# Anchor chain size & length



## JordanH (Dec 13, 2008)

I came across another 'surprise' (although expected) on my new-to-me Contessa 26. I pulled out the mass of anchors, line and chain to see what the inventory actually looked like before going on our trip.

Fair enough, the spare Danforth has about 140' of 1/2" 3-strand line but without any chain. Not ideal, but workable in the Great Lakes as a spare for my small boat. It looks like the anchor, line and even thimble have seen some practical use.

However, the primary Bruce has 150' of rode, good condition nylon braid but attached to an absurdly thin chain that measures only 14'. A fellow, whom I trust, recommended 5/16" chain to replace it and at least 1.5x the boat's length.

My question is simply to verify that 5/16" chain and 40' is sufficient for my 26' Contessa. What would you use in my case if different?

To make this thread valuable to other members, feel free to add your opinion on what is an appropriate amount and size of chain for anchoring on your particular size of boat.

... The silver lining to this surprise is that I now have an appropriate sized chain for locking my dinghy motor.


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## night0wl (Mar 20, 2006)

It all depends on the locations you're anchoring and the composition of the bottom. 

Here in Florida, we typically have skinny waters often covered by weedy bottoms. You often anchor in 7-9 ft of water. Adding your freeboard, usually means that 50' of chain and 100' of rode is AMPLE. I'd keep a minimum of 50' of chain since for durability and protection against what's down there. 

As for anchors - I used to have a Lewmar Claw which is a Bruce knockoff. Worked great in mud, but if you hit the slightest bit of weed or seagrass, the anchor was useless. 

Now, if I anchored in deep coves such as in the South Pacific - I'd have a completely different anchoring package.

I'm actually going to be upgrading my primary anchor package and make my Claw a backup anchor. Primary package will be 125' of 5/16 High Test + 150' of nylon rode on my Rocna 15.


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## mitiempo (Sep 19, 2008)

Jordan

I think for a Contessa 26 5/16" might be larger than you need. I am installing a windlass on a 32' powerboat and he will be using 1/4" HT (grade 40) chain, which would be a good size for you as well. Safe working load is 2600 lbs and breaking is 7750 lbs.

40' or 50' should be plenty. Same as I will be using on my CS27.


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## tdw (Oct 2, 2006)

50' of chain may be an acceptable minimum but I'd still push for twice that. 

On the old girl, 34m (approx 100') of 5/16 was acceptable but I'd have preferred 50m. trouble is of course that more chain means more weight and on a relatively light boat like a Contessa 26 that is not good for sailing performance. 35m to me would be a nice compromise. 

When I bought my previous boat (28' med displacement) she had around 20' of chain and we draged all over the place in anything other than perfect conditions. I increased that to 20m and had no more problems even when the anchor was a Danforth.


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## mitiempo (Sep 19, 2008)

That would probably depend if there was a windlass or not. Without one an anchor of 25 or 30 lbs and 50' of G40 (37 lbs) is getting close to max - both for weight in the bow area and hauling by hand.


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## tdw (Oct 2, 2006)

mitiempo said:


> That would probably depend if there was a windlass or not. Without one an anchor of 25 or 30 lbs and 50' of G40 (37 lbs) is getting close to max - both for weight in the bow area and hauling by hand.


oh yes ... oh yes indeed. Our windlass died , and not just the electrics, with all 35m of chain on the bottom and getting it back on board was well nigh impossible for me at least. In the end got it up with the aid of sheet winches but not a fun thing to do.

Sorry, but i should have thought of that. I guess not many 26'ers have a windlass, certainly my 28'er didn't.


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## TQA (Apr 4, 2009)

Like others have said it depends where you are and what conditions you anchor in. I live on the hook in the Caribbean often in anchorages where the bottom is littered with junk that would eat through rope rode in an hour.
Sometimes the depth is 50 -60 feet and in one place 180 feet. 

So I have 200 feet of 3/8 chain followed by 200 feet of rope rode, times two. The boat is 44 feet long and I have an electric anchor windlass. Fairly normal for my cruising area but overkill if you only stop for lunch in Biscayne Bay. 

Do bear in mind that one of the things you never hear said when a black squall is blowing through an anchorage with zero visibility and winds of 40+ knots is " I think we need a smaller anchor and less chain don't you?"


