Minimum chain length for the pacific

[Jimmyhenry]

We are 14m(46ft for the US readers) 15 tonnes. Ketch. We cruise Sth Pacific. Prepare for some heavy wind. And for some deep anchorages. Tonga can be very deep. We have 100m of 10mm chain and a 33kg Rocna with a 1501 Lighthouse winch. In the aft section we have 100m of 20mm three ply nylon and 30m of 10mm chain. (Kedge anchor is a 25kg Danforth) plus another heavy duty stern winch.
Make sure the winch easily matches the chain and suitable for the weight.
Rope is not suitable in coral, chain only.
There will be locations where a lee shore is inevitable. The Haapais in Tonga is one such.
I think preparation for some difficult situations is time well spent.
Pete

[dstraton]

I reckon you should have a plan for when your anchor gets snagged on a coral bommie. If you have SCUBA gear, or an underwater drone like an OpenROV, you can afford to anchor deeper where the risk of getting trapped is lower.
It can be quite frightening to discover that you can’t retrieve your anchor.
In general the anchorages in the SW Pacific are significantly deeper than they are, at least in East Australia, and also more prone to unexpected crops of coral.

[bobnlesley]

Originally Posted by Shoalbay

I used 250' of chain for North Pacific circumnavigation. 200' would have been barely adequate.

We've 70m/230' (it'd be hard to stow any more on our small boat) and really wouldn't like to have any less; I'd certainly consider 200'/60m insufficient and provided that you have the size/space to carry it, would suggest 300'/90m as a good minimum.

[Glacier Crews]

We carry 500 feet of chain on rockna anchor and carry 250 feet of chain and 200 feet of rode, and an extra anchor -- we live in Alaska and 500 feet of chain is just about right.

[TCCBowie]

The chain length is only one of the factors you should be concerned about, the other three are anchor size, weight of the chain and anchoring technique. If you have a large anchor with increased holding capabilities and a heavy chain then you can get by with a shorter length of chain. If you tend not to set the anchor properly or are hesitant about resetting an anchor that does not set properly then go with a lot longer anchor chain. We cruised the south pacific for three years with a Valiant 40, used 200 feet of 3/8" chain and a 20 kg delta. We anchored every night for about two years and never dragged. We mostly anchored in less than 60 feet of water, occasionally 80 feet. If we did it again I would upgrade the anchor to a Rocna 55 lb, the Rocna style anchors have increased holding capacity over the delta style anchors. A bigger anchor significantly improves the holding capacity. It sounds like your boat is a catamaran which will require a beefier anchor than our anchoring system.
Hope you make it to the south pacific it is a great trip.

[patha]

We did the south pacific in a 45 ft cat ( Lagoon 450). we had 300 ft of chain plus rode . Several Anchorages were 30 to 40+ ft deep, so used all of chain multiple times . With a Rocna 33 kg anchor we slept well.