How much chain for cruising Qld Australia?

[carlwk3c]

Originally Posted by 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.

And the heat of proper regalvanizing will likely adversely affect strength by removing temper.

[Jim Cate]

Originally Posted by 44'cruisingcat

How long ago was this?

Our chain, and that of our friends, was excellent. Looked like new chain.

Maybe they've improved their method.

Yep, it was a few years back, and if results are good now, that's great.

In our case, I wasn't about to repeat the experience when Brisbane was so close!

Jim

[RaymondR]

Originally Posted by Jim Cate

Yep, it was a few years back, and if results are good now, that's great.

In our case, I wasn't about to repeat the experience when Brisbane was so close!

Jim

Had some done there about three months ago and it looked pretty good, no big dags or stuck together links. Price wasn't bad either.

[SimonV]

If you are really going to enjoy Queensland North, you should have 100m of chain. There are so many spectacular spots to visit on the reef and coast. Be prepared to anchor in 15m, more in some places. 5 to 1 should be your minimum scope. Lots of Places have public moorings due to depth, but if these are full, which happens you could be dropping the pick in 25m to find sand/mud or have to move on and miss out do not anchor on coral. Blue Pearl Bay comes to mind as does Bait reef. You will be glad of the extra chain.

[NevilleCat]

Problem on a cat is that 100 m of 10mm short link chain will, apart from costing a heap, will weigh 250kg

[44'cruisingcat]

Originally Posted by SimonV

If you are really going to enjoy Queensland North, you should have 100m of chain. There are so many spectacular spots to visit on the reef and coast. Be prepared to anchor in 15m, more in some places. 5 to 1 should be your minimum scope. Lots of Places have public moorings due to depth, but if these are full, which happens you could be dropping the pick in 25m to find sand/mud or have to move on and miss out do not anchor on coral. Blue Pearl Bay comes to mind as does Bait reef. You will be glad of the extra chain.

We've never needed anything like 100m. And anchoring at Bait reef is illegal.

There are far better places to see better coral and anchor in much shallower water, Hardy lagoon, hook reef or black reef for instance.

[SimonV]

Originally Posted by 44'cruisingcat

We've never needed anything like 100m. And anchoring at Bait reef is illegal.

There are far better places to see better coral and anchor in much shallower water, Hardy lagoon, hook reef or black reef for instance.

I’m sorry to say you are misinformed, anchoring is allowed. The only area set aside as a no anchor zone is in the south west , if you have travelled there and no moorings are available then the north west quadrant is good holding and you will have the place to yourself. Getting away from the tourists and it’s prestine.

[Rjt]

Bundy galvanising. A mate just got his chain back. Had to hammer out links and file chunks of zinc off. He’s not very happy.

[Jim Cate]

Originally Posted by Rjt

Bundy galvanising. A mate just got his chain back. Had to hammer out links and file chunks of zinc off. He’s not very happy.

That echoes our experience, but conflicts with other's recent results. I guess it is poor quality control issues. If I was gonna try them again, I'd be up front and say that I'd not accept such quality and would expect it to be re-done.

Dunno how that would go over!

Jim

[RaymondR]

Originally Posted by Rjt

Bundy galvanising. A mate just got his chain back. Had to hammer out links and file chunks of zinc off. He’s not very happy.

I was going to run a friends chain up to Bundy for re-gal but when she called they said their equipment was down for repair. Might have something to do with the poor quality work. Tell him to give them a call, they may redo it for him.

[AiniA]

Originally Posted by Jim Cate

That echoes our experience, but conflicts with other's recent results. I guess it is poor quality control issues. If I was gonna try them again, I'd be up front and say that I'd not accept such quality and would expect it to be re-done.

Dunno how that would go over!

Jim

Jim, my understanding is that a regalvanizing shop needs to have a machine called a tumbler to break up the zinc joins between chain links. Otherwise you need to do it with a hammer and you get sharp spots where the links have extra zinc sticking out.

We went from Brisbane to Darwin and had 200 feet (60ish m) of chain and never felt that we were short. We had lots of rode attached to the chain but I don't remember every using it there.

[Jim Cate]

Originally Posted by AiniA

Jim, my understanding is that a regalvanizing shop needs to have a machine called a tumbler to break up the zinc joins between chain links. Otherwise you need to do it with a hammer and you get sharp spots where the links have extra zinc sticking out.

We went from Brisbane to Darwin and had 200 feet (60ish m) of chain and never felt that we were short. We had lots of rode attached to the chain but I don't remember every using it there.

Yep, to regal chain you need either a spinner (centrifuge) or a shaker type device to keep the chain in motion whilst the zinc solidifies. How carefully the shop does the spinning or shaking has an affect on the outcome, and it seems like Bundy isn't too careful about this step at times. Perhaps different staff at different times, who knows?

I hope they get their act together,'cause they are in a location that is convenient to many cruisers.

Jim

[Simi 60]

Originally Posted by NevilleCat

Problem on a cat is that 100 m of 10mm short link chain will, apart from costing a heap, will weigh 250kg

You're on a cat.
Chain is cheap in comparison but I'll give you the weight part of your reasoning.

[first.contact]

G'day. I'm on an Arends 33 (monohull) and carry 60m of 10mm chain which at 4:1 gives me a maximum anchoring depth of 15m. We found that some anchorages up here require us to anchor in 9-10m because of the fringing reef, so having enough scope (plus some for the rise and fall of the tide and wind) makes for a good night's sleep.

At some anchorages (around the Great Palm Group) you can expect to anchor in 12m. We carry a rope rode as well but have never used it here. The prospect of a coral head cutting through is not a restful proposition.

One of our friends suffered this fate at Great Palm Island - his partial rope rode got sliced in the middle of the night by a underwater coral bommie and he ended up on the reef.

We sailed to Thursday Island a few years back and found we needed lots of scope - 7:1 - to get a good hold on the bottom and hold the boat against the tidal flows. That limited where we could stop safely.

But most of the time we anchor in sand/coral rubble in 2-3m of water

Cheers

[44'cruisingcat]

Originally Posted by first.contact

G'day. I'm on an Arends 33 (monohull) and carry 60m of 10mm chain which at 4:1 gives me a maximum anchoring depth of 15m. We found that some anchorages up here require us to anchor in 9-10m because of the fringing reef, so having enough scope (plus some for the rise and fall of the tide and wind) makes for a good night's sleep.

At some anchorages (around the Great Palm Group) you can expect to anchor in 12m. We carry a rope rode as well but have never used it here. The prospect of a coral head cutting through is not a restful proposition.

One of our friends suffered this fate at Great Palm Island - his partial rope rode got sliced in the middle of the night by a underwater coral bommie and he ended up on the reef.

We sailed to Thursday Island a few years back and found we needed lots of scope - 7:1 - to get a good hold on the bottom and hold the boat against the tidal flows. That limited where we could stop safely.

But most of the time we anchor in sand/coral rubble in 2-3m of water

Cheers

The idea when using the rope in addition to the chain is to not let the rope reach the bottom.