How do you mark your anchor rode?

[s/v Jedi]

Originally Posted by Sailing Drummer

I too use zip ties - in 25' sections. One for 25', two for 50' etc. After 100 I go back to one zip tie then two etc. But I also have one yellow zip tie at 15'. When not in clear water I like to know just when the anchor is touching bottom. I usually try to anchor in 8-12' at low tide. So I can roughly calculate where the yellow zip tie should be when the anchor starts to touch the bottom - i.e. on the roller, a foot behind the roller, at the water line etc. Then I can fall back knowing the anchor will not have chain piled on top of it. Of course, if I'm in water like the Bahamas I just look down and can see when it touches!

Larry

Sounds like you use "electric-down" on the windlass. Much better to use the clutch and let the anchor put a good dent in the seabed so that it digs in better. Also, it drastically reduces the time to get the anchor down which is very helpful in high wind/current or cramped conditions

[LongRange]

Osculati chain markers

They stay put through heavy windlass use, and if necessary they can be removed and reused years later.

[Sailing Drummer]

Originally Posted by s/v Jedi

Sounds like you use "electric-down" on the windlass. Much better to use the clutch and let the anchor put a good dent in the seabed so that it digs in better. Also, it drastically reduces the time to get the anchor down which is very helpful in high wind/current or cramped conditions

I do use the electric down. But that's one of the many things on my list to fix! The clutch does not work as it should, even though I've cleaned and greased it. Plan on taking it apart, again, when we get back to the Chesapeake, and try again.
Larry

[Lambretta]

Originally Posted by LongRange

Osculati chain markers

They stay put through heavy windlass use, and if necessary they can be removed and reused years later.

I always like the look and functionality of these chain markers ...... but have been concerned how they handle wear and tear. Would you mind sharing your personal experience with them. How long have you been using them etc.
Thanks

[daletournier]

Originally Posted by Lambretta

I always like the look and functionality of these chain markers ...... but have been concerned how they handle wear and tear. Would you mind sharing your personal experience with them. How long have you been using them etc.
Thanks

My experience is they eventually fall out. I anchor everyday. I use zip ties, easy to replace when needed. I found that paint didn't last. The best I found was sewing on webbing, lasts for a very long time but quite time consuming to do. I'm just testing ribbon tied on at the moment.

[thinwater]

Originally Posted by s/v Jedi

... Much better to use the clutch and let the anchor put a good dent in the seabed so that it digs in better....

Unless the anchor falls point first--which it does not--I can't see that making any sense at all. When you tip the anchor over, there will be a dent behind it.



If a pile of chain falls on top of the anchor, any anchor can foul. Better to lower the anchor slowly, without piling chain on it.



I don't see how this advice is sound, but I invite a rational explanation. I can think of a few reasons why lowering more quickly has benefits. However, many people anchor in relatively shallow water (less than 15 feet) were powering down until the anchor touches makes a lot of sense, for control reasons.


I always marked the chain, but at night I would often just count the time. Very easy.

[LongRange]

Originally Posted by Lambretta

I always like the look and functionality of these chain markers ...... but have been concerned how they handle wear and tear. Would you mind sharing your personal experience with them. How long have you been using them etc.
Thanks

Last year I spent 6 months living on the boat in the Med, and we used the anchor just about every night. Throughout that time I don't think we lost even a single marker.

The chain came with perhaps a dozen of those markers in place, and I removed all of them when I replaced the chain at one point. That required a bit of gentle persuading with a flat-bladed screwdriver, but despite being seemingly years old the reused markers were fine on the new chain.

There is a bit of technique involved. The markers have to be massaged into place to ensure they are not subtly bent. If that 'massage' is skipped, and the markers are simply pushed into a link without checking their proper seating, I imagine they might fall out more easily.

One disadvantage I found is that they are completely invisible if the particular link happens to be oriented inline with the plane of vision. A single marker thus stands a decent chance of being missed, even in daylight. It takes multiple markers close together to ensure visibility, and I tend to use 5 at a time to mark 10m, 20m, 30m, ...

My chain is 10mm DIN766 - very short 48mm links - and perhaps the markers may fall out more readily with proportionally longer links. In this chain I consider them neat, effective, and reliable.

[alaskanviking]

I looked through tons of forums and websites doing reseach for my new rode. in the end i experimented a little and several things seemed to have worked well. 42ft cutter, new Maxwell windlass replacing and old Nillsson. Anchor is a new Mantus 105lb, Rode is 100ft 5/16" G8 chain with 600ft of 5/8" brait. everything is oversized a bit, anticipating heavy winds and deep anchorages in the PNW.

First regular spray paint will not work on galvanized steel. it will come off eventually, as it does not chemically adhere completely to the metal. Solution is to use latex acrylic paint, as its the only one that will adhere to galvanized. house paint at home depot/lowes is correct but you have to be really cautious and verify the chemistry of the paint. Enamel will not work, but to confuse things they sometimes call the latex acrylic enamel, so you really have to look at the back of the can. then you get to mix colors, choose paint chips with the brightest colors. in general i found this isnt that cheap ~$50+ depending on the paint you choose. The big box stores can play games here unfortunately. you dont need more than a pint for each color, they sell quarts and gallons. they also sell empty small cans, but they will not split a 1 gallon can into them. the gallon is only $40 but the quarts can be $20 or more a can, which pretty much rules out thier premium paint with the most UV and wear resistance. they also have little sample containers that they will mix up for you, but its an interior paint, without all the UV and outdoor protection. very frustrating! In the end I found one of thier cheaper outdoor paints in quarts, and sucked it up for $60 or so.

