Marking Anchor Rode

[friz]

For my 28' trailer trawler I carry 30' of chain attached to 120' of line. I live and boat almost exclusively in Florida. Have not anchored in more then 25' of water to the best of my recollection. I want to mark my anchor rode. Have decided on paint. ROY G BIV (the colors of the sunlight spectrum) every 10' (or should it be 20'?). Looking for a paint that will stain, not just paint the line for durability. I am guessing it is nylon or whatever the standard anchor line is made of. Or if someone wants to suggest a better system then paint, please do. Thanks

 

[O C Diver]

For my 28' trailer trawler I carry 30' of chain attached to 120' of line. I live and boat almost exclusively in Florida. Have not anchored in more then 25' of water to the best of my recollection. I want to mark my anchor rode. Have decided on paint. ROY G BIV (the colors of the sunlight spectrum) every 10' (or should it be 20'?). Looking for a paint that will stain, not just paint the line for durability. I am guessing it is nylon or whatever the standard anchor line is made of. Or if someone wants to suggest a better system then paint, please do. Thanks

Line, string, or sail cloth. After failing with paint, I wove colored nylon line through the chain. It was very easy to see, didn't come loose, and retained it's color. If you're using 3 strand nylon line, it should be very easy to get some nylon fabric and weave a couple of feet into the twists. No need to worry about knotting it as it won't come out.

Certainly wouldn't mark every 10'. I went every 50', but could certainly see 25' as easier for a smaller boat.

If you reverse the rope to reduce wear, lay the line out parallel with the ends together. Then mark from the ends evey 25'. At the half way point use a color to indicate the color scheme is reversing as you're past halfway.

Ted

 

[Datenight]

I paint every 30’. Red, white, blue then repeat, easier for me to remember. Defender, West Marine and I am sure other marine retailers sell plastic tags that can be inserted in the line as Ted suggests.
Rob

 

[boomerang]

Similar to Datenight but every 25' for us... red, white ,blue then orange paint marks the middle/100 foot then blue white red. Orange for the second time means stop for the 200' all 5/16" chain setup we have. I don't foresee doing a whole bunch of cruising where we'd need more than 200' . The paint has proven very durable for us, even in sand.

 

[rslifkin]

For line I've used the Tulip Colorshot spray on fabic paint/dye from Amazon with good results. It holds up very well, it's cheap, comes in a bunch of colors, and is easy to use.

For a color scheme, I only use 2 colors. Bright green and bright orange. Each mark is independently readable as a series of has marks. Orange marks count 25 foot increments, green marks count 100 foot increments. So 2 orange marks is 50 feet. 1 green, 1 orange is 125 feet. And because each one is independently readable with no exact repeats, if you miss a mark you'll still know where you are when you get to the next one.

 

[SteveK]

I paint every 30’. Red, white, blue then repeat, easier for me to remember. Defender, West Marine and I am sure other marine retailers sell plastic tags that can be inserted in the line as Ted suggests.
Rob

Interesting, how did you arrive at 30 foot interval?
Red is 30, 120, 210 for instance.
White 60, 150, 240
Blue 90, 180, 270
A lot to remember (for me)

 

[Datenight]

Steve,
I had the plastic insert strips on a previous boat at 30’ intervals. I was used to that so stayed with it. Once I have picked my anchoring spot I calculate my rode length and just look for the color to go over the bow. I have been using those colors/lengths since 2012 so second nature now.

Rob

 

[Caballero II]

Interesting, how did you arrive at 30 foot interval?
Red is 30, 120, 210 for instance.
White 60, 150, 240
Blue 90, 180, 270
A lot to remember (for me)

What's your concern? Those are fathoms, so 6' foot intervals. That's what I do as well. I use them as golf flags. Red's 30/60/90, Whites 120/150/180, and Blues at 210/240/270. Capiche?

 

[SteveK]

What's your concern? Those are fathoms, so 6' foot intervals. That's what I do as well. I use them as golf flags. Red's 30/60/90, Whites 120/150/180, and Blues at 210/240/270. Capiche?

Did I ask you? What is your concern?

 

[SeaDogAK]

What interval you want kind of depends on how deep you anchor. Here in SE Alaska and in the PNW you’re generally anchoring deep. We almost never have less than 100’ of chain out , so 30’ marks wouldn’t be useful. I mark at the 50’s and 100’s. One zip tie on the 50’s, two on the 100’s. One yellow = 50, two yellow = 100, one blue = 150, two blue = 200, etc., up to our 400’ of chain.

 

[rcsomany]

Although zip ties may work well on a cordage rode, I didn't have success with them on chain. The windlass would occasionally grind them off - sometimes changing a 3-zip marker to 2, removing a single one completely, and so on.
I ended up marking my chain with home 3D-printed versions of these Amazon.ca, doubling and tripling the number of inserts as the sequence repeats. They follow the "standard" colour sequence Red-Yellow-Blue-White-Green (Mnemonic: Rub Your Belly With Grease).
Initially, I was concerned that the inserts would pop out but they seem to be standing up well. Also, they are a bit hard to spot as the chain runs out so I bracketed each set with yellow paint. The crew counts the yellow painted sections as they go through the windlass (every 25 ft in my case) and the chain inserts show actual length deployed. The last 10ft of chain is painted yellow.

 

[ssobol]

I used permanent markers to mark my nylon rode at 10 foot intervals. There is a color code that is easy to see as the rode pays out.

 

[FairhopeDan]

I just wrapped some duck tape around the line every 50 ft. Has held up for 3 years so far

 

[Tjohn]

It doesn't seem to matter what I do it all looks the same color after a while and I forget my system of codes anyway. Now I just use whatever house paint I have and mark the rode about three feet every fifty feet.

 

[SeaGator]

First, never use cable or zip ties. Once they break off, turtles and fish will eat them and eventually die. We use paint at 25 foot intervals with an easy peasy rhythm that is easy to remember. Red - white - blue - yellow - repeat. So every yellow is 100 feet. We also start marking at 7 feet back from the anchor to allow for the distance from the anchor roller/cleats to the waterline.

 

[JimKane]

For my 28' trailer trawler I carry 30' of chain attached to 120' of line. I live and boat almost exclusively in Florida. Have not anchored in more then 25' of water to the best of my recollection. I want to mark my anchor rode. Have decided on paint. ROY G BIV (the colors of the sunlight spectrum) every 10' (or should it be 20'?). Looking for a paint that will stain, not just paint the line for durability. I am guessing it is nylon or whatever the standard anchor line is made of. Or if someone wants to suggest a better system then paint, please do. Thanks

The first mark is where the chain meet the line. The second mark, a short piece of paracord, three inches is sufficient, threaded through the line at 70’ (7 to 1 scope at 10’) and the final mark (2 short pieces of paracord) at 100’. There is no need for additional marks. They only get confusing.

 

[DDW]

I received my AnchoRight markers today. There was a delay while the Royal Mail tried to understand the chaos that is US imports, but I said I'd wait and they did show up. They are injection molded of decent quality, and included is a little plastic placard that can be customized with colors and feet of rode as a reminder to the elderly and forgetful among us. Fathoms don' work though, markings are to 350' by 25'. And the number of positions in the placard are the number of colors you ordered, 4 colors 4 positions, not that useful.

Overall I'd say expensive, but I don't feel ripped off. Doesn't look like they will be easily lost. Won't be able to test until next year.