Rode Length and Anchoring Depth

[MarkJ]

Originally Posted by Eleebana

Well I don't mind the idea of of some rope road so I have the option of letting an anchor go quickly. If that's your experience then, with 100m of chain there'd be no rope out until I'm in 30-35m depth so there is no way 30m of rope is going to touch? Logical ?

Greg

Greg, I'm not really understanding you here... it might be too early in the morning
I just don't think you'll ever need more than 100 meters, so any rope rode at the end of that is superfluous. And as Jim say it just gets cruddy in the bottom of the anchor locker.

I agree with Jim having the bitter end secured to the boat. I have a lanyard looped through several times so its strong but quick and easy to cut.

After getting our full length of chain I have just never had one thought of using rope again, ever. Rope is just no where near to giving that feeling of strength as chain.

I am stuck in this hell hole for 6 months and its barnacle city... If I had rope rode I would be wondering if barnacles can grow inside the lay of the rope and their sharp bodies cut the fibers when weight is put on it. I won't let my snubber touch the water for that reason.

Lobbing into some unkown anchorage needs to be a breeze and I'm sure you'll be happy. However if you want to put an extra 30m of rope at the end of the 100m then do so. Set your boat up now for any contingency and if it never gets used who cares?
At least it may hold the chain out of any water in the bottom of the anchor well.


Mark

[SailFastTri]

Originally Posted by MarkJ

snip I am stuck in this hell hole for 6 months and its barnacle city... If I had rope rode I would be wondering if barnacles can grow inside the lay of the rope and their sharp bodies cut the fibers when weight is put on it. I won't let my snubber touch the water for that reason.

Mark

That makes me curious - I've never anchored in one place for more than 2 weeks (other than on my permanent mooring).... what do long-term cruisers do to clean the chain after long-term anchoring? (without destroying the galvanizing) Power washer doesn't handle the big barnacles.

[Unicorn Dreams]

Starbuck

Probably right

Still can't figure out why someone would want to attach their chain to the highway while at an anchorage.

LOL

[allanpeda]

Originally Posted by SailFastTri

That makes me curious - I've never anchored in one place for more than 2 weeks (other than on my permanent mooring).... what do long-term cruisers do to clean the chain after long-term anchoring? (without destroying the galvanizing) Power washer doesn't handle the big barnacles.

Galvanizing is pretty tough, but I'll offer a thought. If you can rinse soak the chain in something that softens the shells, I'll bet you make a lot of headway. I normally hate "what about this" type advice, but when it's easy to test and not too risky I give it a shot.

I googled a bit and I see notes about muriatic acid, but maybe a gallon of vinegar (acetic acid) in a 5 gal bucket overnight will soften them up.

Sorry for the shot in the dark advice, but worth trying, even if you try it on a length of test chain. Two weeks gets that bad? Wouldn't they still be polyps after two weeks?

[MarkJ]

Originally Posted by SailFastTri

what do long-term cruisers do to clean the chain after long-term anchoring? .

I am in 7 meters of water. I have out 30 meters of chain.
The only part that gets fould is the top 7 meters where its in the water. The part on the sea floor gets abraided by the mud/sand whatever so remains clean.

After one week I drop another 10 meters out so the dirty part is now on the bay bottom and gets cleaned as the boat moves.
Then I pull in the extra 10 m before it gets fouled....

And you think we are just living the high life! I have to push a button once per week!!!

[Unicorn Dreams]

You have it so hard MarkJ, might have to get an assistant to help with pushing that button.

[MarkJ]

Originally Posted by Unicorn Dreams

You have it so hard MarkJ, might have to get an assistant to help with pushing that button.

With the right sort of assistant I could enjoy pushing the buttons....

[Hudson Force]

Originally Posted by Jim Cate

................ and almost never anchor in the sub 3 metres fondly mentioned in some of the above posts. To me, that's scary!.............Cheers, Jim

This makes us needful to match good advice with the cruising grounds. For those gunkholing among the sand and mud in regions with a two foot maximum tide, anchoring practices are very different. We spend many days cruising in water that is never as deep as 3 meters!


Bayside in the Florida keys has a few deep areas that are more than two meters.

[SailFastTri]

I'm of the opinion that your rode length and mix of chain vs. rope should be determined by where you anchor, type of boat and lifestyle. Given that in fair weather 3:1 scope is minimum, 5:1 is preferred and in storms 7:1 is preferred (or more), all the rest is details.

Is the bottom rocky/coral or littered with debris? Are you a weekend/vacation overnighter or full-time cruiser? Does your boat have a windlass? Is your boat small or a multihull (more sensitive to weight)? Do you only anchor in less than 25-feet of water (very possible on the US east coast)? All of these are considerations that decide how much rode is best to carry and what type/mix.

