Anchor chain

[PeterR]

I always find useing the anchor a pain with the anchor rope. it always get tangled My rib is stern heavy and i have probaply 20 kilo of lead in the bow locker as well as the anchor and 5 m chain.I have been considering changing what i have to 30 metres of chain and no rope.I am also about to change my a-frame to a sturdier and heavier by about 12 kilos and also fit a 5hp aux on the back.So i think the weight may help to compensate for my additions on the tramson. will this much chain end up getting knotted??????or will it be Ok

[codprawn]

Good luck pulling it all in!!!

How do you manage to get in a mess with your anchor line? I am the worlds worst for getting things in a twist and yet I never have any probs. Maybe you are using too small a line? Mine is 16mm stuff - proper anchorplait - nice to handle.

[Neil Harvey]

chain should not get knotted as long as you stow it away nicely, which will probably mean hauling in onto deck and then stowing after anchor is recovered, or having one person hauling in and one stowing neatly. Chucking it in and I guess it could get all snarled up.
Never used all chain on a rib though, but sail on a tall ship and the chain has to be neatly stowed away in the anchor locker on there, slightly differenty though as the guage of that stuff is huge in comparison to what would be used on a rib.

don't fancy the idea of hauling in 30m of chain and anchor by hand though.

[PeterR]

Originally Posted by codprawn

Good luck pulling it all in!!!

How do you manage to get in a mess with your anchor line? I am the worlds worst for getting things in a twist and yet I never have any probs. Maybe you are using too small a line? Mine is 16mm stuff - proper anchorplait - nice to handle.

Thanks not sure what the line is called i shall find out,didnt think pulling it in would be a problem but thats why i,m asking for others experience.I dont really want to buy it all to find i missed the obvious.The bow hatch is quite small which also makes feeding in the line in any form of order hard so if the chain would be to hard i should change the hatch.does anyone else think it would be to hard to pull in.

[PeterR]

Hi Neil my hope with chain was to simply feed into locker job done but if in practice this wont work i think its back to rope idea.Does any one use all chain on their rib and have any regrets

[mike]

hi,
for my coded boat we had a bruce anchor and chain/warp.
A number of issues became apparent,
The weight on a vertical lift does take some strength, I used to haul in using wave movement as the energy source ie haul in the troughs and let the boat do the lift!

safety, if the chain is big enough to get finger stuck in wear gloves and or be very careful.
line the locker as it will have your surface scratched up nicely if theres sand or anything in there.

Remember the weight before deployment, as it goes V fast when you lower it away and it needs therfore to be neat before you start.

I think chain for 100 pcent is possibly going to be a handful. Have you considered keeping the ballast and adding some chain as I am assuming that at present you have the boat balanced up and therefore only need to add a bit to offset the new weight?
hope this helps these are only my experinces.

mike

[PeterR]

Thanks Mike and all , it does seem apparent that all chain is not the answer when retreving by hand and deployment.Any other comments are still welcome though.

[codprawn]

You could try an anchor angel - a large lump of lead on the anchor line - that way you keep your ballast as well.

[Stoo]

Originally Posted by codprawn

Good luck pulling it all in!!!

No kidding... That would definitely require a winch wench!

I use 250' of 3/8" braided line with about 10' of chain. I use a good old bucket to store my line. It just coils loosely inside, never knots and pays out quickly when required... I learned that from watching an old Cousteau film eons ago!

I don't have an issue with the bow weight (internal fuel tank is way forward, plus I generally have a set of dive tanks up there...).

Before switching to chain, you might try hauling it up something.... It won't get any lighter in the water!

[Aidan]

Hi Peter,

Technically if both ends are secure, then the rope cannot knot, though it can tangle.
Some Ropes of the Ski tow variety are more likely to work free rather than Tangle.

However, Given that when you wish to pay out the mooring line, you really dont need to wrestle with it at that time.

I have found that using Ties (short Lanyards) 120 degrees on the coiled loop works fine. I have since found "handcuff" type self locking plastic gadgets (really, they are like a plastic handcuff) and I use them for all Warps, lines etc. They are very useful.

Not sure if this is much help to you..

Aidan

[PeterR]

Thanks Stoo and Aidan,I have decided to fit a larger bow locker hatch try a different rope as codders suggested.I,ll see how it goes.Thanks

[jyasaki]

My current ground tackle is about 15 to 20' of 3/8" chain, coupled to 200' (or a bit less) of 7/16" nylon double-braid (easier on cold hands than Stoo's 3/8" line.) Future replacement line is 400' of 3/8" twisted nylon, whenever I get around to it.

As long as you pull the line in, then flake it back into the locker from the bitter end (the end that stays attached to the boat), you shouldn't have any tangling problems.

It seems it's when you pull it up, pick up gobs of line, and chuck the whole mass into the locker that you run into tangling and such.

jky

[Richard B]

Peter, the best anchor rope is octoplait. It does not tend to tangle.

Also the technique of daisy-chaining it is good as this avoids tangles. Difficult to describe, easier to demonstrate.

[Poly]

Originally Posted by Aidan

Technically if both ends are secure, then the rope cannot knot, though it can tangle.

Aidan, not sure what you are defining as a knot rather than a tangle. But there are several proper knots which can be tied in a length of rope with both ends secured... e.g. figure of eight loop; alpine butterfly; sheepshank.

[jwalker]

Originally Posted by PeterR

Hi Neil my hope with chain was to simply feed into locker job done but if in practice this wont work i think its back to rope idea.Does any one use all chain on their rib and have any regrets

Peter, I use all chain. Some of it is 6mm and some of it is 8mm. It doesn't tangle, just dump it into the locker as you haul it in. I actually carry two systems. For short stays or where there is no risk I'm happy to use chain and warp or all chain. For leaving the boat secure, you'll sleep better if you've used all chain. The boat also lies more softly to the chain than it does to rope.

The weight isn't an issue, unless you plan to anchor over deep water, since you are only lifting the distance to the sea bed not the whole length of chain you've laid. And, contrary to Stoo's thoughts, it does get lighter under water.

Put the chain into the locker but keep some back on deck. After retrieving the anchor, lay it into the locker on the chain and flake the chain from the deck onto the top of the anchor. You'll be surprised how well it settles and stays put.

My anchor locker has two compartments so if I use warp and chain they are laid into separate compartments. Mooring buoys and extra warp are just laid on top of the chain. It all just seems to stay there without a problem.

It's been discussed many times on Ribnet....for more info, do a search.

[Jono]

Originally Posted by jwalker

Peter, I use all chain. Some of it is 6mm and some of it is 8mm. It doesn't tangle, just dump it into the locker as you haul it in. I actually carry two systems. For short stays or where there is no risk I'm happy to use chain and warp or all chain. For leaving the boat secure, you'll sleep better if you've used all chain. The boat also lies more softly to the chain than it does to rope.

I'm with the "Old Man O'the North".... ya can't beat lots of chain.... I used to have about 100 metre as "moveable ballast" for when running lightly laden and stern heavy... ballast that can also be bloody useful if you run into difficulties and not just "dead weight" It doesn't tangle if you just "pour" it into the (rubber mat lined) locker...

[PeterR]

Thanks Jwalker i shall now give it a go with chain