All chain, or not?

[zeehag]

all chain allows one to actually keep a boat instead of having to salvage said boat off rocks or beach in an anchorage.. i highly recommend all chain rode for cruising

[Paul L]

Originally Posted by gilgsn

Excellent, thanks again everyone!

I am leaning towards 250' of 1/2" double-braid nylon and 75' of 1/4HT chain. This way I can always have all the chain out and a bit of nylon for shock absorbtion. I will also look into a float to keep the nylon off the bottom, as Deblen suggested.

BTW I have a 25lbs CQR and will buy a 35lbs Mantus. The boat came with no anchor rode at all, just the CQR. I'll set up both anchors the same way. I could always put the two 250' lines together if needed, but I boubt that would ever happen...

Gil.

That sounds reasonable on the first anchor. You can g less chain on the 2nd. If you decide to head out into the Pacific, you can get another 100ft of chain, put it in the bilge and use a chain connector when you need it.

[Greatketch33]

Originally Posted by zeehag

all chain allows one to actually keep a boat instead of having to salvage said boat off rocks or beach in an anchorage.. i highly recommend all chain rode for cruising

There is an argument also for not having a rode of all chain. Should the chain become taught, as in not so friendly conditions, the shock energy is transferred to the boat. By having a rode that stretches the transferred shock energy is more apt to reduce unfortunate conclusion.

[CHAZ]

Originally Posted by Greatketch33

There is an argument also for not having a rode of all chain. Should the chain become taught, as in not so friendly conditions, the shock energy is transferred to the boat. By having a rode that stretches the transferred shock energy is more apt to reduce unfortunate conclusion.

A snubber helps

https://www.google.com/search?q=chai...w=1600&bih=770

Fair winds

Martin

[Cheechako]

OP: if I were you I would walk out on the bow and have someone see how far down the bow goes. Your boat is just 26 ft right? Then compare your weight with chain length you are considering and adjust accordingly.
I still haven't seen if you have a windlass or not, that is the key question... as pulling in chain is far harder than nylon.

[gilgsn]

Hello, no windlass... Thanks Paul, good suggestion.

I figure, with 75ft of chain, plus say 15ft of nylon for shock absorbing, that's 90ft, good for all over the Caribbeans. I can get a bit more chain later if I ever grow balls big enough to try the Pacific!

Thanks again for the great suggestions!

Gil.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[barnakiel]

It is all about where you cruise.

We took on our rtw (boat 26', displ 3t) with 9 meters (30ft) of ten mm (roughly 3/8) chain PLUS 16 mm rope, and a CQR knock off.

We almost immediately changed to a Bruce and some 18 meters (60ft) of 3/8 chain plus heaps of 16 mm (1 inch = 25.4 mm) dacron rope. That was our main kit and it was in the bow locker all time: also offshore during ocean passages. (PS Your boat will not take so much load in the bow lightly as we are plumb while you are overhang: move your chain locker further away from the bow!!!).

Now we upgraded to a heavier Bruce (original 15 kilo vs. knock-off 10 kilo), 30 meters of 8 mm chain (step down from earlier 3/8) and again heaps of dacron multiplait (150ft in the locker). With this kit we sailed to the West Indies and back.

Perhaps maybe eventually there is some more chain for us again but only if we can get quality G4 or G7 chain. Lighter, stronger, etc.

Everything except for our initial set-up seemed to work fine. 30 ft of 3/8 chain plus rope and a 30 pound CQR knock-off were a first class ticket to the rocks.

Hope this helps you somewhat.

b.

[SWTFRDOM]

[QUOTE=gilgsn;1732381]Hello,

I have a dilemma... My boat is a 26 footer. The chain locker is rather small. I wonder about all the weight of 300ft of chain, even 1/4HT in the bow. Is chain a "must-have" to be all right with the broader kind of bottoms out there for long term cruising? Or can I get away with nylon and a chain leader (how long)? There is of course the price of chain, being twice that of nylon. Also pulling in 300ft of chain by hand might be rather hard, if not impossible if too deep (35lbs anchor).

Suggestions would be appreciated, thanks

First of all why would you need 300 feet of chain unless you were going to be achored in deep wanter. You need to keep the shank angle to less than 8 degrees with the seabed to keep your holding power strong.

