Too Much Chain

[sailorboy1]

I have all chain, 350'. But I wonder if really that you don't really have a need for all chain that it is a money waste. I worry sometimes that if the anchor gets hung up and I have to leave it that all that extra chain was just lost money on the sea bottom. So I'm thinking of cutting my chain in half and putting it away for later.

How "common" is having an anchor hang up?

[davefromoregon]

It probably matters where you sail and anchor.


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[brownoarsman]

Have you ever let out all 350'? Worth doing on a calm day if you can, I guess. My anchor locker is limited and with 70' of chain, the rode starts to kink as it pays out. I imagine with more chain it may form a knot that blocks it from exiting the hawse hole.
If you have a windlass drawing chain from the hawse hole, a similar thing could happen depending on the dimensions of your locker.


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[accomplice]

I've used all 300' of chain many times, but have yet to lose a primary anchor (knock on wood). There are times when I would've put out 350' if I'd had it. Do you ever have need to anchor in water over 30-40' or so?

[ErBrown]

Also if my anchor did hang. I'd probably dive it first and free as much chain as possible and then use a trusty hacksaw to minimize the amount of chain I had to leave behind.

To me the benefits of having a lot of chain outweigh the potential for loss due to a hung anchor. If you're anchoring somewhere this is a common problem a trip line seems like a natural. Of course that's all book knowledge, I've yet to be in this situation, so can't speak from experience.

[donradcliffe]

I only had 300 ft, and there were times when I wanted all of it. In 15 years of living on the hook, I never got an anchor stuck so badly that I had to scuba dive on it, but I have done it once for another boat.

[Weyalan]

We have approx 330' of chain, but in two separate rodes. I figure that 165' of chain and 35' of rope will be fine for 99% of situations. If we come across the 1% situation, we can always add the other section of chain...

[rwidman]

Originally Posted by sailorboy1

I have all chain, 350'. But I wonder if really that you don't really have a need for all chain that it is a money waste. I worry sometimes that if the anchor gets hung up and I have to leave it that all that extra chain was just lost money on the sea bottom. So I'm thinking of cutting my chain in half and putting it away for later.

How "common" is having an anchor hang up?

Don't cut it now, wait until it's hung up on the bottom and only cut what you are forced to. You would need to carry bolt cutters (best) or a hack saw (difficult to use without a good way of holding the chain stationary.

Anchors are more apt to hang up where there are large rocks or sunken trees on the bottom. Using a trip line might get your anchor back but you have to connect it first, not after the anchor is stuck.

[btrayfors]

I'm an anchoring fool. Have spent literally thousands of nites at anchor over the past fifty years, most of them in the Chesapeake area but many in the Eastern Caribbean, the entire East Coast from Maine to the Keys, the Bahamas, the Eastern Mediterranean, Indonesia, etc.

I have NEVER had an anchor hang so badly I couldn't retrieve it, nor have I ever needed more than 200' of rode. For the past 25 years I've used all-chain rode (200ft 3/8" G40) with Danforth-type anchors in the Chesapeake and a 45lb CQR outside the Chesapeake region.

The drill for retrieving an anchor is simple: position the boat directly over the anchor, moving up to it slowly under power or very slowly in spurts using the windlass if there's not too much wind.

Then, when directly over the anchor, kick the engine into forward or reverse at low rpm and the anchor will break free of the bottom.

Only time it didn't work easily for me was when my Danforth 35H managed to dig into a sunken log. That took a bit more maneuvering, but in the end I managed to retrieve the anchor without damage.

Another time, anchored just below the old Wilson Bridge waiting for a midnight opening, my Danforth anchor caught a telephone pole. It was dug into the pole pretty well, and when with the deck lights on I raised it enough to see the problem it was relatively simple to hold the pole in place while I knocked the anchor free.

Bottom line: don't sweat it. Do things right and you'll not have a problem. And, you'll not likely need more than 200' of chain.

Bill

[sailorboy1]

I have used all the chain a few times.

Those that say they would just dive on the anchor I would like to see that since the water here is 40-45 degrees and I'm normally anchored in 20+ feet of water that you can not see though.

[colemj]

Originally Posted by sailorboy1

Those that say they would just dive on the anchor I would like to see that since the water here is 40-45 degrees and I'm normally anchored in 20+ feet of water that you can not see though.

Ah, but where are you heading? Just imagine anchoring in 10' of 83° water with unlimited visibility....

You will be intentionally fouling your anchor just to have an excuse to grab a few more conch while you're down there.

Mark

[markpierce]

Why worry? You have the chain, so unless it causes an imbalance in the boat, leave it alone and enjoy.

[IdoraKeeper]

Originally Posted by markpierce

Why worry? You have the chain, so unless it causes an imbalance in the boat, leave it alone and enjoy.

What Mark said. Don't worry about it. If I can I will add 200' of 3 strand nylon to my 230' of chain...more the better around here.

[UNCIVILIZED]

One thing to factor into this, is the ever climbing price of quality rope rode, and how close it's getting to that of chain (if the chain's bulk purchased). That, & when you toss in the comparative lifespan of the two, chafe resistance, use when anchoring in extremis etc.

Regardless of the choice, from here, if you anchor on any length of chain now, don't rely on a hacksaw on anything but the most calm & gentle day. And that's above the water.

Reading a few anchoring horror/stupid stories, of folks trying to cut anchor chain, while on the bow of a roller coastering, & or submerging boat, boggles the mind.
I can understand them not being able to let it run as they were too close to the beach. Bad move to begin with. But in said circumstances, there are many other, better, options than a hacksaw.

[Canibul]

It really all depends on where you're sailing doesn't it? I would be hard pressed to find a good anchorage here deeper than about 15 ft. But south of here, or just about anywhere in the Pacific or wherever the islands and coast are volcanic in nature, the water gets deep in a hurry and you can still be in the lee of an island and in drastically deepening water. This boat went 30 years with 30' of chain and 200 ft. of nylon. I just added a hundred feet of chain, but that's more for ease of using the manual windlass than any need for more than 30 ft.