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## HPLou (Feb 25, 2002)

14'-15' of 1/4" chain with 150' of 3/8 or 1/2" nylon rode is a standard anchor package for a boat that size. Will it work? probably. Is this package right for you? You have to know your anchorage areas and have an idea of what circumstances you would need/want to anchor before you can determine your own ground tackle needs. Keep in mind that chain is heavier than nylon and anchor rode ratio should be about 5-7:1.


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## blt2ski (May 5, 2005)

For my 30' 6500-7000 lb fin keel boat, I have a 7.5kg/16.5 lb bruce with currently 16' of 3/16" chain and 250' of 1/2" 3 strand. Then again, here in Puget Sound, you are usually in 40-100' of water when you anchor, add in upwards of 14' tides......... lots of rode is nice. I do plan to go with a bit longer chain and one size up. To a degree, the more metal be it anchor or chain, the better the holding. 

I've also been toying with a race hook on the bow with a 7lb fortress alum, about 4-5' of 1/4" chain and 3/8" line in the 150' length too. Race rules require a min 6lb anchor and 10'ish lbs of total chain and anchor for myboat, one figure out how to get the best appearance bang for the buck when racing, vs cruising. 

If I was in the Caribbean, Oz or other places with coral, the more chain the merrier! I might look at 50-60' and an appropriate anchor that would catch in coral/rocky bottoms. Or if it does not catch per say, at least have enough anchor and chain such that the wt might hold me.

If you need to go thru a hurricane or equal, again, a different anchor wt and chain. probably something in the 30KG/50 lb anchor and 75-100' of chain depending upon depth etc.

Marty


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## JimsCAL (May 23, 2007)

Hard to disagree with the "more and heavier" suggestions. Also agree HPLou about the "standard" package for a boat your size. Remember that you ar going to have to get the chain and anchor up on deck each time, so there is something to be said for something that isn't too heavy. Assuming your anchoring requirements are similar to what we see here on Long Island Sound and southern New England, I would go with 15 to 30 foot of 1/4 inch chain and then switch what you have to the other anchor.


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## JimsCAL (May 23, 2007)

Hard to disagree with the "more and heavier" suggestions. Also agree with HPLou about the "standard" package for a boat your size. Remember that you are going to have to get the chain and anchor up on deck each time, so there is something to be said for something that isn't too heavy. Assuming your anchoring requirements are similar to what we see here on Long Island Sound and southern New England, I would go with 15 to 30 foot of 1/4 inch chain and then switch what you have to the other anchor.


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## JordanH (Dec 13, 2008)

Thanks for the advice all. There's quite a wide variety of it.

For those of you that state, "Depends on where and what conditions", that is definitely true. My conditions will be in the Great Lakes, initially north Lake Huron/Georgian Bay where I hope to be anchoring in < 20' of water but may anchor in up to 30'; I have not been there and heard mixed reports of bottom type from rock to mud with some suggesting I can find sand. Feel free to add advice for you and your conditions which will apply to others.

Keep in mind that the Contessa is 26', and displacement of ~5400lbs. We are lucky to have a *small* anchor locker on the bow (where the older Contessas did not) but my windlass has a name... Jordan. "More and heavier" is a great mantra for larger boats with more displacement, stowage and tools but for our boat "Appropriate erring on the side of caution" is what we'll go with.

I think blt2ski is probably closest to the package we have now, but I'm not comfortable with that length and weight of chain because of the local sailor's experience that I've received. These folks have considerable experience in my local waters so when they advise, I listen... and sometimes even heed. ;-)

TQA... wow! Nice setup for your larger boat! I just had a funny mental picture of telling my wife to haul in the 200' of 3/8" chain onto our Contessa. I'm sure she'd get the boat in the divorce, but it wouldn't matter as it would be firmly planted to the bottom for the rest of time. *grin*


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## blt2ski (May 5, 2005)

