All chain vs 100'

[sanibel sailor]

When I started sailing, I always had rope rodes with a short (15'-30') section of chain. On a prior boat, I swapped to all chain, about 300'. I had 150 in the forepeak and pulled 1500 back into the forward bilge. Don't recall ever using the extra 150'. I have some chain now for my current boat. I am thinking about using 100 feet of chain backed up with a couple hundred feet of nylon rather than all chain. It seems i will get nearly all the benefit of chain with significant weight (and cost) savings.

Current dreams are Florida to Cuba, NW caribbean/Panama and westwards.

[Paul L]

It all depends on where you are planning on anchoring. For places like in and around FLA, then you are always anchoring in the shallows and 100 ft backed by line will do you fine. We are in French Polynesia right now and are mostly anchoring among coral heads and sometimes in 85 ft of water, so 300ft of chain makes sense.

[Hudson Force]

I have 200' of all chain which I typically use about 100' of since I'm in the US southeast or Bahamas and in relatively shallow places. I also have 300' of nylon rode on a short 20' piece of chain, but it's rarely used. I do have the option of linking them together, but I'm just not ending up in places that are that deep!

[Vasco]

You'll be fine with the 100 feet and some nylon.

[Cheechako]

Yep. for FL and Bahamas the 100 ft chain probably fine.
Further south 150 ft-200 would be nice, but not mandatory. The 100 ft would probably be all that gets wet in 80% of the time south of Bahamas. If you pick your anchorages like I did.

[roverhi]

Location, location, location!!!! If you anchor in shallow waters all the time, 100' does fine. Other areas need more. Got by with 220' in CA, French Polynesia, etc. Have 130' of chain now and seldom get to the rope tail.

The problem with rope is chafe. If you've had to survive a storm and/or high winds at anchor, you'll be a strong believer in a mostly chain rode. Rope rides need constant attention when subjected to high loads. Stretch is tremendous making it very difficult to keep chafing gear in place where it will do good. You have to regularly change the chafe points by letting out little bits of line on a regular basis.

If you chose to go with a hybrid rode, would go with more than 100'. 4-1 scope in 25' of water is a 100' of rode. In a deeper anchorage or when you want extra rode for security, you'd be into the rope portion with it's attendant chafe issues. The 130' of chain has worked well for me but will go to 150' for more varied anchoring conditions when it comes time to replace the chain.

[CarlF]

I assume you have a windlass. How does it do at the chain-rope splice? I don't like to put the splice through the windlass on a daily basis. Find out from the manufacturer exactly what rope works best. Some like three strand and some brait.

A good compromise might be 150 feet of chain and 150ft nylon. This will let you anchor on all chain in 25' of water with 5:1 scope allowing 5ft for the height of the bow. It's rare you'd need more in Atlantic US waters.

[Hobie_ind]

I think 'roverhi' covered it well. If you're looking at seriously cruising the Pacific, I'd recommend all chain. It really does open up your options. We're regularly anchoring in 85'-100' here.

A few friends have chain/rode combinations and one of them is going back to all chain next season after he chafed through the chain/rode splice (6 months old) in Nuku Hiva and went adrift. He's not sure what happened, but we suspect the regular running of it over the windlass didn't help.

[zboss]

How difficult is it to get good anchor on the pacific side of the canal? What if he stuck with 150/150 now and then moved the 150/150 over to a secondary chain and bought 300 of all chain?


Sent from somewhere other than where I want to be!

[Hobie_ind]

Originally Posted by zboss

How difficult is it to get good anchor on the pacific side of the canal? What if he stuck with 150/150 now and then moved the 150/150 over to a secondary chain and bought 300 of all chain?

All it requires is logistics and cost. You can get anything shipped into Panama. Plus now you'll have a splice link in the chain, which is always something I prefer to avoid.

I think you'll find its generally cheaper and easier to get the boat set up (the only exception might be highly labour intensive work in some cases) before you leave if possible.

[over40pirate]

I cruised for 7 years, up and down the US east coast, spending 4 - 5 months each year in the Bahamas. Maybe 1 month total at a dock. A lot of anchoring. At least 1500 times.
I used 3 strand nylon, with 15' of 3/8" chain. 95% of the time used 2 anchors.

Anchored thru 2 hurricanes. Bob, in Block Island, and Andrew in Little Shark river, FL.

Ground tackle worked great.

If I did it again, I would do the same. I believe the stretch, shock absorbing of mostly nylon line (3 strand) is the best for anchoring.

The reason I used 15' of chain (used 20' before) was I got a seal of a deal on 2, 15' lengths of ss chain. Looked new after 4 years.

I guess ideally I might use 30' - 40' of chain.

35' sailboat/ 5/8" rodes

Just what worked for me

[JPA Cate]

Sanibel Sailor,

The only place that we've been (and we have not circumnavigated, never west of Australia) where we had to routinely anchor in depths above 60-80 ft. was in French Polynesia. IMO, you will want ~ 250 ft. of chain, which will give you only 3:1 scope in those deepest anchorages, but be more than adequate elsewhere; and the boat will lie steadier to all chain, used, of course with a snubber for the shock absorption.

I'll add that it was a happy day for Jim when he added an electric windlass and sold the old "arm strong" one. Much easier on one's body.


Ann

[Hudson Force]

Originally Posted by Ann T. Cate

.......................

I'll add that it was a happy day for Jim when he added an electric windlass and sold the old "arm strong" one. Much easier on one's body.


Ann

My manual Simpson-Lawrence is the replacement for my gym membership that I would have if I were living ashore.



......,but then I'm usually anchoring in 15' to 20' depths!

[Jim Cate]

Re all those responses from folks who say something like "I've anchored on rope for X years and it has always worked fine"...

We have seen a number of boats beached/wrecked when their rope rodes parted due to chafe, coral or rocks, or other debris on the seabed, or even on their own keels. Prior to those sad events, each and every one of their skippers would have made a similar comment to the above.

IMO (based on a lot of years of anchor-out cruising) if you plan to cruise to unfamiliar waters and anchor, an all chain rode is the only intelligent solution. The amount of chain required for general usage is, again IMO, a minimum of around 200 feet, and that with some additional rope rode for the occasional very deep anchorage. In such places (say 75 feet plus) if one gets most of that 200 feet on the bottom the rope portion will not be exposed to chafe (except on the bow of the boat), and thus be reasonably safe.

If you stick to familiar waters where you have local knowledge of bottom conditions, a shorter bit of chain may safely get you through... maybe!

Jim

[Adelie]

The advice Evans Starzinger gives on his & Beth Leonard's website is 125-150' on the bow with the same in the bilge.

The idea being you have a spare rode to go with a spare anchor if you loose the main or are about to anchor out in a storm and you can shackle the two together if you are anchoring in deep water. The second reason was specifically cited for traveling the Pacific.