Best paint for rode markings?

[CHM]

Rust Oleum fluorescent pink marking paint.

[donradcliffe]

Paint wears off quickly, zip ties break off. I use parachute cord on the chain, two colors. Lasts several years.

[thinwater]

I always found that the paint wore off the part that was always on the bottom... which I didn't need to be able to read (since it would always be deployed.


Also, for winches that power-down (many) if you can count you don't need to mark the chain. If the chain goes out at 60 feet per minute, 1 minute is 60 feet, obviously.

[CassidyNZ]

Originally Posted by s/v Jedi

Next is a standard colored (whatever color you choose) marker at 60’ (20 meters) this is the minimum amount of chain to deploy, even if there’s only 5’ of water (you must have at least 60’ out for reliability).

Sorry, I know it’s off topic but . . . .

So just for clarity, when you’re in shallow water (5ft), you put out a 12:1 scope (60ft)?

An arbitrary number like “must have 60ft out for reliability” means that you’re going to be swinging a lot wider than other vessels around you who are probably comfortable with 5:1 scope. How does that translate into “reliability”?

[skipgundlach]

Originally Posted by CassidyNZ

Sorry, I know it’s off topic but . . . .

So just for clarity, when you’re in shallow water (5ft), you put out a 12:1 scope (60ft)?

An arbitrary number like “must have 60ft out for reliability” means that you’re going to be swinging a lot wider than other vessels around you who are probably comfortable with 5:1 scope. How does that translate into “reliability”?

LOL

Some of us are deeper than 5 feet.

Most of us have some bow rise over the surface of the water. Ours is 5'

Our depth is 7. That makes a 5-1 chain 60' long when we're aground...

[skipgundlach]

Originally Posted by fourlyons

Jedi is right, paint, even wire ties simply don't hold up.

I sew flat webbing tails (flags) through a chain link, one for every thirty feet. I had to cut them off, still going strong, after ten years when I finally broke down and regalvanized the chain. That represented five years of full time cruising and anchoring every night. The flags are easier to see in the dark and run through the windlass too.

With apologies for thread drift:

Where did you get your regalvanizing done?

Did you have to present it in bright condition or did the regalvanizer have a means of dealing with that?

How (volume, weight, before/after weight, other?) were you charged?

Has the regalvanizing held up?

[fourlyons]

I had it done at Baltimore Galvanizing, 410-288-1188. They clean the chain themselves, all I did was remove the webbing. I believe their minimum charge was around $235, based on weight. I had 200' of 5/16" G4, and two anchors totalling 87# regalvanized for $266 in June of 2018.

It's too early to say how well it's holding up, however it seems to be a good job. Also there were only 5 or 6 links stuck together, a good sign, I think.

Originally Posted by skipgundlach

With apologies for thread drift:

Where did you get your regalvanizing done?

Did you have to present it in bright condition or did the regalvanizer have a means of dealing with that?

How (volume, weight, before/after weight, other?) were you charged?

Has the regalvanizing held up?

[s/v Jedi]

Originally Posted by CassidyNZ

Sorry, I know it’s off topic but . . . .

So just for clarity, when you’re in shallow water (5ft), you put out a 12:1 scope (60ft)?

An arbitrary number like “must have 60ft out for reliability” means that you’re going to be swinging a lot wider than other vessels around you who are probably comfortable with 5:1 scope. How does that translate into “reliability”?

Let’s say you like to risk it and anchor in 6’ of water which gives you a couple of inches under your keel. Your anchor roller is (I guess) 4’ above water? That makes total height 10’ so 60’ of chain gives 6:1 scope, not 12:1.

[Jammer]

Originally Posted by CassidyNZ

Sorry, I know it’s off topic but . . . .

So just for clarity, when you’re in shallow water (5ft), you put out a 12:1 scope (60ft)?

An arbitrary number like “must have 60ft out for reliability” means that you’re going to be swinging a lot wider than other vessels around you who are probably comfortable with 5:1 scope. How does that translate into “reliability”?

Minimum vertical drop =

Height of bow roller above water + Draft + Tidal range + safety factor/wave allowance



For typical vessels this is =
4' bow roller + 5' draft + 2' tidal range (more in many areas) + 2' safety
= 13'

[davil]

Originally Posted by CATJAVA

Used to paint chain with dayglo orange, but had to touchup every 2 years since I’m a full time cruiser in the tropics. I have 100m of stainless 3/8” chain. Went to small 4” long plastic ties 15 yrs ago spaced every 10mts. Sure, u may lose them on the gypsy or coral, but I use THREE TIES per mark. Each mark has it’s own color,e.g. blue for 10m, red for 20m, yellow for 30, white for 40m, etc. if you lose a tie u just put on another one to match when ur pulling chain in or out. I anchor all the time since I don’t use marinas except for typhoons (if there’s one close by, but that’s rare in Indo or Filipinas). It works for me! Evan on JAVA
p.s Anchoring at night, use a frickin’ headlamp to see ur marks!!

=========================================
got my chain on the dock and will try the 3 ties
do you space those ties on consecutive links?

[Moontide]

I've given up on paint. I now have some colored wire woven into 5-7 links at 25 foot intervals and then put pieces of old spinnakers (I blow up a lot of them) at the wire to make it easily visible when it is running out.



I do color coding so I know how much is out. In muddy, rock or coral I do end up replacing the fabric every couple of months of constant anchoring.