Chain Markers

[UFGator]

Originally Posted by JPA Cate

Plastic zip ties got broken by our windlass. Paint wears off on the bottom. Plastic ones do pop out (a friend tried them). So, we use 3 mm polyester line, also about a meter long, and ours is colored. We mark 25' intervals. The line does get stained, and can be difficult to tell which color came by at night, but has been the best long term solution for us to the chain marking problem....ymmv

Ann

Are you just tying this on or are you weaving it in or something else? Do you have a pic?

[bbalan]

We used to use cable ties but we can't justify putting more plastic in the ocean -- they do break off eventually. If you anchor more than a couple times a year, paint will be gone pretty quick. We're going to polypropylene per nhschneider's suggestion (which he recently told us about while having a beer at anchor in the Sea of Cortez).

Cheers,
BB

[a64pilot]

Originally Posted by thinwater

But didn't you just make a good case for marking the chain? You had to measure scope... are you standing there with your Vesper, on the bow? Marking seems easier.

Actually as there is a Vesper App for the iPad and phone, yes I am standing on the bow with my Vesper in my hand.
You can drop anchor and see the anchoring screen, etc right on the phone.
Besides I’ve dropped the anchor enough that I know about how much chain I have put, but looking at the phone on the Vesper App tells me the distance to the anchor, not how much chain is out, but that is sort of irrelevant, it’s not that much different.

[Souzag818]

I'm in the paint group. Bright orange, so I can see it from the cockpit. One 3 foot long section 10 ft from the anchor so I know its close, then a 1 foot section at 25', two 1 foot sections at 50', three 1 foot sections at 75', etc. Have to re-do it about every 3 years, but it's pretty painless and quick. I think it is road striping paint, if I'm not mistaken.

[Jim Cate]

Originally Posted by UFGator

Are you just tying this on or are you weaving it in or something else? Do you have a pic?

Jim answering: I just weave the line through each link in a kinda haphazard manner, leaving a few inches hanging out at each end. The hanging out bits make it easier to see in poor light conditions, but eventually get nipped off. There is enough length to start with that one can unweave a new tail when that happens... a few times.

It ain't rocket science... more like sand box science!

Jim

[sscoll]

I don't mark the chain portion of the rode as I know how long it is and all of it goes over the side. I cut an old T shirt, preferably brightly colored, into strips and tie it through the line every ten feet and print the length on it with a black Sharpie. Windless doesn't do it any damage. Over time everything wears out so I go through it every year and replace those that get frayed.

[GrowleyMonster]

Paint. For small chain use muliple colors. I like a mark every 90 feet, just cause on ships my anchor chain is always in 90 foot shots with a detach link between shots. The detachable links on ships' chain (often referred to as a shackle) are painted red. First one is just red, second one is red with one white link to either side of it. Third has two white links before and after the red shackle. Fourth, three. Now obviously you would miss the itty bitty painted links in a sailboat anchor chain so I suggest painting a foot or two of chain for a mark. Maybe paint a foot, skip a foot, paint another foot, for the second mark, and so on. Additionally you can add a zip tie or something. On ships we use band-it on the stud. Our anchor chain is stud link. Yacht chain of course usually is not. Markers on the stud are not as vulnerable. You will lose them on the sides of the link, as they wear on the wildcat, but the paint gives you redundancy. Also, I paint a very bold stripe on the wildcat so I can easily count revolutions. For instance, on my current ship we have a 10 link wildcat and the chain is 83 links to the shot, so 8.3 revolutions is a shot, in case I miss the mark due to the chain paying out fast and the air being filled with pulverized rust and bottom mud from the chain locker. On a yacht windlass, paint half the wildcat one color and half another color and you can easily count revolutions if you are walking the anchor down with the windlass motor. The last shot is always painted all red. The next to the last shot is always painted all yellow. On yacht chain there is of course no reason to mark every 90 feet. Every 10 fathoms, every 5 fathoms, whatever works for you, but it is good to have the last two sections of chain between the markers painted yellow and red so you know that's all she wrote. If you have fiber rope spliced into the bitter end, no worries I guess. On most of my boats to date I have had combination rode and always paid out all the chain so markers not really needed. On my new project I will have 400' of 3/8" G43 so marking will be important. Backup/kedge/lunchhook rode will be combination, deployed by hand and retrieved by sheet winch or the cathead on the windlass. I will be marking the rope part of that rode, with zip ties in various colors.



Zip ties work great on rope rode. Put two or three cause even on rope you will lose them now and then.

[windquest24]

Originally Posted by FabioC

I am in the process of marking my anchor chain. I am trying to select the "best" marker (I know there is no such a thing as a best marker, just trying to select one possible solution) and I have a specific question.

There are plastic chain markers on the market. Osculati makes one, but there are several vendors making similar products, you can find in many marine stores:

https://www.osculati.com/en/11004-m-...rainbow-marker

I cannot find a single review of any of these things... Has anybody tried them? Do they work well?

Thank you!

I am currently using these markers. They went in the chain easily and have not fallen out in over a year. Can be difficult to see , need to carefully watch the chain, particularly the white ones. I am satisfied with the product.

[Tomaz473]

I use stripes of fabric (5cm X 1m) tied with a simple knot every 10m.
It is free, easy to do and now after 8 years I am about to replace the first two. Red is no longer red due to UV light and salt water, yellow is about to brake..
My markings are telling me:
10m: red - red= danger (not enough rode regardless of depth) Good to have it to tell you when the anchor is coming up.
20m: yellow - yellow=warning normally not enough unless in 3m of water
30m: green -gren=OK, go for it. 30m on the water (not on the bow) is OK for me for 10m depth (my most usual depth). My 33kg Rocna is hapy with 3to 1 scope in normal conditions. If I expect large swell and 40+ knots I increase the scope of course.
40m: blue - Blue=wise decision. This is a safe length for 10m depth in normal circumstances
At 50m I only have a stainless still link, will do white stripe one day...
At 75m I have a splice from chain to the rope - I can't miss that :-)
No markings on the rope yet.

[Jetx]

We just measured and marked our chain using the woven polypro line approach others have recommended here.

Funny thing was -- when we were nearly finished, after walking back and forth along the chain, laid out on the dock, umpteen times-- I finally realized that the PO had marked the chain with the plastic Osculati inserts. Multiple colors had been used, with about a half-dozen markers installed in consecutive links at each "mark". We just never saw them, despite looking multiple times for marks of some kind as the chain came aboard or paid out.

So the good news on the Osculati markers was that only a few had fallen out. The bad news was that, at least in our case, they were so small and inconspicuous (faded and grimy) that they were practically invisible.

[FlyingScot]

I use the listed ones in the OP. Bought from Budget Marine https://budgetmarine.com/catalog/anc...-rainbow-8-pk/

They work well, but were hard to insert into brand new 10mm chain. I try to center it with the weld. I suspect some people have trouble with them falling out because they don't check both sides after inserting to ensure it fully popped into the link. Or if they fall out easily, check the wire diameter of the chain and see if under spec. I made and laminated color/length chart showing both imperial/metric lengths in 25ft intervals all the way to 325 ft. I hook and loop fastened by the plug for the winch remote.

PS: I don't use white, too hard to see.

[Doublet]

I was going through my colored cable ties on a regular basis. I was told not to zip them up tight but leave some slack and cut the remaining length short. They now last much much longer.


Doublet

[fxykty]

Originally Posted by Doublet

I was going through my colored cable ties on a regular basis. I was told not to zip them up tight but leave some slack and cut the remaining length short. They now last much much longer.


Doublet

Great tip, I hadn’t thought to leave them loose.