# How much chain do you have?



## Zanshin (Aug 27, 2006)

While stuck here in St. Lucia at the dock I'm doing a number of boat projects that I've been postponing, and a couple of days ago I decided to take my chain out completely and clean the rust off it and turn it end-for-end again. I haven't used more than 100 feet since the boat was recommissioned after getting damaged in hurricane Irma and even before that I'd had some bad rust. I got special G70 chain, but sourced it badly and didn't get the quality I wanted, so as soon as the galvanization was abraded by the bottom sand it started to rust. Most of the chain is good, but there are links and small sections which were at the bottom of the chain locker and got very corroded. And there was a solid rust ball at the end of the chain that even 24 hours of soaking in hydrochloric acid didn't quite loosen!

My original plan was to head to the Pacific and deep anchorages, so I originally got a lot of chain (over 150m - almost 500'). But now I think I'll probably be in the Caribbean for the life of my replacement chain, so I've been thinking about minimizing cost (and weight) for a full-chain replacement.

I can get a full drum of chain (10mm / 3/8") of 360' which is what I'm thinking of getting, I've anchored in 50-60' many times and used 300 feet or so. But usually I'm in much shallower water.


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## Don L (Aug 8, 2008)

I have 200'. Couple of months ago I had 300+. 2 years ago I reversed the chain and the old 100' that was used most became a rusted ball in bottom of lock that became a scarily thing to remove.


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## SanderO (Jul 12, 2007)

I typically lay out 100' of the total 200'


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## MikeOReilly (Apr 12, 2010)

I carry ~250' of 3/8" chain on the main rode. I have a secondary rode with 80' of 3/8" (and then another 200' of nylon). I can join these if need be, but there's never yet been a need to be. 

Typically, we lay to about 100 to 150 feet of chain (not including snubber length). Most of our anchorages are 20 to 30 feet, although sometimes we manage to get into less than 10' at low tide -- that's always interesting given our 6' draft 😬.


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## wsmurdoch (Jan 23, 2007)

Operating from North Carolina north into the Chesapeake Bay and south into the Bahamas, we have three anchors.

The primary on the bow - 45lb Rocna, 137' 5/16" BBB chain, 170' 5/8" nylon (137 ft is 1/4 of a barrel; I bought at a great price. The nylon seldom gets wet.)

The secondary on the bow - 44lb Bruce, 50' 5/16" BBB chain, 182' 5/8" nylon (Seldom used.)

On the stern - FX16 Fortress, 25' 5/16" BBB chain, 250' 1/2" nylon (Used as a stern anchor and for extracting us from our mistakes.)


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## Izzy (Feb 14, 2016)

350ft of 13mm stainless steel.


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## Zanshin (Aug 27, 2006)

The chain I am looking at is around US$7 per foot, while the same in stainless is US$32 per foot! That took stainless right out of the equation for me.


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## Minnewaska (Feb 21, 2010)

We have 100m(328ft) of 1/2” chain. Just yesterday, I was anchored in over 50ft of water. Slept like a baby. Currently in 20ft, but I expect tonight’s anchorage to be in the 30-35ft range. I also have a 55kg(121lb) Rocna anchor. I’ve wanted this set up for years! It’s like dropping my own mooring. 🙂

The best part about having deep water capability is finding a spot few others want to crowd into. 

I sourced my chain from Defender, in the States. ACCO brand. I’m happy with it so far.

If you have ample fresh water, a rinse of the anchor locker goes a long way. You can eat up 10 gallons doing it.


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## MastUndSchotbruch (Nov 26, 2010)

Sorry but the poll is poorly formulated. I have 100', do I mark 50-100 or 100-150? 

I bet many have lengths on one of the border cases of your poll and are in the same position. Why not have categories like 50-99, 100-149, or 50-100, 101-150 etc?