Jordan,

While I have had my boat for about 6 yrs, the previous owner had it from 85 on, ie original owner, and he had sailed from the south part of puget sound to desolation sound way the heck north, anchoring, etc with the setups I inherited. It also came with a approx 12lb or so danforth, same amount of chain size and rope. The manufactures state that what I have, and you for that matter are the std pkg for winds to about 35 knot or so. If you are not like the chain size, go a size bigger and a bit longer, I would not worry about going to 1.5 times the boat length, UNLESS you have a lot of sharp rock etc that could fray the rope. I'm thinking 30-35' of 1/4HT chain. That is IIRC about 1lb per foot for the chain, 16 lbs Bruce, so about 50 lbs of metal to haul up with the windlass name "Marty" similar to you?!?!?! I probably have more issues with currents etc than you do in the GL's. Here I can find mud, grass, rock, round rock base....... so more than one type of anchor may be important if you have many types of bottoms too. 

In the end, there is not right or wrong, only the right one is the one that works. 

marty


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## Stu Jackson (Jul 28, 2001)

What you need to do, in addition to all this advice, is to properly SIZE your anchoring SYSTEM.

Like this: Ground Tackle & Anchor System Sizing TABLES

Then you'll know what YOU need for your circumstances.


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## JordanH (Dec 13, 2008)

Hi Marty,
I'm sure we'll have quite a few different issues; We don't have tide and most places don't have much current. We do have some sharp rocks, we do have some smooth rocks and the bottom types vary all over the map - with no coral.

The guy at West Marine just recommended 10' of chain so it's not like your setup is out of line at all. I think everyone has their own opinion and I'm not going to get consensus.

As for weight of chain; the 5/8" chain is 1lbs/foot, the 1/4" chain is 0.76lbs/foot at a local marine shop.

With whatever length I choose, I seriously hope it'll fit in my small anchor locker... I can't be wandering on deck with that much chain in my hand.


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## night0wl (Mar 20, 2006)

Great points everyone...and yes, I forgot one point. *DISPLACEMENT*. I use 50' of Chain because my boat displaced 12000 lbs new...a little more now. Modern floating RV design basically.

Older boats like the Contessa probably weigh a lot more and proportionally should have more chain.


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## JordanH (Dec 13, 2008)

night0wl, the Contessa is older and 'heavy' for its size (although, moderate displacement by some calculations I found), but it is only 5,400lbs new... since it's only 26'. Less than half of your displacement... I'd say it'd need less chain, not more.


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## tdw (Oct 2, 2006)

Jordan,
My old boat , the 28'er had anchor locker similar to what you describe. 

With 20' of chain and a Danforth we simply wandered from place to place, anchor or no anchor. 20 metres made all the difference, even the Danforth worked with that and including the line it all fitted into the anchor locker ... just.

A CQR, Spade/Manson/Rocna or a Bruce I think no way unless you keep the anchor permanently on the roller.


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## JordanH (Dec 13, 2008)

Thanks TDW.

Currently, I have the Bruce permanently locked on the roller with 150' of chain/rope in the locker. The Danforth is also stored in the locker with 136'-ish of rope rode.

I think I'm leaning towards 40 or 50' of 5/8" chain + rope attached to the Bruce and then I'll move the Danforth + rode back to the stern locker. I'd rather err on the side of caution and I think 40-50' is about the limit we'll be able to practically justify. I'll make a trip to the marine store to get a more visual/physical opinion of how that looks before I decide.


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## Stu Jackson (Jul 28, 2001)

5/8??? I think you may mean 5/16.


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## JordanH (Dec 13, 2008)

pahahahah. Yes a poor typo; I meant 5/16".


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## blt2ski (May 5, 2005)

Jordan,

Reality, my boats holds fine in the few conditions I have put it in, with 3-4' waves, 25-30 at most winds, and a 1-2 knot current to boot! held fine with a 2.5 or so to 1 ratio of rode to depth. 

Yes I am going to go with a bit bigger and longer chain, but 40-50' for out little boats?!?!?!?!? 15' seems ample, but 30' for me with the lower rode ratio's as an RC boat, or depth etc, I figure will make it a bit better. 

Also, my anchor locker can hold my 7.5KG bruce, current amount of chain, should handle the longer amount and one up size, along with 250' of 1/2" 3 strand. Yes the 3 strand is coiled up but I can stuff everything into the locker loose if I have to. I have what I would call a reasonable sized but not too big of an anchor locker for a 30' OA length boat, 28' on deck. 

