back up to SI against the flow of the river.

There was a reply from one of our friends in Madeira Park. MP is absolutely lovely, and AFAIR there is a ramp there. But you cannot get there by land except by taking a ferry and driving a bucha more miles. In TP I like to take two days from WV to MP. On "the Island" there are ramps all along the Straits from Pedder Bay in the south to Port Hardy in the north. Except north of Campbell river, of course. There, there is nothing. Not even cell phone reception :-) By road the distance from Pedder Bay to Port Hardy is something like 400KM. By boat following the shore (more or less) is at least 300NM. Some of it in water that can be pretty tricky if your usual vessel is a prairie schooner :-)!

We live near Chilliwack in “the Valley” and used to keep the boat at West Vancouver Marina, just in behind Point Atkinson. We now keep her on “the Island” because it is a better deal for us to drive to the ferry at Tsawwassen, cross to Duke Point at Nanaimo, and then drive to the boat, than it is to cross the Straits in the boat in order to get to the Gulf Islands. Crossing in TP from WV to, say, Porlier pass takes about 6 hours and is utterly boring, except if it comes on to blow. Then it begins to resemble work – the kind you have to pay me to engage in :-)! Whether we use the ferry or the boat out of WV, the total time to travel from C'wack to, say, Montague Harbour is about the same.

So all in all, I recommend highly that you define just where you wish to do your sailing. And that you develop – as all serious sailers do - a “cruising plan” that permits you to think through in the abstract what your itinerary will have to be given anticipated travel times and the key times at which you will have to be at certain positions in order to manage the tidal flows which in some places, even in the Gulf Islands, can be up to 6 knots. In the Broughtons they are even stronger. Obviously, in a 4 knot boat those kinds of things have to be considered.

Anyway – DO make a Cruising Plan, and run it by us! I'll guarantee you, you'll get LOTS of advice. I also guarantee you that you'll get lotsa useful help :-)!

All the best,
TrentePieds.

[istion]

Actually, will be taking highway 3. As for cruising plan, any idea what forum to post to? Seemed none quite fit