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## Zanshin (Aug 27, 2006)

I noticed that overlap right after I posted but the Sailnet forum software doesn't allow me to change the values after the poll had started. If you bought 100 feet of chain it has probably stretched at least a millimeter so use the higher number.


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## teejayevans (Jul 10, 2005)

250’ of SS …150 on primary, 50 on secondary and 50 on the stern.


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## MarkofSeaLife (Nov 7, 2010)

I have 75 meters / 250 feet chain. And I use it ALL!!

I had out 65 meters in 5 meters water depth the other night in 50 knots. I would have laid out the rest but was coming too close to another boat.
There is no value having chain in the locker in a storm!!

For the rusting, I put in the bottom of the anchor locker in plastic tiles - see photo edited in. This keeps the chain off the wet floor. Note I have a little puddle permanently in the bottom of the locker.


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## SanderO (Jul 12, 2007)

MarkofSeaLife said:


> I have 75 meters / 250 feet chain. And I use it ALL!!
> 
> I had out 65 meters in 5 meters water depth the other night in 50 knots. I would have laid out the rest but was coming too close to another boat.
> There is no value having chain in the locker in a storm!!
> ...


More scope is better... but there are considerations such as other nearby boats and the scope they have... and you also need to consider the bottom in a larger radius.


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## Zanshin (Aug 27, 2006)

Mark - in flying we used to say that runway behind you and altitude above you are useless - just like anchor chain in the locker  Can you user your mod powers for good and modify the poll numbers so that they don't overlap? I am going to have put something like what you have in my locker to keep my new chain from getting infected with rust


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## MarkofSeaLife (Nov 7, 2010)

Modified Poll Numbers!!

Yes, you can Edit your Poll Vote. See the Change Vote button bottom left of Poll Box.


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## SanderO (Jul 12, 2007)

MarkofSeaLife said:


> I have 75 meters / 250 feet chain. And I use it ALL!!
> 
> I had out 65 meters in 5 meters water depth the other night in 50 knots. I would have laid out the rest but was coming too close to another boat.
> There is no value having chain in the locker in a storm!!
> ...


I suppose if the chain locker does not have a drain you would have a puddle of water to deal with. YUCK. My locker does have a drain... so it is nominally dry. It can take water in when the bow digs in or hits a wave. When I can I hose down the chain in the locker... still it rusts. Still it holds.


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## flyrod (Oct 29, 2011)

Zanshin said:


> While stuck here in St. Lucia at the dock I'm doing a number of boat projects that I've been postponing, and a couple of days ago I decided to take my chain out completely and clean the rust off it and turn it end-for-end again. I haven't used more than 100 feet since the boat was recommissioned after getting damaged in hurricane Irma and even before that I'd had some bad rust. I got special G70 chain, but sourced it badly and didn't get the quality I wanted, so as soon as the galvanization was abraded by the bottom sand it started to rust. Most of the chain is good, but there are links and small sections which were at the bottom of the chain locker and got very corroded. And there was a solid rust ball at the end of the chain that even 24 hours of soaking in hydrochloric acid didn't quite loosen!
> 
> My original plan was to head to the Pacific and deep anchorages, so I originally got a lot of chain (over 150m - almost 500'). But now I think I'll probably be in the Caribbean for the life of my replacement chain, so I've been thinking about minimizing cost (and weight) for a full-chain replacement.
> 
> I can get a full drum of chain (10mm / 3/8") of 360' which is what I'm thinking of getting, I've anchored in 50-60' many times and used 300 feet or so. But usually I'm in much shallower water.


Spade 44 lb. bower with 200' of 3/8" chain and 100' nylon rode, and secondary 35 lb. Danforth w/75' 3/8 chain and 200' nylon rode. Usually in less than 30' of water at anchor, design weight is 17,000 lbs.


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## cthoops (Apr 30, 2012)

We carry 125’ of chain plus another 175’ of 8 plait rode with sailing/cruising grounds from New England to the Bahamas. We’ve rarely put out more than 130’. That being said, we only draw 4 1/2 feet so we try to tuck in as close to shore as we can in most places.