Then the chain sizes I mentioned before, I may have the sizes wrong like you did. I know what I wanted to increase to was about a lb a foot, so anchor, chain, 50 lbs, plus rode......should be able to hand haul this all up, even with the water displacement making the 50 lbs about 35-40 or so. I'll feel vary comfortable in most conditions I will find my self in around here. I would think in the GL's it would not be too different, even tho you do not have current. 

As you are probably seeing, anchoring and the type is a real way to see folks opinion, and opposite they will be! with what should be many fist fight over the what one should do, why etc. Some will do or want a really light option, like what I said for the on deck race gear, heavy on teh bow is not good or sailing trim, hence the light, and the heavy std goes below in and around the keel area for extra ballast per say. BUT, I am following a minimum rule spec for this options, the setup is good per Foretress to about 25-30 knots, a bit below my bruce option, but way better from a wt perspective. 

Look up the danforth specs from the builder, on the size, follow to a degree, upgrade where you feel needed, and enjoy the boat and anchoring.

Marty


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## mitiempo (Sep 19, 2008)

I agree with Stu

5/8" chain weighs almost 4 pounds a foot.


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## blt2ski (May 5, 2005)

Brian,

How big of an anchor combo do you have with your CS? your probably on par with my wt or a skoosh heavier are you not? 

marty


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## mitiempo (Sep 19, 2008)

Currently a 25 lb CQR but I will be getting a Rocna 15 (33 lbs) to be used with about 40' of 1/4" HT chain, followed by about 250' of nylon rode. I think it will be about max as I do not have a windlass.


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## tdw (Oct 2, 2006)

Brian,
On Raven (6.5t) we had a 25lb CQR which we updated to a Rocna 15. I'd have thought that was overkill for your boat particualrly without a windlass. Indeed if I had the option I'd have gone for a 30lb Rocna which unfortunately does not exist. Theoretically a 25lb Rocna will give you greater holding than the same weight CQR.


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## mitiempo (Sep 19, 2008)

True, but Rocna is either 22 lbs or 33 lbs. I can`t see going lighter than I already have really.

An intermediate size would be nice. Maybe 28 to 28 lbs.


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## tdw (Oct 2, 2006)

mitiempo said:


> True, but Rocna is either 22 lbs or 33 lbs. I can`t see going lighter than I already have really.
> 
> An intermediate size would be nice. Maybe 28 to 28 lbs.


ahh. sorry mate, I thought they did a 25lber and was figuring that the Rocna 25lb would be an improvement on the CQR 25lb.


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## JordanH (Dec 13, 2008)

Well, 40' of 5/16" grade 43 is what I picked up today. I'll let you know how it holds along our little adventure.

I'm already starting to second guess myself. No turning back now though...


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## mitiempo (Sep 19, 2008)

It would be if it existed.

There is a 25 lb Manson Supreme.


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## tdw (Oct 2, 2006)

mitiempo said:


> It would be if it existed.
> 
> There is a 25 lb Manson Supreme.


Tempted ?


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## mitiempo (Sep 19, 2008)

No, I think the 33 lb Rocna will be the one. I can pull it up bu hand with about 30 lbs of chain - 40`of quarter inch HT. 

I could install a chain stop to make it easier to get the chain in.


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## tdw (Oct 2, 2006)

JordanH said:


> Well, 40' of 5/16" grade 43 is what I picked up today. I'll let you know how it holds along our little adventure.
> 
> I'm already starting to second guess myself. No turning back now though...


You'll be fine. If that doesn't hold you then its you not the anchor and rode.

Except for one occasion with a CQR in loose sand every time I have dragged it has been my own fault. Too little scope, no snubber, too hasty in routine.


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## JordanH (Dec 13, 2008)

anchor ***** CHAINS ***** boys, anchor CHAINS! I swear, I didn't ask a single question about anchor choice.
(Quick! Someone throw themselves on the Rocna / Manson grenades before they take out the whole platoon!)

Thanks TDW. New chain, new shackle and safety wire. I'll re-use and experiment with my two anchors onboard and keep the existing rope rode. That'll give me 177' of scope which should be plenty for my purposes.

p.s. If the boss heaves me over with the 40' of anchor chain, I'm coming to live with you in Australia.


