Wayfarer
Guru
- Joined
- Aug 29, 2014
- Messages
- 2,228
- Location
- USA
- Vessel Name
- Sylphide
- Vessel Make
- Kingston Aluminum Yacht 44' Custom
Stainless chain is prettier and won't rust as quickly as galvanized chain. However, as mentioned above, the cost is at least five times higher for stainless than for galvanized.
Gotcha. I don't think it's worth the extra cost for me, being in fresh water. I certainly don't need the extra strength.
How big is Wayfarer's boat? He may only need 1/4" chain. I've come to the conclusion that 1/4"chain would be alright for my 30' 8ton boat w/o a FB. In Alaska I was thinking 5/16" chain was necessary but think now that 1/4" HT should be fine. Perhaps not even HT. Especially down here in benign weathered Washington State.
Wayfarer I isually use 3/8ths chain for the first 4' and then 10 or 12' of 1/4" chain. Then 400' of 5/8ths nylon Brait. I hand pulled for awhile but up graded to a small (noisy) capstan. Just made it easier to pull. I don't think I need more chain but most here disagree w me. Have you had anchoring performance issues w your 4' of chain and nylon rode?
I'm in a 29 footer, weighing in at around 5 tons. Relatively low freeboard, no flying bridge or big slab sided cabins or anything. My current setup is working fine, but the rode is pretty worn out and needs to be replaced. I figure while I'm at it, I'll upgrade. My windlass is set up for 1/4" BBB, and I'm perfectly happy with that. I was thinking of going with 50' of chain, then a good 250' of 1/2" nylon after that. I don't believe I've ever anchored in more than 20' of water, so my thinking is that the length of cable I'd be using most frequently would be all chain, hopefully giving me good lifespan.