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## mstern (May 26, 2002)

50 feet of 1/4 chain, 150 feet nylon rode, Mantus M1 anchor on a 28 foot, 8000 lb boat.


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## Zanshin (Aug 27, 2006)

My container with 360 feet of G4 chain is arriving on island tomorrow and I just got paid so can afford the bill to pay for it as well. I am going to splice another 100 feet of rode to the end of the chain so I think I'm ready for pretty much any anchorage regardless of bottom. I still need to figure out a system to keep the chain an inch off the bottom of my locker to allow for drainage. While Mark's system will work and I have the exact same mats aboard (commercial kitchen drainage mats from a restaurant supply store in St. Martin) I think I might construct something with starboard.
My neighbor at the dock has spray cans with red, green and blue paint so now I have to figure out a marking system. That might be worth a whole other thread...


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## SanderO (Jul 12, 2007)

Zanshin said:


> My container with 360 feet of G4 chain is arriving on island tomorrow and I just got paid so can afford the bill to pay for it as well. I am going to splice another 100 feet of rode to the end of the chain so I think I'm ready for pretty much any anchorage regardless of bottom. I still need to figure out a system to keep the chain an inch off the bottom of my locker to allow for drainage. While Mark's system will work and I have the exact same mats aboard (commercial kitchen drainage mats from a restaurant supply store in St. Martin) I think I might construct something with starboard.
> My neighbor at the dock has spray cans with red, green and blue paint so now I have to figure out a marking system. That might be worth a whole other thread...


You can but metal eggrate.... aluminum would work... plastic may crack.


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## Don L (Aug 8, 2008)

Zanshin said:


> My container with 360 feet of G4 chain is arriving on island tomorrow and I just got paid so can afford the bill to pay for it as well. I am going to splice another 100 feet of rode to the end of the chain
> 
> I still need to figure out a system to keep the chain an inch off the bottom of my locker to allow for drainage. While Mark's system will work and I have the exact same mats aboard (commercial kitchen drainage mats from a restaurant supply store in St. Martin) I think I might construct something with starboard.


Wow you must have a deep locker. When I had 325' I had to push the chain around so it could fall down the hole.

When I when through the "keep it off the bottom of the locker" exercise earlier this year I also considered a "fancy" solution. But in the year working at the bottom of the locker was such a PITA that I cut up a couple of the plastic mats and just dropped them in till it got to the height I wanted. Sometimes the simple answer really is as good as the "best" one.


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## SanderO (Jul 12, 2007)

Fill to the level you want with empty 16" plastic drink bottles..pelligrino or similar.


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## Zanshin (Aug 27, 2006)

I just did my 2nd run with FSR to remove rust in the chain locker. I climb in and can almost stand upright in it and the depth is about 5 feet with a pointy end forward and about a 4 foot width at the widest end. I had 450 feet of chain originally and that didn't even fill a quarter of the locker volume. The 2 drainage holes are similar to what Mark posted earlier in this thread and the water pools at the forward section, not the aft section. Perhaps I only need a bit of "height" forward to keep the chain out of standing water. I've got some Starboard that I've never used and it is close to its expiry date (I give away or discard everything older than 3 years that I haven't used) that could do the trick.
@SanderO - I've got 10 San Pelligrino bottles filled with tapwater in my freezer right now... They might be better in my chain locker


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## wsmurdoch (Jan 23, 2007)

Zanshin said:


> My container with 360 feet of G4 chain is arriving on island tomorrow and I just got paid so can afford the bill to pay for it as well. I am going to splice another 100 feet of rode to the end of the chain so I think I'm ready for pretty much any anchorage regardless of bottom.