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## tdw (Oct 2, 2006)

JordanH said:


> anchor ***** CHAINS ***** boys, anchor CHAINS! I swear, I didn't ask a single question about anchor choice.
> (Quick! Someone throw themselves on the Rocna / Manson grenades before they take out the whole platoon!)
> 
> Thanks TDW. New chain, new shackle and safety wire. I'll re-use and experiment with my two anchors onboard and keep the existing rope rode. That'll give me 177' of scope which should be plenty for my purposes.
> ...




I'm always very careful if I see the Wombet with boat hook at hand ...


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## blt2ski (May 5, 2005)

hmmmmmm not to bring up an oldie, BUT...........
Jordan, have you had a chance to anchor with the new amount of chain? how did it work etc?

Marty

ps
so what idjiot will say jordan is probably not posting, post is over a year old....yadda yadda yadda! ehehehehehehe


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## JordanH (Dec 13, 2008)

blt2ski said:


> ps
> so what idjiot will say jordan is probably not posting, post is over a year old....yadda yadda yadda! ehehehehehehe


Hey Marty, nothin' wrong with bringing up an old but useful thread.

The setup worked very well for us. In practice, we used the 40lbs of chain on our danforth on bottoms with good holding. I think we only missed our first set once and never dragged. To be fair, we also had terrific weather every night we anchored.

If I were to do it again, I would probably go with 2x boat length instead of 1.5x for 50' of chain. Also, if I were buying my own rope rode, as opposed to inhereting it, I would buy more than our current 140'-ish to give us the option of deeper water anchoring if need be.

We had a bit of trouble with our diesel tank full of sludge. After fixing it (or so we thought) we backed out of our slip at the marina... and the engine cut out. With momentum and current, we were heading straight for some expensive big boats! Thanks to lots of practice anchoring, we got the anchor over and set with time to spare! HA! Anchored in the middle of the marina basin while I changed the diesel filter and hoses one more time with no boats damaged.  Anchoring practice isn't just for cruisers.

Funny this thread should appear today as this afternoon I swapped the chain rode over to the Bruce so the danforth and spare rode is relegated to a cabin locker to help get the extra weight off the bow. I guess we'll see how the Bruce works this year...

edit: p.s. We spent 6-weeks on our cruise through the Great Lakes. We only anchored in the Georgian Bay and the North Channel. We were stuck in marina's and yacht clubs for everything further south.


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## tdw (Oct 2, 2006)

blt2ski said:


> hmmmmmm not to bring up an oldie, BUT...........
> Jordan, have you had a chance to anchor with the new amount of chain? how did it work etc?
> 
> Marty
> ...


Don't you know this is an old thread you old fool....   

Jordan probably hasn't even been to SailNet in the past year and will probably not respond to your silly post.

Damn, that felt good .....

Nah ... sometimes old threads are well worth resurrecting.


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## blt2ski (May 5, 2005)

KEWL,

TDW is ding a pretty dang good SD imitation!

Anyway, thanks for update Jordan. Forgot about this thread, somehow it popped up on a radar, so thought, lets get an answer! 

Not sure that more chain will help per say. Longer rode I can understand. 150' is only 20 or so feet deep with 7-1. I'd need 75-110' of that 150 to cover the upwards of 14-15' of tide change a few times a year at 7-1. I think I would go a size bigger anchor over the extra chain, or what ever bigger anchor would be the chain wt difference and 250-300' of rode.

I did get a small race anchor the other day, may try it out in a week or so when I am RC to see how it goes. Got a 9 lb Delta fastset, with 5' of 3/8" BBB chain and 200' of 7/16 3 strand. A bit longer on the rope minimum, and a bit heavier on the total wt per rules. Now to upgrade the 7.5kg bruce to a 10kg, and or go with 30' of 5/16" chain vs the 15' of 1/4" chain I have. The latter should let me sleep a bit better, not that I have anchored out asleep as of yet. Previous owner did a number of time in the 20 yrs they owned the boat with the setup I inherited. 

Report back when you get anchored with your bruce setup and how it worked. I do RC IIRC next week or following thursday eve. 

Marty


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## tdw (Oct 2, 2006)

and for my next trick Marty, I'll show you how to get the best out of SailNet ... 

