Anchor rode marking

[Moxieabs]

As I watch the snow melting, I'm asking myself what would be a good method to mark my 125' 1/4" chain rode to know how much is out other than counting the links. At the moment I do not have a windlass, but obviously it is a top priority! Otherwise, I may develope an upper body structure similar to the governor of California. Anyone have some suggestions?

[Sea Wolf]

Moxieabs- There are comercially made anchor rode markers which attach to the chain or three-strand twisted line. They come in colored sets so that each one is a diferent color and has the distance out marked on it. Nine ribbons, 30-300 ft. $5.99 at your friendly West Marine candy store. Joe.

[wilbe asea]

I have 600 feet of twisted nylon rode that I have marked every 50 feet, the 50 foot marks are 1 strand of black yarn at 50 and 350, two strands of black yarn at 150 and 450, and three strands at 550. At 100 and 400 feet is one strand of orange, at 200 and 500 is 2 strands of orange, and 300 feet has three strands of orange. I have used yarn on many a coho fly and have never lost it, so I figured it would last on an anchor rode, so far it has not come unraveled. It is also cheap, and highly visible against the white nylon rope.

[Moxieabs]

Thanks for the input. Guess I can give it some morethought since it is snowing here again!

[stevej]

Moxieabs I was unable to use the standard type markers for my anchor rode (not 3 strand) so I used green, red, and yellow heat shrink tubing and wrote in black marker the length at each spot.

The stuff is pretty tough and think it would work fine with chain, bigger problem might be finding it. In Portland/Beaverton area Norvac carries the stuff from 2.5" down to 1/16" diameter in at least 10 colors.

stevej

[hardee]

So far my take on chain and rode marking is that there is not a conventional method (exception would be the tags from WM) or a conventional code for color or depth.

Any good ideas. For chain, I ma thinking red, white and blue paint. Maybe the same for the rode, or use some kind of nylon thread?

Ideas?

Harvey
SleepyC

[AstoriaDave]

[ghone]

All good ideas, you may want to cut 80 ft of chain off and use 40 attached to your rope rode however. C Dory's don't need all chain rode as some big boats use.
Retrieving even 60-80 ft of chain without a windlass is no fun
Our windlass is one of the top 1 or 2 items we put aboard.
Forget what you read in boating books about 7-1 scope it is rarely possible in today's crowded anchorages. Go a size bigger on your anchor (or two sizes) and relax with 3-1 ( or less)
We run the 22 b Claw by Lewmar and are on short scope unless it's blowing hard, having sat thru a steady breeze of 45 knots a couple times, we know it's the right gear for us.
Our rode is not marked, I gauge the angle as it goes into the water as "about right" having cruised and lived aboard a while now I am confident in the gear I put in the water. The markings I've seen used are another thing needing maintenance and likely overkill for our wee boats
George

[Pacificcoast101]

We use our C-Dory for diving so we anchor two times every time we go out. We marked our rode with blue Dykem at 25 feet intervals for the first 100 feet and fifty foot intervals after that. My last boat didn't have a windlass so I attached a lift bag to the anchor. At the end of each dive we would add enough air to the bag to raise the anchor a few feet off the bottom. Once we began pulling it up onboard the air would expand in the liftbag, making it really easy to pull it in. The anchor would usually pop to the surface before I even reached the chain.

[Phil Barnes]

We use paint on the chain to mark when the anchor is approaching water surface so we know it is close to coming into the roller. Water proof permanent marker of different colors has worked to mark the 3 strand rode so we know how much we have out. We use a combination of colors and hash marks to determine length of rode out. For example, one hash mark 6 inches in length indicates 25 feet of Rode, two hash marks in red is 50 ft...etc. We change colors at 100 feet and change colors again at 200 feet. Everybody seems to develop a system that makes sense to them. The marker lasts 2 or 3 seasons and then needs refreshed. We run 50 feet of chain and 225 feet of 3 strand rode.

[localboy]

Hi visibility orange paint.

Cheap, functional and easily re-painted.

I installed a bright colored zip tie on the chain at a distance so when it hits the windlass and is seen, the anchor is just below the water line. Stops the anchor from jamming and/or swinging wildly into the bow.

I also finally installed markers so I no longer have to WAG how much line is out.

http://store.hamiltonmarine.com/browse.cfm/anchor-rode-markers-9-pc-set-742440/4,49170.html?gclid=CKX2ztqbqssCFY9hfgodstQBaQ

[ssobol]

I tried the heat shrink thing on my rode, but found that the marks would move. After that I went to colored permanent markers. They work well on nylon line.

[breausaw]

[hardee]

I have (actually) 72 feet of chain, 1/4", and weighed it the other day. 73 pounds. One of the advantages of having that length is that I can anchor in 10 to 25 feet, run the chain out to the chain rode connection and cleat it off there and be pretty confident that I'm good in most situations.

As George knows, On a steep banked shore, I should have put out a stern line once though

George, I just changed from the Delta Plow to a Rocna, (same weight). I debated going up in size, but I'm going to bank on the physics of the Rocna instead of more weight.

Want to try that bay again

Harvey
SleepyC

[hardee]

Just thought of another marker type. Colored nylon webbing. It would probably last longer than the West Marine type tags that I had on the rode before. Like the ones in the above link.

Just a thought.

Harvey
SleepyC