Anchor Rode Poll

[Nomad Willy]

Klee wyck,
1 1/8" brait won't be cheap and may be hard to find. Probably 1" and 1 1/4" would be stocked more often. Spendy too but no doubt cheaper than chain.

One of the great benefits of a combo rode is that one can have a very long rode. Hard for the wind to blow a boat up on the beach if the skipper has 4-500' of anchor rode. The length of the combination rode is mostly controled by the size of the chain locker. I have a 400' rode for that reason. Can also anchor in 100' of water w a 4-1 scope. Life is better w a long combination rode.

 

[Mako]

I'm with you Klee. If you have 90+ feet of chain and anchor out then switching from gypsy to capstan will take some effort. But with the weight of your vessel you can easily handle 2 more shots of chain. Simplify things. Any particular reason you don't want to add more chain instead?

 

[klee wyck]

I'm with you Klee. If you have 90+ feet of chain and anchor out then switching from gypsy to capstan will take some effort. But with the weight of your vessel you can easily handle 2 more shots of chain. Simplify things. Any particular reason you don't want to add more chain instead?

Mako,
I was all set to go with all chain as that is what I am used to on Klee Wyck with 400' of chain. Simple, secure.
Libra has a split locker because of the two hause up there. I think one side will comfortably hold 300', but not sure 400' is going to sit in there real well. This feels like 400' territory to me and I would like to keep both anchors up there for redundancy.
You are right for sure in terms of weight, not an issue nor is the difference in cost between chain and 8 brait of this size. Just a matter of form and function that is best for this ship. I lack the sea time to be good judge of this so tapping the experience here. If chain is the right choice as it may well be, then we will make it work with modifications to the locker if necessary. This seems to be a few compromises project for better or worse.
I appreciate your input and the switch at the windlass is a concern of mine. I do not want to turn this into a two man anchoring team. I plan to try to single hand this beast.

 

[McGillicuddy]

Chain is not holding power. It does add a little bit for most rigs but getting a better and/or bigger anchor is the road to holding power. Chain helps a lot re setting but very little on holding. Many think it's a big factor though.

I'm sorry, that goes against everything I was taught in both my Nautical Science degree and Naval Architecture school. Plus that is not my practical experience either. Adding chain scope in a blow is the preferred way to reduce the chance of dragging. If that does not work, add a Kellet.

 

[AKDoug]

As a diver, I see the chain lying on the bottom from the anchor all the way to where it heads up to the vessel at a very high angle. I don't believe having more chain lying on the bottom for great distances increases the holding power of the anchor... I have dived significant currents and in all cases almost all of the chain is lying on the bottom except the last 10-15' where it is coupled to the nylon rode.

If you put enough chain down you probably don't need an anchor... There is a point in normal anchoring conditions where having more chain out doesn't increase scope, it just increases the amount of chain you have out.

JMO

 

[McGillicuddy]

Having been on a ship dragging anchor in near hurricane conditions I can assure you that adding scope does indeed stop the dragging and allow a reset.

 

[Nomad Willy]

I'm sorry, that goes against everything I was taught in both my Nautical Science degree and Naval Architecture school. Plus that is not my practical experience either. Adding chain scope in a blow is the preferred way to reduce the chance of dragging. If that does not work, add a Kellet.

I wouldn't say chain weight and catenary dos't positively affect holding power. Not ever because it does.
However if you add weight to a rode it would take 5 to 20 times as much chain weight to match an equivalent amount of anchor weight. Say you added 30lbs of chain to your rode. If you didn't and added 30lbs to the rode in the form of an anchor 30lbs heavier you'd have far more holding power advantage.

Of course there's lots of other variables like shock absorption but when adding weight for performance adding to the anchor is best.

 

[klee wyck]

Well that little exploratory worked out better than I thought it would. Now I can answer this poll. All chain it is.

I was crawling around the anchor locker tonight looking at this pile of chain that the PO told me was 100' trying to figure out if at least three times that pile would fit in there. No way, maybe double that amount but not triple. That is already a big pile. Hey....that is a pretty big pile even of 1/2 inch chain.
So, I got up on deck and started to pull it out of the pipe by hand and pulled and pulled. Discovered I had 200' and it looked to be in really good shape except for the splice link at 100'. Problem solved. I will cut out the splice link, insert 150' of new chain with two splices and I am set. That 350' will fit easy enough and I am going to call it good. 4:1 in 90 feet will have to do it.

1/2 chain is heavy Eric, I think Iam with a previous posters who suggested that most of that is going to be laying on the bottom in most conditions. I would take one helluva force to lift 300 feet of that and pull it tight.

 

[Mako]

Sounds like a great plan

 

[ksceviour]

I'm heading out tonight for a couple days aboard. I'm going to be putting 150' of my 3 strand back on to the 150' of new chain just for the hell of it. I've got the room and who knows, might keep us off the rocks if we need to put everything out in a hurry.

 

[dhays]

If you put enough chain down you probably don't need an anchor... There is a point in normal anchoring conditions where having more chain out doesn't increase scope, it just increases the amount of chain you have out.

I have used combination rodes on sailboats for years and they work great. I now have an all chain rode and even in the short time that I have owned the boat, I have "anchored" on my chain many times. 5-1 scope? Yah, it is my chain on the bottom that is holding the boat, not the anchor.

Klee Wick, either will work. Just don't be worried about a combination rode, At 200', you already have plenty of chain. If your windlass can handle the transition, I would just add 3 strand nylon. Brait would be fine, but I'm cheap and would go with the 3 strand that your windlass could handle.