Jordon, admittedly I've never been much of a fan of the Danforth but I certainly prefer a Bruce. Our girl came with one and while I've been threatening to change it for a Rocna its given me no reason to do so. 

Must say though that I like chain and the resultant reduced scope required.


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## JordanH (Dec 13, 2008)

I'm quite happy with the size of our danforth and Bruce. I dont think I'd want to go any bigger for either. I won't get into the anchor style debate in this thread but I will let you know if/when I try the Bruce.

As for the chain, I'd go 100% chain if it was practical. It's not but nobody has lost sleep over having too much chain.  At any rate, I 40' of chain is sufficient for our boat but I do think 50' would be the sweet spot for us.


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## tdw (Oct 2, 2006)

JordanH said:


> I'm quite happy with the size of our danforth and Bruce. I dont think I'd want to go any bigger for either. I won't get into the anchor style debate in this thread but I will let you know if/when I try the Bruce.
> 
> As for the chain, I'd go 100% chain if it was practical. It's not but nobody has lost sleep over having too much chain.  At any rate, I 40' of chain is sufficient for our boat but I do think 50' would be the sweet spot for us.


Jordan ... I didn't mean to reignite the debate, more commenting that I think you'll like the Bruce. Only think I noticed with it is that it likes a good tug in reverse to set hard, same as the Rocna, whereas our old CQR pretty much took care of itself with no great need for a lot of reversing.

Weight is of course the enemy. We are lucky in that our girl is big enough to carry that weight without too much trauma. We keep 90 metres of chain, same of rope.


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## JordanH (Dec 13, 2008)

TDW, our usage of the danforth was actually a bit of a logistics accident. The danforth was supposed to be our spare anchor, but when I had everything was packed and connected, the danforth ended up on top of the pile so we swapped the rodes and tossed it in the first night. It held well so we just kept on with what worked.

As I said, don't want to get into the anchor style discussion here.

Our primary Bruce is now properly connected to our primary rode and we'll live with that for the foreseeable future.

edit: TDW oops, my previous reply was meant for Marty. It wasn't directed at the anchor debate, just stating that we don't need to go larger on the danforth or bruce for our boat.

edit2: Weight and placement is bad in the Contessa. On our 1983 model, there is a small anchor locker right in the bow... not exactly a great spot for two rodes, chain and two anchors. :/ There's no other space when it is packed with 2 people, dog and supplies for 6-weeks.


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## blt2ski (May 5, 2005)

Jordan,

How big are your anchors? trying to see vs what I am using on my boat, which is pretty close in size. one of them close enough it might as well be equal.

Glad to know it works. Along with as I said, if I had to haul up say 60 lbs of metal, I would go a bit bigger on the anchor, and a bit less on the chain, appears like you would go slightly opposite, which would probably work well too. 

marty


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## JordanH (Dec 13, 2008)

I can't remember the weight of the danforth, but the bruce is 7.5KG (16.5lbs). I believe it to be sufficient size and weight for our boat. Remember, your boat displaces an extra 1,000-1,500lbs and we have the same anchor. Should be plenty big enough for us.

However, if I were to consider a larger anchor or more chain, I must think the chain is more practical. The shape of most anchors means it must sit on our bow roller (save for a danforth which can fold into our locker) and going larger than the 7.5KG Bruce seems like too much weight to hang off its nose. An extra 10lbs of chain is also heavy, but it is more easily stowed in the anchor locker, and although not much behind the roller, it is still slightly aft and not hanging off the boat. As for lifting it from the bottom, if you are pulling up your 65lbs of anchor & chain, it would be easier to lift the chain as the weight is more evenly distributed. i.e., you aren't lifting a single massive weight off the bottom, you are gradually pulling it in. When my wife acts as the windlass, this would make a big difference.

When we're talking an extra 10' of chain, we're just talking about marginal / incremental comfort. As I said, the 40' is sufficient, but the 50' would be slightly better. I expect that it would add better 'spring' characteristics to our tugging at anchor. I also expect it would be 10' less rope rode on the bottom where it is more likely to snag rocks. I'd rather have the chain rattle across the rocks than the rope rode see-saw on top of them; The less soft rope I have down there the better my sleep is. In any case, we're splitting hairs by the time we get above what I already have.


