Nomad Willy
Guru
Yes I agree. The angle of the anchor end of the rode is closer to horizontal w the bottom if one uses chain. But 99% of anchoring takes place at far less than maximum load and at max load one needs an anchor that will hold that load and be well set in a bottom that will also hold that load. All fairly unlikely to happen so the talk about an all chain rode being worked so heavily that it becomes (for all PP) straight is not worth talking about. Whats worth talking about is the advantage the chain rode has at 1/4 to 3/4 load * * ... and I think Marin is right * * ..chain is better * *.. as far as the angle of the rode end is concerned. But there is a great deal more to anchoring than the rode angle. If one used an all line rode (I have been experimenting w that) one needs an anchor that will perform well at higher rode angles and since very very few of us (if any) have such an anchor chain is almost required.*Chapman recommends "a short length of chain" on a combination rode w nylon line. How anyone can realistically argue that the entire rode should be chain is beyond me. Marin says the whole rode helps lower the angle of the shank. Obviously the part of the rode on deck or still in the chain locker isn't doing squat to effect the rode angle but one still has to buy it and pack it around. Also obvious is that if you had 300lbs of chain in an all chain rode and changed it to 1/2 chain rode you could almost double the weight of the chain on the anchor end and still have a 300lb rode. With all the chain weight on the anchor end of the rode and w an equal tension on the rode the combination rode would (beyond a doubt) keep the anchor shank at a lower angle to the bottom. So I contend that an all chain rode is a waste of weight and money EXCEPT * * *.. that the whole thing passes gracefully over the wildcat. To Marin's credit there are numerous other advantages as well such as anchoring deep w a minimum of swing or for that matter minimizing swing at any depth except w extreme winds.
To summarize I think the all chain rode is dumb and this discussion should address the question of how much of an anchor rode should be chain. No fixed amount can be assigned as variations in overall rode length, weight of chain, anchor types bottom types and other elements enter into the balance. I'm going to stick my neck waay out here and say that the most respected book on seamanship is probably right * *.....
"a short length of chain".
Eric
To summarize I think the all chain rode is dumb and this discussion should address the question of how much of an anchor rode should be chain. No fixed amount can be assigned as variations in overall rode length, weight of chain, anchor types bottom types and other elements enter into the balance. I'm going to stick my neck waay out here and say that the most respected book on seamanship is probably right * *.....
"a short length of chain".
Eric