How much chain for cruising Qld Australia?

[fursoc]

Hi, I have a reasonably new to me 12m catamaran which came with 40m of 10mm chain that is looking pretty old. Some links are a bit rusty, but they seem to do the job on the weekend cruises I have done in the past in Lake Macquarie NSW.

But, this year we are venturing up to Qld and then to Darwin and possibly to South East Asia.

Anyway, I am thinking of replacing it now before we leave. How much chain would you recommend carrying for these cruising grounds?

Thanks

[44'cruisingcat]

For Qld, the 40 metres would be ok. You can even get it re galvanised in Bundaberg on your way North.

[Bruce K]

Half a pail of 10mm is 55m, probably enough. I have 55m and then 100m of 16mm 8 plat nylon, have never really use the rope. 16mm 8 plat nylon is available from Cutting and Splicing services in Sydney, very cheap. I have no connection other than a happy customer.

[fursoc]

Originally Posted by 44'cruisingcat

For Qld, the 40 metres would be ok. You can even get it re galvanised in Bundaberg on your way North.

Thanks for that!

What does re-galvanising do? Does it renew and make it last longer?

[fursoc]

Originally Posted by Bruce K

Half a pail of 10mm is 55m, probably enough. I have 55m and then 100m of 16mm 8 plat nylon, have never really use the rope. 16mm 8 plat nylon is available from Cutting and Splicing services in Sydney, very cheap. I have no connection other than a happy customer.

When you say you hardly ever used the rope, why did you use it when you did?

[valhalla360]

Re-galvanizing will work if it's just a light surface rust but if there is significant erosion of the underlying steel, it won't restore strength.

[grahamb]

for some places in SE Asia finding a depth in which an anchor can be laid can be difficult......some have very steep drop offs indeed......and often the bottom is broken loose coral …...40 m is probably ok for the Great Barrier Reef...….but more for Indonesia in particular......

[44'cruisingcat]

Originally Posted by fursoc

Thanks for that!

What does re-galvanising do? Does it renew and make it last longer?

Well yes. The galvanizing wears off, then the chain starts to rust. If it has only lightly rusted, regalvanizing makes it (almost) like new again.

Our anchor and chain gets used almost every day. In the coarse sand and coral in much of Qld the galvanizing only lasts about 2 years.

If the chain is heavily rusted it's better to replace it.

Regalvanizing is much cheaper.

[ozsailer]

When travelling through the Whitsundays and other areas we never encountered waters deeper than 15 metres that we had to anchor in. You are playing with some big tides up there with 7 or 8 metre tidal ranges. I dont like anchor line around the reef areas simply because we have wrapped our line around a bommie and it had been rope it was likely we would have abraded through.
We do carry 100 metres which is probably excessive but we have been caught out in some nastly blows were we have had 80 metres of chain out. Anchor and rode never moved and I dont want to be out if I have to use all 100 metres. Buying bulk the 100 was cheapers than buying 60 metres. We end for end our chain every year.


Greg H
Lagoon 440

[MLOI]

Originally Posted by Bruce K

Half a pail of 10mm is 55m, probably enough. I have 55m and then 100m of 16mm 8 plat nylon, have never really use the rope.

Same anchor rode set up and same experience here.
That gives you 5 to 1 scope of all chain in 10m of water, should be enough to ensure that you never need to have enough rope out so that it is a risk of rope contacting the bottom.

Mike

[Bruce K]

Originally Posted by fursoc

When you say you hardly ever used the rope, why did you use it when you did?

Used the rope to see how the rope/chain gypsy worked; I always try all changes I make, so when I do need them, I know how they work. My boat draws about 1m, so I usually anchor shallow.

[fursoc]

Thanks everyone. A bunch of good opinions as always. I’ll stick with what we have until we get further north and see how we go from there.

[Bean Counter]

You may find that if you do not attend to it early the rust will have eaten enough of the chain so that some links will slip in the gypsy. Once that happens it can twist and cause horrible bunching in the chain locker. People end up buying anchor swivels to try and rectify it and it is all to no avail. This is an important safety issue, not something to try and save a few bucks on in the hope it will last another 6 months. Just speaking from our own experience.

[AussieCat]

We carry 80 mts plus 80 mts rope spliced onto end. Have never needed the rope but nice to have if required. Also run a 33kg Rocna which we're very happy with. Best buy we found for the chain was Southern Seas Marine on the Gold Coast. They have 10mm short link G40 ISO 4565 at better price than others have G30. Good mob to deal with as well. Cheers

[AussieCat]

And a Maxwell 10 mm swivel. We put 4 links of chain then the swivel attached to rest of chain. That eliminates any risk of twisting the swivel sideways