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Re: Anchor Chain Size and Length

Nick Newington
 

Hi Jose,

After two circumnavigations, in two yachts, and a lot of cruising in other vessels including my latest Amel 54, I say that you have to compromise. Of course more chain would be nice on occasion but that needs to be weighed against stowage and a heavy weight in the bow. 100m of 10mm chain (250kg) is about the maximum you can  stow and is generally sufficient. If in extremis you can add some nylon rope. I have noted though that when anchoring in say more than 25m less scope often holds quite well. Three to one in 30m of water holds whilst in 3m of water 9m will not do it. However if on short scope and it starts to blow you ain’t gonna sleep well. It is just one of those things. There is only so much chain you can practically have. You can though go for a really good modern anchor like maybe a Rocna, say 40 Kg and 100m 10mm chain and the windlass /stowage. You will have a pretty solid system.

On the gypsy should be stamped the chain size iso/din etc often on the underside. As Danny says you must check it for wear.

Nick

Amelia 

Aml 54-019 La Palma

On 10 Apr 2019, at 21:55, Danny and Yvonne SIMMS <simms@...> wrote:

Hi Jose,

Chain size. May be either 10 mm or 3/8 inch gypsy. You need to check. Good idea to take the gypsy with you when you go to buy the chain. Check for wear on the gypsy, that may be why it skips although even right size and good condition will skip under high loading. We have 100 m of chain and a further 70 m of heavy nylon anchor rode (rope)  spliced to the chain. Very important that the rode never makes contact with coral as it would cut. I found this to be a good combination. I spliced it through two links to get it to fit and did a nice tight splice so it would go down the hawse pipe. The gypsy will grip the rode if you find a way to apply a little pressure to the rode onto the gypsy.

Regards

Danny

SM 299 

Ocean Pearl

On 11 April 2019 at 08:10 "Jose Venegas via Groups.Io" <josegvenegas@...> wrote: 

I am getting ready to replace my current anchor chain.   The chain that was installed by the yard 7 years ago tends to jump when enough force is made by the windlass, which I imagine is because is not the exact size for the original windlass on Ipanema.  
First question: Do you know what size chain should be used?  I am still going to buy a sample before getting the full length to make sure it fits well, but I may save time and money if I try the proper one first.  

A second question: how long (meters or feet) of chain are recommended for long distance cruising.  I find that 100 meter is too short and restricts the anchorages I can use.  

Jose Venegas 
Ipanema, SM2K 278 
Boston 
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