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## tdw (Oct 2, 2006)

On one of my earlier boats the anchor locker was as yours, i.e a shallow well under the deck but not going all the way down into the hull. It allowed the v-berth to carry forward into the bow under the locker. 

That is why I had a danforth. Even a CQR on the boat would have been an issue unless permanently mounted on the roller. 

As for weight, and I am no Charles Atlas I readily admit, on our previous boat we had 40 metres of chain and the same of rope onto a 27lb CQR. This was pre Rocna. When the windlass died in 20m of water with all that rope and chain out I had one hell of a time getting the anchor back on board. Maybe a big beefy fellow could do it easily but it nearly killed me.


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## blt2ski (May 5, 2005)

Jordan,

I would agree, we are splitting hairs when you get chain length, anchor wt over what you and I have. I'm on the border tween a 7.5 and 10Kg bruce from length, probably fine from a wt standpoint. As you say, in some conditions a bit more chain length would be nice, hence why I do want to go longer. I've had out 180-200' of rode a number of times, so I can see how the 150 you have would be on the short side. That would probably be my personal choice as to what to improve in you system. 

Will be interested to see how the 40' works with the bruce. That may actually have to be how I would go vs 30 and upsize the anchor to a 10. The way I figure it, if I can get comments from others with similar sized boats, gear, then one might be able to swag a better end result vs testing and spending boat bucks.

marty


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## JordanH (Dec 13, 2008)

I agree with you entirely.

One small correction though, my primary rode is 150' of braid + 40' of chain, making 190' total. Lets call it 187' over the bow and 184' from the water.. With 40' / 40lbs of chain over, I generally don't need a full 7:1 scope, but even so, that allows very safe anchoring in water up to 26' or safe-ish anchoring up to 36. Personally, I still stick with 7:1.

If I target 30' of water, that's 33' to the bow (roughly 230' of rode @ 7:1)which works out nicely if I have 200' of rope + 40' of chain. It also allows about 50' of water depth @ 5:1. Therefore, I think I'll go with 200' of rope when it's time to replace that line. Chances are slim I'll ever need to anchor over night in that depth of water here in the Great Lakes and if I do, there will be LOTS of sea room should I drag.


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## casey1999 (Oct 18, 2010)

TQA said:


> Like others have said it depends where you are and what conditions you anchor in. I live on the hook in the Caribbean often in anchorages where the bottom is littered with junk that would eat through rope rode in an hour.
> Sometimes the depth is 50 -60 feet and in one place 180 feet.
> 
> So I have 200 feet of 3/8 chain followed by 200 feet of rope rode, times two. The boat is 44 feet long and I have an electric anchor windlass. Fairly normal for my cruising area but overkill if you only stop for lunch in Biscayne Bay.
> ...


When water is 180 feet deep, how much scope do you use? What length chain and what length rope rode? If the bottom is hard and sharp, how do you keep the rope off the bottom and know it is off the bottom?
Regards


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## blt2ski (May 5, 2005)

Jordan,

Sounds like a decent option for probably 90-99% of what and where you would be etc. I'll stick to what I have until such a time it does not work, or I anchor out more. then probably the 10KG, 30-40' of chain and 250 to even 300' of rope would be my option. Only because of the tide flex. If I was in a BIG lake like you, 200-250 would be fine for rope length. 

Up in Desolation sound, I understand at times you will be in 200+ feet, with a stern tie to a tree.rock on shore, with 2 or 3-1 for the main bow anchor. Sometimes one has to adjust the how one thinks proper will be! LOL

I'll be interested in the how it works with the bruce. Reality says pretty good, as I have not had any issues with 15' of 1/4 with a 7.5 kg bruce.

Marty


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## macswift (Jul 30, 2012)

I would say that 40 feet of 5/16 chain and 150 feet of warp is fine for your Contessa, providing you don't anchor in more than 30ft of water. It's generally accepted that a scope:depth ratio of 6:1 should be deployed for a chain/rope rode.
Incidentally, you should splice the rope into the last few links of the chain rather than just through the last link. Have a look at http://johndanicic.com/sailing pages/GOB articles/JF07_Splicing.pdf which will show you how to do it...


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