Do you mark your anchor line

[bgytr]

Are you all chain or when you say anchor line, is the rode an actual line?
I have 10 feet of very heavy chain at the anchor. Above the chain I have 8-plait nylon. I have colored whipping every 25 feet that I put on myself. Black whips are 25 feet. Red whips are 100 feet. Example, 175 feet of rode is one red whip and 3 black whips. Takes a few minutes to put on each whip, but if you use quality whipping twine, it lasts well.
The 8-plait is nice because it is much more supple than 3 strand. I keep it in a bag that squishes down well and fits in my cockpit seat locker. I do not like keeping the rode forward in the anchor locker, dragging a bunch of goo into the locker and having the weight up at the bow so I give it a rinse then hand over hand into the bag before stowage.

[bgallinger]

I mark the chain with spray paint every 25 Feet. It usually lasts for a couple of years

[rslifkin]

I agree that proper prep on the chain makes paint last a lot longer. If it adheres well, then it just slowly wears off rather than chipping / flaking off.

For the rope portion, this is the stuff I used (in neon orange, neon green, and black): https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0...?ie=UTF8&psc=1


Finished result came out looking like the picture below.

[Shrew]

For line we use a variety of colors of whipping twine and whip colored markers. Vary the colors and number of bars.

For chain we use plastic chain markers. The same idea R-Y-G-B

1R = 10
1Y = 20
1G = 30
1b = 40
2R = 50
2Y = 60
2G = 70
2b = 80
3R = 90
etc

Keep in mind, in our area it's shallow. We tend to only anchor in 7 - 15 feet (8-10 is most common). So we rarely see more than 80 feet out unless we're deeper and/or there are high winds.

[Sailer_Med]

Red paint every 5 meters for about 1/3M each side of the 5 meter mark. The last 5 meters before the rope is all red just so we don't miss it going by.

[ThereAndBack]

Originally Posted by Orion Jim

I’ve used these for many years. Made of rip-stop PVC. I just loop them through a link and put a couple stitches in to hold in place. They feed though a gypsy with no issues.

Where do you buy this or what is it called? A quick google for "rip-stop pvc chain marker" didn't turn up much.

[Jammer]

Originally Posted by ThereAndBack

Where do you buy this or what is it called? A quick google for "rip-stop pvc chain marker" didn't turn up much.

Defender, Fisheries, etc have them.


https://www.defender.com/product.jsp?id=5565534


https://www.fisheriessupply.com/owen...-markers/omarm

[wingssail]

We use short pieces of colored spinnaker cloth tied into the links and marked with permeant marking pen. Three colors: Green for 25, 75,125,175 etc. Red for 50, 150, 250. White for 100, 200, 300.

These go through the gypsy easily, are clearly visible, even on the immersed chain.

The ones closest to the anchor last about a year.

[Jammer]

I've heard tell that the cloth flags will jam some windlasses. The vertical-shaft windlasses are said to be more sensitive to jamming than the horizontal-shaft ones.

[wingssail]

The light weight nylon spinnaker cloth does not jam in our vert windlass

[thinwater]

Originally Posted by bgytr

Are you all chain or when you say anchor line, is the rode an actual line?...

I assumed he meant rope (a rode can be made of chain or rope, and a line can be made of rope, but a rode cannot be made of line).


Latex paint bands are probably simplest, but tags through the weave also work. I find them annoying where the rope is cleated and prefer paint. I dislike the feel of plastic ties underhand. Just personal preference. Tags are traditional, from before the development of the flexible, high-adhesion paints we now enjoy.



Latex paint will not harm the nylon rope and it stays on quite well. Even when it wears (unlike chain the rope does not rest on the bottom) the stains persist! Solvent based paints slightly weaken the rope.



If using paint, take a large empty box, cut pairs of notches in the opposing sides, and drape the sections to be marked across the open top using the notches. In this way you can paint the rope all the way around without moving the rope or making a mess. The box trick works with spray paint (contains the overspray) and works with chain.

[Simi 60]

Originally Posted by SailFastTri

Spray paint is good.

For a week or two.

If you rarely anchor it'll of course last longer.

Coloured rope from the $2 shop lasts a year or more of daily use.
For us mark 1 is at 40m then every 20m after
Don't need different colours as I can count to 4 (-;

[Simi 60]

Originally Posted by Shrew

For line we use a variety of colors of whipping twine and whip colored markers. Vary the colors and number of bars.

For chain we use plastic chain markers. The same idea R-Y-G-B

1R = 10
1Y = 20
1G = 30
1b = 40
2R = 50
2Y = 60
2G = 70
2b = 80
3R = 90
etc

Keep in mind, in our area it's shallow. We tend to only anchor in 7 - 15 feet (8-10 is most common). So we rarely see more than 80 feet out unless we're deeper and/or there are high winds.

So why bother with the first 7 markers?
Do you carry a laminated card around your neck to remind you what it all means?

[rslifkin]

Originally Posted by Simi 60

So why bother with the first 7 markers?

Markers closer to the anchor can be handy for telling you when you've got the rode basically vertical and are about to start pulling on the anchor to break it free. Not particularly necessary, but sometimes nice to know.

[Simi 60]

Originally Posted by rslifkin

Markers closer to the anchor can be handy for telling you when you've got the rode basically vertical and are about to start pulling on the anchor to break it free. Not particularly necessary, but sometimes nice to know.

Surely you could tell that by looking at it
Or observing that the windlass is slowing - under load.