Merits of all-chain rode

[Mick Laver]

Hi all,
My recently-purchased '99  has a 35# CQR, 80' of 1/4" HT chaib, and 250' for 5/8" Nylon 3-strand for the primary. I would like to go to an all-chain rode with 300' of 1/4" HT, but I have a couple of concerns. The first concern is weight: 225# of chain plus a 35# anchor seems like a lot to put on the nose of a relatively small boat. Am I going to compromise performance? Second concern is the windlass. The Maxwell V500 has a maximum pull of 500#. I realize I'll never be lifting the entire length, but given all the other factors that come into play is this cutting it too close?

Does anyone have a similar setup they could comment on? Thanks much!

[Craig Illman]

Mick - How much water are you typically going to be anchoring in? If it's twenty feet or less, the extra chain might be pretty superfluous. I think there's an anchoring spreadsheet in the Wiki that lets you simulate various combinations of rode and chain.

Craig

[Stu Jackson]

The anchoring system sizing tables can be found on the "101" topics sticky on the board.  Steve Dolling aka waterdog wrote up his experiences with long chain and rode when anchoring in his "1500 Mile Report."  Do a search on 1500 and you'll find his discussion.

Unless you find you're seriously out of whack on your waterline, I doubt is that load would affect your C34 significantly in any way.

[Mick Laver]

Many of the Channel Islands anchorages can be 40ft or more. I'd hate to get caught in a situation where I HAD to anchor and didn't have enough rode to do it securely.

I'm considering the 1/4" G70 as opposed to the G40. The SWL is about 500 lbs more than the G4, and the weight's about 15% less. Of course the cost difference is another story, but this is probably one of those areas where you don't scrimp...

[Stu Jackson]

Mick, you're right, not something to scrimp on.

You may be interested in this, also part of the "101" sticky topics:  http://c34.org/bbs/index.php/topic,2705.0.html

There's a good test report in that by Maine Sail.

Not to get into another "best anchor" discussion...

But forget the swivel, just a weak link...

[Ron Hill]

Mick : I strongly disagree with Stu on the swivel being the weak link - unless you use an cheap, undersized swivel!!

Think you'll find as I have that the more chain you use, the more a swivel is necessary.  Chain tends to twist, the more chain the more it will twist and you want the anchor to do it's own thing.  Not being turned by twisted chain.

It's hard to believe that anyone is anchoring in depths that call for more than 80ft of chain with the apporate amount of nylon road.  

Even if you stay at anchor from 1600 one afternoon to 0900 the next morning, the tide will have turned you twice and the wind could cause another turn of two!!

A few thoughts

[Stephen Butler]

We have 60ft of chain and 250ft of nylon line for our primary rode.  And we are installing a top of the line swivel.  We typically anchor in 10 to 15 feet waters, and deploy all the chain and a bit of the nylon to act as a snubber.  The only difficulty is chain twist, which a top quality swival will solve.  Hope this is of help.

[Mick Laver]

Thanks all. I already have the Kong 644.10 (5/16-7/16 chain) anchor swivel which claims a SWL of 4400#. The 1/4" G70's SWL is around 3200# so the swivel *shouldn't* be the "weak link." The CQR already twists in two directions (shaft pivots, built in shackle) so I'm hoping that also reduces the kinkiness.

I'm starting to realize anchor swivels are their own religion. A long-term cruiser I know looked at my ground tackle and told me to immediately get a swivel. A WM salesman I've known for a long time said "It doesn't matter what chain you buy. Here's your point of failure" while he was holding the same swivel I had bought a month ago. Sheesh!

I know I could get away with my 80ft of chain and 250ft of 5/8" poly, but I have the chain gypsy on my windlass and the idea of not worrying about chafing (other than the bridle) and multiple points of failure is really attractive to me. There must be SOMEONE in this group with an all-chain rode!

[Roc]

Mick,
Your hull number is not that much before mine.  How did you get a chain gypsy?  I have a Maxwell that only came with a rope gypsy when I bought the boat (new)

[Steve Sayian]

We also have a rope windlass without a chain gypsy (16 hull numbers newer than Mick's).

[Mick Laver]

Roc/Steve,
The original owner sailed out of Channel Islands Harbor in Oxnard. (In fact he still does, but in the Catalina 42 MkII STARLIGHT.) He provisioned the boat with the Maxwell VW500, which has both a chain and rope gypsy on the same head, because he planned to sail to the deeper anchorages of the Channel Islands. My guess is that the VW500 it was an option Catalina offered, along with a beefier bow roller. Since we have it we might as well use it! Going full-chain is - to me, anyway - the logical next step.

[Ron Hill]

Roc : I believe that your windlass came with a drum for rope/line, not a gypsy for chain.  

You can put chain in a drum and "self tale", but all of the chrome should be taken off the drum - lest you get chrome chards in your hands. OUCH!!
A thought

[SD Diver]

If you are still trying to figure out what anchor or how big of chain, this is how the professionals determine it.