ben2go
Guru
Last edited:
Anchor chain recomendations / experiences
- Thread starter Third-Reef
- Start date
The friendliest place on the web for anyone who enjoys boating.
If you have answers, please help by responding to the unanswered posts.
If you have answers, please help by responding to the unanswered posts.
According to my girlfriend, your anchor weighs 33 bags of flour.
That sounds like a henway!
ben2go
Guru
:lol:That sounds like a henway!
Delfin
Grand Vizier
- Joined
- Jan 20, 2010
- Messages
- 3,821
Wish it were so. Then I wouldn't need a swivel. My 176# anchor with 1/2" G4 doesn't spin to it's natural position once it clears the water. Perhaps it doesn't know what its natural position is, or perhaps it is a pervert. Beats me, but the swivel is helpful, and since it is stronger than the chain I don't worry about it giving way before the bow sheers off. If my anchor weighed 33 pounds, the question of whether to swivel or not to swivel would be moot.
FF
Guru
- Joined
- Oct 12, 2007
- Messages
- 22,552
300ft of chain plus the weight of the anchor will require a robust windlas.
Great for use in coral areas , or where the water is usually over 50 ft deep and the reduced swing circle is a help.
Before purchasing the chain look in Skeenes to be sure you have the chain locker space , and correct design for the chain to store and run out easily.
Then install a 3/4 HP ,,1 inch deck wash pump to ease scrubbing the smelly mud off the chain , every time its recovered , as its being recovered, a slow process..
5/16 chain is not especially strong , so a set of storm anchors and anchor rodes will need to be aboard.
In a Hurricane area , you will need that gear too.
FF
Great for use in coral areas , or where the water is usually over 50 ft deep and the reduced swing circle is a help.
Before purchasing the chain look in Skeenes to be sure you have the chain locker space , and correct design for the chain to store and run out easily.
Then install a 3/4 HP ,,1 inch deck wash pump to ease scrubbing the smelly mud off the chain , every time its recovered , as its being recovered, a slow process..
5/16 chain is not especially strong , so a set of storm anchors and anchor rodes will need to be aboard.
In a Hurricane area , you will need that gear too.
FF
Well,, not really. The ony chain the windlass has to lift is the chain between the pulpit and the bottom. Even if you put out a mile of it, the only chain the windlass is lifting is the section between the boat and the bottom. So the windlass only needs to be strong enough to lift that amount of chain plus the weight of the anchor. Naturally you'd want a safety factor, so you wouldn't size a windlass to be able to lift that weight and no more. And of course the weight will vary with the anchoring depth, so that has to be taken into account.
We carry 200' of all-chain rode (should really be 250-300 feet but when we bought it we didn't know what we know now) but the most chain the windlass has ever had to lift is probably 40-50 feet. The anchor weighs 44 pounds out of the water.
Nomad Willy
Guru
I bought a cheap little anchor capstan and the other day wiggled the drum and found it kinda loose. If it was that loose when it was new I think I would have noticed it. It's always worked but has always made an awful racket. The planetary gears probably have something to do w that. I'm about ready to replace it anyway.
Assuming of course, that the operator knows to pull the boat over the anchor under power when raising it and not to use the windlass to pull the boat to the anchor.
Or to raise some chain with the windlass, then stop the windlass and let the weight of the chain settling back down to the bottom start moving the boat forward, raise some more chain, the boat continues to move forward, and so on until you're over the anchor. This is what we do unless there is suffiicent wind or current to prevent the boat from coasting forward. Then we'll use a bit of power to move the boat forward. But most of the time we simply let the weight of the chain pull us forward as we raise the rode in increments.
Last edited:
Delfin
Grand Vizier
- Joined
- Jan 20, 2010
- Messages
- 3,821
That's pretty much our approach as well. Plus a bit of thruster to keep the vessel in line. We use a 1/2" snub line about 30 feet long that attaches with a shackle to the chain. We'll bring that on board first and while we're detaching the shackle and coiling the snubber, the boat has generally moved forward sufficiently that it is standing over the anchor, at least in most wind/tide conditions.
Nomad Willy
Guru
I don't usechainweightthat I don't have but Willy pulls along quite easily and I've probably got the weakest winch on the forum. If the wind's not blowing we just winch up to the anchor. If the anchor isn't set very hard or if it (for other reasons) breaks out easily my little guy is even up to that but if I feel any resistance I back down to break out. A Claw can burry quite deep and take a bit of work to get them out.
