What type and size of chain ?

Can you all help?
I have a Grand Banks 42 loaded it weighs approx 50,000 lbs max.
Im buying a new 40 KG anchor a Rocna but i dont want to get involved in a deep debate on anchor types! I dont like causing trouble

i have 320ft of 10mm galvanised chain but suspect that it will be a bit light for the new anchor.
My anchor locker can hold more but not to much.

All input gratefully received.

Brian

No Ice

10 mm is slightly larger than 3/8" chain. I have been using 3/8" chain (BBB) on my Krogen 42 with a 40 kg Rocna for years. Hadn't thought of it as being undersized.

We have 400ft 3/8 HT chain for our 154lb Rocna.

Gee, Oliver, 400'? Can I borrow some?

Marty

Are you happy with your anchor what would you say are its weak and strong points?
Brian

N4712 said:

We have 400ft 3/8 HT chain.

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Hi Oliver,

I was told the same thing when I bought my N47, but when I dropped the chain onto the ground in the yard a few weeks ago (end-for-ending), it was actually only 300'.

That one could have been embarrassing....

Boydski said:

Hi Oliver, I was told the same thing when I bought my N47, but when I dropped the chain onto the ground in the yard a few weeks ago (end-for-ending), it was actually only 300'. That one could have been embarrassing....

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Oh ok, we still have to mark it, but were probably going do our first trip with out marking the chain and just guess (y'all going love me for saying that).

N4712 said:

Oh ok, we still have to mark it, but were probably going do our first trip with out marking the chain and just guess (y'all going love me for saying that).

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It's 8' from the windlass to the roller, so it is pretty easy to estimate chain out by watching a link go from windlass to roller. Have fun!

Boydski said:

It's 8' from the windlass to the roller, so it is pretty easy to estimate chain out by watching a link go from windlass to roller. Have fun!

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Yep, that's what I was going use to guess.

With apologies to the experts among us, anchor chain has three characteristics of note: it's recommended working load limit, the diameter of its links, and the length of each link. Your 10mm galvanized chain should be of more than sufficient working load for the 40 KG Rocna you're buying and your size boat. And whether it is BBB chain with relatively short links (and thus higher weight per foot of length), or HT (High Tensile with relatively less weight per foot, but greater working load) I would suggest you are in very good shape with the chain rode you have. Good luck!

Hi Captain K

thanks for the good info on chain types, sounds to me like my chain is good for another 10 years.

Brian
No Ice

No Ice said:

Marty

Are you happy with your anchor what would you say are its weak and strong points?
Brian

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Very Happy, in five years of use the 40kg Rocna has set every time and we have not yet dragged. There have been times when the winds kicked up to 40 kts that dragging in the anchorage looked very popular, but we held. Note, our scope is always at least five to one.

My second anchor, now unused, is a 66lb Bruce. When we go back to the United States I will probably sell the Bruce and get a rock/weed anchor for use in those conditions.

Thanks Bay Pelican for the input.
Another question or two! How do you join the chain to the anchor, is the anchor shank thin enough to be joined to 3/8 chain with one shackle?

Brian
No Ice

No Ice said:

Thanks Bay Pelican for the input.
Another question or two! How do you join the chain to the anchor, is the anchor shank thin enough to be joined to 3/8 chain with one shackle?

Brian
No Ice

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One 7/8" shackle will work, however, I have found that with my windlass and anchor pulpit two shackles allows the windlass to pull the anchor onto the pulpit regardless of the direction the anchor is facing when the anchor is raised. When I used one shackle I frequently had to twist the anchor to pull it up on the pulpit.

On a Krogen 42 the anchor pulpit is slanted upward from the windlass so that there is a multi-inch difference in height between the windlass and the outward anchor roller.

Chain is fine for overnight , but IF a >named storm< was on the way I would consider far stronger nylon for the blow.

When the loads get high chain is a bar , and has zero shock absorbing ability , so passes very high loads to the anchor.

As a minimum I would be able to secure nylon to the end of the chain , a few hundred ft , to create some shock absorbing ability.