One other consideration: If you're limited by how much weight you should carry on the bow (most of us are) without killing performance/trim, you will get more holding from putting the weight into a larger anchor than you would from carrying more chain. (There's no such thing as too much anchor at 0-dark hundred when a squall comes through).

Characteristics:
Rope (Nylon)
— Vulnerable to bottom cuts/abrasion and passing boat's props
— Stretches, Absorbs shock
— Lower dynamic loads
— Light weight
— Easily handled by-hand
— Coils not easy to handle
— Best stowed in bucket, bag or locker
Chain
— Resists abrasion and props
— No stretch – no shock absorption
— Very high dynamic loads
— Heavy
— Difficult handling by-hand.
— Longer lengths require a windlass and chain locker

On my trimaran I want chain on the bottom and rope to keep it light. I'm in the eastern US and never need to anchor in deep water (usually less than 15 feet), so I use 40-feet of chain. This gives the abrasion protection I want and usually the nylon is off the bottom. It also puts enough chain on the bottom so we don't meander around too far when the wind dies to zero and we can co-exist with all-chain neighbors who tend to stay-put in one spot, and we have some nylon in the mix to provide elasticity and reduce snatch loads.

If we were going to cruise full-time or go to the Bahamas where there is a lot of sharp coral I would probably go to 75 feet of chain.

[stillbuilding]

300' chain on primary anchor.
Occasionally in 70' but usually in 30'.
Try to keep 5:1 minimum after allowance for stemhead height above water

[zeehag]

194 ft 5/16 chain on my cqr, and 250 ft 5/16 chain on my bruce.
i anchor in 25 ft with 130 ft out of all chain. gets muddy but that is good. i rinse it off with sea water from a bucket when i pull anchor-- right now i am on a damn dock until hurricanes go away. then i anchor again in 26 ft water with 130 ft chain......or i sail to another place and do it all over again..
i do have 2 spools of line -- nylon 3 strand spliced with thimbles - i can use if i need to for whatever i need to use it ..

[GMac]

More than 100mts (330ft) is generally only needed in the realms of extreme cruisers venturing into some pretty wild extreme usually well off the beaten track spots.

I'd comfortably say of every 10 boats we see 8 or 9 of them have way more than they will ever use or need. Mind you that's far better than having it the other way around.

A good starting guide is 5 times the deepest water you'll ever anchor in as a total rode length then tweak to suit your destination accordingly, which may mean less or may mean more. The more chain you use the less rope behind it you'll need i.e. SailFastTri will need a lot longer 'total rode length' than Zeehag for example..... assuming both boated in the same waters. That also applies to swing room, something many often forget

[TEE]

2 anchors, 200 feet of chain each with 150 of three strand spliced to them. I don't like to anchor in deep water so try to keep depth to under 20 feet high tide. I also have two 50 foot lengths of additional chain that can be put on with quick links, but never had occasion to use them.

[Jon Hacking]

We carry 80m of 10mm. We'll attach rope if need be, but haven't had to for a long time. Deepest anchorage was ~75' - & wouldn't you know, that's the one time the anchor got stuck & I had to go rescue it with the scuba gear! Glad I hadn't tried to set it too hard or I'd have never gotten it out.

As far as scope, all anchors will dig in if pulled horizontally along a soft bottom, but all anchors also have a critical angle above which they'll start to pull out. For most anchors this angle is about 13° or so, which equates to a scope (to the DECK) of about 4.5:1. Since a good wind will straighten out any chain catenary, we always try to use more than this. We also use a good snubber of stretchy 1/2" 3-strand nylon to reduce snatch when surge straightens the chain.

Using rope can be dodgy if it hits the bottom. In the 80s we had a 5-ton, 40' plywood trimaran & couldn't afford the weight of all chain, so we carried ~50' of chain & then rope. But one day we were sitting down below in Rodney Bay, St. Lucia when we noticed we were sailing! A storm several weeks earlier had exposed some old coral in this sandy anchorage which had sliced our rope. After that we clipped a small float, about the size of 2 fists, to the last link of chain. This kept the rope (mostly) off the bottom & reduced chafe.

If you can afford the $$ & the weight, all chain is probably better. I talk about all this & more on our Anchors Page.

[SailFastTri]

Originally Posted by Jon Hacking

snip
After that we clipped a small float, about the size of 2 fists, to the last link of chain. This kept the rope (mostly) off the bottom & reduced chafe.

.

I like that idea Jon. Thanks for that!