Color scheme - Go Rub Your Body With Grease - Green, Red, Yellow, Blue, White, Green. this is US Navy color codes and works well. the saying is easy to remember, so you dont forget on your first spring trip out. Unfortunately more colors + more money.

Eventually I want an anchor counter, and made sure I installed the sensor for when i do so. However i prefer some redundancy in this type of endevour. As I had a 700ft rode, even using the color code, its possible to lose your place and confuse yourself on how much is out, especially once your in the brait. so following the example from another forum, I used a two color system using the GRYBWG scheme. first color is the number of hundreds out, the second color is 20ft incriments within that hundred.

on the chain I painted ~12'' of the first color followed by 12" of the second (I may add chain later). so green/red, green/yellow, green/blue/ green/white, and at the 100ft mark red/green. i put 4 colored zip ties on both ends of each color (so 4 spots per painted mark). i also painted a 5ft section of yellow centered on the 8ft mark from the anchor. and then i put yellow zip ties every 3 or few links in every direction. this looks like a long yellow porkupine. I have a 6.5' draft so when i see this yellow section, the anchor is right under the boat. becuase my windlass is a bit quick this mark lets me know to SLOW down, and prevent dings in my bow.

i saw another foum that suggested tying colored parachute cord or small webbing to the chain and interlacing it through the links. i did not do this, but in theory it is sound and would work. i didnt becuase in reality the section of chain comes up all muddy, and you cant really see the color of line, color of paint or zipties well, especially at night. the cord tends to trapp more mud inbetween the links. the same reason i didnt get the little colored plastic/rubber depth marks that insall inside the links. the zipties seemed to be the most important part of the chain marking as even in mud I can still the tie sticking out, regardless if i can see the color. I can see the the color of paint once ive sprayed it off, i dont think weaved cord would be the same.

for the brait I purchased a 1000 piece bag of the small colored zipties for each color. they were cheap, but let me assure you that you do not need 1000 zipties. maybe I used 100-200 of each color tops. white on the other hand I use all over the boat, electrical plumbing ect. maybe i can color code my wire ties for AC, DC ect. at his point i have a life time supply of zipties and anchor paint. another bit of advise i got from a forum is to use parachute cord or other small colored cord for the chain and brait.

so i took a sharpie and measuered and marked 100ft on the dock and 20ft incriments. then for each section of 100 ft i marked the line at those marks. put my colored zipties and parachute cord at thier respective stations. ~ 1"-1.5" from the mark i tied a clove hitch with the appropriate color cord. on the far side of the mark i tied 2-3 more half hitches then brought the end over the clove hitch tward the mark. on the mark side of the clove hitch i took that end of the line and tied 2-3 half hitches over the other end.
now i took a swedish fid and pushed it through the mark. i pulled one end of the cord through the line and the other end through the opposite way. work the brait to tighten it around the cord ends.

i followed through with the second color the exact same way on the other side of the mark , except i ran the ends through at the mark in the opposite direction to kin of lock things. Now i put he swedish fid through the brait about 1" from each knot of cord farthest from the mark. i ran two of the corect color zip ties through and zipped them up. i put two more the opposite direction. this was also done on both sides of the mark.

end result is for every 20ft there is 4 zip ties of the first color followed by a knot of parachute cord also the first color(there are diffrent sizes of cord i went for smaller), followed by 4 cord tails, followed by a knot of cord of the second color, and then 4 more zip ties of the second color. for the 100ft marks i used 2 sets of knots and wire ties, on both sides of the mark. the zipties are not cut or trimmed. the tail ends were trimmed to the same length as the zip ties and melted to prevent unraveling. the brait was milked/tightened around the zipties and cords to make sure things dont come apart.

for the last 100ft of brait, I put a 3ft section of yellow zip ties every few inches going in every direction. and another 3 ft section of red before the end. in theory i should never see these marks, they are there as warning that im almost to the end. i spliced an soft eye on the end. i then spliced a 1/2" amsteel penant to the brait and sized the pennant so that the end of the brait was ~6-8" in front of the windlass. Aproximately a 10-15' pennant. becuase its amsteel i can take apart that splice to remove the rode, and resplice it back together. 1/2" amsteel runs through my windlass no problem. the chain locker side of the pennant also has a spliced eye, and i made a soft shackle from the 1/2" amsteel to connect the pennant to the rode eye in the chain locker. in an emergency i can cut the pennant without damaging my rode. amsteel is fairly cheap and far easier to splice than the brait while its strong enough to hold the rode (unlike 3 strand). like any rode you dont want sudden shocks to the end, in an attempt to tear out your anchor locker.

I know this may sound complicated, however in reality, marking the brait took a couple hours on a saturday for 2 adults and 12 year old. it was really quick and easy. likewise the system works well. In reality in use we just look for the 20ft marks to go out for line measurements, making this part really fast. if anything i would say even using one color every 2oft would work well. After I stop putting out rode, I can double check using the two color code, the "go rub your body with grease" is easy to remember later, so 5 years from now this will still be easy. being able to fairly accurately check my length of rode was worth the hassle of marking the rode, although truthfully that wasnt much of a hassel as i was putting together a new rode. i dont know if this would be as easy on an old rode. getting the correct color paint, zipties, and parachute cord was the biggest issues.

V/R

Robert