In our last boat a Defever 43 we went from 3/8 to 1/2" chain.With a 60lb(I think) Manson Supreme anchor.
I know a bit of overkill,however the boat was much more settled in a blow than before and only ever dragged once(over sheet rock).
With the weight of the chain when big gusts hit it would stretch out much more slowly than before with very little snatching,it made the boat a lot more comfortable.
Certainly lowered the stress levels on breezy nights if nothing else.
We regularly get 50 knots on anchor so we probably overdo things a bit.

FF said:

Chain is fine for overnight , but IF a >named storm< was on the way I would consider far stronger nylon for the blow.

When the loads get high chain is a bar , and has zero shock absorbing ability , so passes very high loads to the anchor.

As a minimum I would be able to secure nylon to the end of the chain , a few hundred ft , to create some shock absorbing ability.

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Thanks FF,


Great idea, as i have had two occasions where it was clear to me that the boat was jerking on the chain.

Marty wrote;
"My second anchor, now unused, is a 66lb Bruce. When we go back to the United States I will probably sell the Bruce and get a rock/weed anchor for use in those conditions"

I consider the Bruce to be a good rock anchor but not for weeds. What did you have in mind for the weed anchor and what would you consider to be an acceptable combination?

I cut out my comments about weed anchors. Want your opinion first. Started a new thread.

Do you use a snubber on your chain, Richard?

Hi. I have a 39lrc cheoy lee trawler, and had been using a danforth. 10 feet of chain and 300 feet of line. I sail mostly in the caribbean. I read all you folks use chain only. Will that not make the bow dive? Excuse my ignorance, as i am a newby with an old boat, learning as much as i can.

That's about what I use. 400' and 20 chain. However I've got a much smaller boat.

And that's basically what Chapman recommends in his "Piloting" book. Another 10 or 20' of chain probably would be better but any more is probably a waste of money and more importantly considerable weight that does little if any good. I think a short and heavy chain rather than a long and light chain is better. The weight next to the anchor shank where it can do the most good.

The above is just my opinion and there may be a few "other" opinions to follow. Too bad the anchor hasn't been invented that requires no chain but then I haven't seen an anchor test that uses only nylon line. Tradition dies hard but I think some chain is desirable especially for setting. Probably mostly for setting.

Wxx3 said:

Thanks FF,


Great idea, as i have had two occasions where it was clear to me that the boat was jerking on the chain.

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I didn't want to get mixed up in this, but I use a nylon snubber -- a long one. 25 ft attached to all chain rode. Leave a bight of chain between the pulpit and the chain hook and that acts like a billet pulling down on the chain effectively increasing scope. 25 ft seems to do the shock absorbing thing. Snub it shorter for calmer weather.

MARI said:

Hi. I have a 39lrc cheoy lee trawler, and had been using a danforth. 10 feet of chain and 300 feet of line. I sail mostly in the caribbean. I read all you folks use chain only. Will that not make the bow dive? Excuse my ignorance, as i am a newby with an old boat, learning as much as i can.

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An easy way to judge how the extra weight will affect your boat is to stand on the dock and get say four friends to stand on the bow and see how that affects the boat at the waterline.

For a boat your size I doubt that you will notice much of a change.

By the way Mari, it's not the done thing to refer to your trawler as 'old'.

'The Surprise is not old; no one would call her old. She has a bluff bow, lovely lines. She's a fine seabird: weatherly, stiff and fast... very fast, if she's well handled. No, she's not old; she's in her prime.'

No Ice said:

Can you all help?
I have a Grand Banks 42 loaded it weighs approx 50,000 lbs max.
Im buying a new 40 KG anchor a Rocna but i dont want to get involved in a deep debate on anchor types! I dont like causing trouble

i have 320ft of 10mm galvanised chain but suspect that it will be a bit light for the new anchor.
My anchor locker can hold more but not to much.

All input gratefully received.

Brian

No Ice

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I didn't see anyone mention this, but if you have a windlass, your chain choice is limited by what the windlass can handle, both size and type.

I wouldn't think one would size the chain for the anchor, it would be sized for the boat so if it has served you well in the past, I would keep it.

Like he said...