When I got my 550 ft drum of Titan 5/16" BBB Gr 30 (a steal I thought at $1,312.61 tax paid and delivered), I looked at my anchoring history and saw that I had seldom used more than 100 ft of chain (Chesapeake Bay to the Jumentos, Bahamas) . Knowing that, I cut off 137 ft and backed it with 170 ft of nylon. The remainder was stored indoors ashore in sealed in a plastic bag with desiccant in a box on a pallet where it would not rust. It just did not seem wise to commit the entire drum to my salt water wet anchor locker. I was previously getting about 3 years between re-galvanizings, so the drum should last me a total 12 years when used 137 ft at a time. Given my age at that time, it should not matter.


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## Minnewaska (Feb 21, 2010)

Zanshin said:


> I think I might construct something with starboard.


My prior boat had a starboard shelf, cut roughly to the size of the anchor locker floor. The shelf had two or three slots cut in it to encourage draining, although, I'm sure holes would work as well. Beneath the shelf were 2" tall pieces, screwed in from the top, to hold it all off the bottom.

It worked spectacularly. However, once a year I'd have to remove it all and clean out about one inch of mud and sand that sat right below the height of the drains. If the drains were closer to the bottom of the locker, it wouldn't have been as necessary to clean out the mud.


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## SanderO (Jul 12, 2007)

The "floor" or the anchor locker should be sloped (forward) with a hole of no less than 20mm which prevents standing water from accumulating, This can be accomplished with a solid starboard shelf. The drain hole on my Contest can be seen here below. It is at the bottom of the anchor locker and as you can see maybe 15-18" above the water line. The location is very hard to get to from the inside. The bottom is narrow and solid fiberglas.


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## pdqaltair (Nov 14, 2008)

I've always felt that right around 100' is a sweet spot for cruisers trying to save weight but liking chain. They can anchor with no chain on the bottom at reasonably long scope in water up to about 12-15 feet (depending on the length of the snubber). Deeper than that they still won't have rope on the bottom if there is any wind. As for catenary, the first 100 feet do most of the work (better leverage on the rode).

But no one best answer.


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## JimInPB (Oct 5, 2020)

I have a few boats that are used for different things. They have different amounts of chain. My little 17' fishing boat has 10' of chain & 200' of line. My little Hunter 265 has 10' of chain on one anchor & 30' on the other. My Aloha 32 currently has 30' on each of two anchors, and 50' on another. The 50 will be getting upgraded to 100 or 200 before I take her on an extended trip to the other side of the gulf stream. The most rode I have put out on that boat recently is 275' to anchor for a short time while diving in 70' of water. I didn't vote above, since I would need to enter multiple answers to be accurate.


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## Gene Rossano (9 mo ago)

wsmurdoch said:


> Operating from North Carolina north into the Chesapeake Bay and south into the Bahamas, we have three anchors.
> 
> The primary on the bow - 45lb Rocna, 137' 5/16" BBB chain, 170' 5/8" nylon (137 ft is 1/4 of a barrel; I bought at a great price. The nylon seldom gets wet.)
> 
> ...


"On the stern - FX16 Fortress, 25' 5/16" BBB chain, 250' 1/2" nylon (Used as a stern anchor and for extracting us from our mistakes.)", Such honesty ! ! !


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## JMEJ (7 mo ago)

Primary anchor (Plastimo Kobra II) has forty feet of chain with 200' of nylon line. Secondary anchor (Fortress) has fifteen feet of chain and about 175' of nylon. Never wished I had more (and haven't dragged) in eight years of cruising back and forth between Maine and Grenada. 

I am knocking wood furiously....

Chain is heavy and expensive, and it rusts. There used to be a good discussion online by an Australian guy, I think, about how having a bunch of chain out really doesn't create any catenary in winds over about 40 knots (when you need it.) But having all chain does, in that instance, rob you of elasticity (which you arguably do need.)

So I chose to go with one boat length of chain and the rest nylon, and so far, at least, it's worked pretty well. When the wind is howling, I try not to spend a lot of time thinking about that nylon rode, except to let out a few feet every now and then so it will chafe in a different spot.


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