On a 26 foot boat I would try to have at least 30 to 50 feet of chain to keep the shank angle at less than 8 degrees and allow the nylon rode to provide light weight and shock absorbancy.

You can normally use a 7 - 1 ratio of rode to depth of water plus height to deck (allow for tidal range). If I was going to anchor overnight and was concerned about the weather, I would use close to ten to one ratio.
I haved anchored many times in my years of cruising and very rarely anchored in depths ovr 20 feet and sometimes 30 to 40 feet. Most of the time I anchor in 10 to 15 feet.

If you have any questions, please feel free to contact me.

Stay safe and enjoy.

Howard

[wesevans]

I found that 100' of chain coupled to nylon worked well in the Bahamas and Caribbean. For cursing you should have a minimum of two anchor set ups and three is preferred. You can keep the spare anchors and roads in the bilge made up and ready to deploy.

[Dockhead]

Originally Posted by gilgsn

Excellent, thanks again everyone!

I am leaning towards 250' of 1/2" double-braid nylon and 75' of 1/4HT chain. This way I can always have all the chain out and a bit of nylon for shock absorbtion. I will also look into a float to keep the nylon off the bottom, as Deblen suggested.

BTW I have a 25lbs CQR and will buy a 35lbs Mantus. The boat came with no anchor rode at all, just the CQR. I'll set up both anchors the same way. I could always put the two 250' lines together if needed, but I boubt that would ever happen...

Gil.

That sounds like a plan to me.

I have 330' of 1/2" chain and now regret it, even though I anchor in places with tidal range up to 50 feet.

The problem is the weight in the bow, which hurts your performance upwind and keeps your boat from rising to the seas as well, giving you a wetter deck.

I'm probably going to change to 60 meters of 10mm G70, with 100 meters of octoplait spliced to it.

But rope is subject to chafe and being cut by the props of other boats, so there's always a tradeoff

[Cheechako]

Originally Posted by wesevans

I found that 100' of chain coupled to nylon worked well in the Bahamas and Caribbean. For cursing you should have a minimum of two anchor set ups and three is preferred. You can keep the spare anchors and roads in the bilge made up and ready to deploy.

I find there's nothing like trying two anchors off the bow, (which will twist into a real snarl by morning ) is best for cursing!

[2Hulls]

Originally Posted by wesevans

For cursing you should have a minimum of two anchor set ups and three is preferred.

I could not disagree more. I find just a few hits of rum, or passing jet skis is all the set up for cursing I need....

2 Hulls Dave

[Dockhead]

Originally Posted by barnakiel

It is all about where you cruise.

Indeed!

Cruising SW Florida in a 38' boat, we never put out more than 100' (30 meters) of chain. Small tides, shallow water. Never need to anchor in more than 20' of water, and 10' is actually plenty.

Flash forward to cruising the English Channel in a 54' boat. Here the tidal range can reach 50' (Bay of St. Malo). Boat draws almost 8' of water, so you like to have 20 feet-ish of water at low tide. But that means up to 70 feet of water at high tide! That means you need every bit of the 330' (100 meters) of chain we have on board, and I've had it all out on many, many occasions.

[robert sailor]

Originally Posted by Dockhead

Indeed!

Cruising SW Florida in a 38' boat, we never put out more than 100' (30 meters) of chain. Small tides, shallow water. Never need to anchor in more than 20' of water, and 10' is actually plenty.

Flash forward to cruising the English Channel in a 54' boat. Here the tidal range can reach 50' (Bay of St. Malo). Boat draws almost 8' of water, so you like to have 20 feet-ish of water at low tide. But that means up to 70 feet of water at high tide! That means you need every bit of the 330' (100 meters) of chain we have on board, and I've had it all out on many, many occasions.

Or try to anchor in Niui in the SP, 90 feet deep. Fortunately we only spent a couple of nights anchored and a mooring was available. Does it ever give your windless a workout.

[onestepcsy37]

Picking up chain by hand is not all that difficult if you are in shallow water, say up to 20 feet. You are only hauling the weight of chain that is not on the bottom. Until you get to the anchor, and that can be hauled up in stages with a chain stopper. I do it all the time, and I'm an old geezer.

And everyone I know with all chain uses a snubber to take the snap loads.