Anchor rode marking

[All U Get]

Hi all,

Yesterday while painting marks on my anchor chain I got into a discussion on what distance apart on the marks. On our Catalina 30 I added marking tags to the three strand nylon at 40 foot increments because that's what was available at the marine supply shop. Now on my all chain rode I've painted every 10 feet with florescent orange and additionaly have plastic wire ties at 50, 60, 70, and 100 feet. My friend has every 25 feet marked on his and I'm thinking I may have gone a bit overboard.

What do you think? Oh yeah, it hurts when you get your fingers tangled in the chain.

All U Get

 

[Rick I]

I mark mine at 50', 100' and 150'.

 

[Sailm8]

Well, I installed a new rode and bought those plastic markers from WM. They are only marked on one side and who can remember the color coding, so I marked them on the back too. Really proud of myself until I went to anchor. Seems those markers are really tasty to some varmint. Not only were all of the markers eaten, but the rode is frayed and needs to be replaced. There's 200 ft of brand new rode down the sewer.

 

[Velero49]

First is 80 and every 20 thereafter. If you have a windlass it deploys 1ft/sec. YMMV

 

[Chris Nowell]

Watch your hands on those plastic ties, we've seen them cause serious damage to the hands. Our rode is marked every 25 ft. Guess it depends on the average depth of the anchorages in your area as well as the expected scope.

 

[Winkfish]

I used bright orange nylon whipping twine and whipped my rode every 25 feet.

 

[Gunni]

We generally anchor in about 10 feet of water, so with a minimum scope of 3:1 a 25' mark works well, and we put it 4 feet under the water (with a 6' run to the roller). If we double the scope for a gusty anchorage, we let out to the 50' mark, and put that one 4' under.

Real easy and the marks? 25' - one orange stripe, 50' - two orange stripes, 75' - three orange stripes, 100' - four orange stripes. 125' - 150' - chain rode is all orange.

 

[Rob19574]

I'm going through this exercise now (you can tell its winter up here) -- I'm planning on 10 foot intervals. I cant get my strands to open and my local marine shop suggested soaking the entire rode in water + fabric softener. I need to have a new thimble installed which is what he is doing once I soften the strand enough to open it.

 

[soldier1964]

since i normally anchor in shallow protected areas, so mine is set at 30' intervals with red,white and blue tape. each tape is marked with a number,1,2,3 and so forth.

 

[monkeybars]

This proves for a fact that we all have way to much idle time on our hands.

 

[sailaway78]

I think I agree with monkey bars.

I have no markings at all on mine. I just know that if I have enough out, the rode is nearly parallel with the water. I never short scope myself, and am a firm believer in 10:1. When anchoring, more is always better. In this part of the world a thunderstorm is more than possible in the middle of the night. Maybe those in more crowded waters need to shorten up to avoid other boats, but where I normally anchor, there are no other boats close enough to worry about.

 

[Stu Jackson]

I'm with Nice, I know how much I have out. Maybe it's because the blue mark on my rode is about ten feet long and consists of a wide swath of bottom paint from when the rode got wrapped around the keel in an anchorage with opposed wind and tide!

But before I learned that little trick, I sailed for years without any markers. Then i put some on, the WM green ones, 30, 60, 90. Unless you sail/anchor in deep water, there's not much more you need. 10:1 in 12 feet is 120 feet of rode, right (neglecting the height to the bow - KISS).

25 foot markings seem counter-intuitive. Isn't it easier to multiply by 10s than 25s?

PS - the markers eventually fell off. I don't miss 'em.

 

[Nodak7]

Hi all,

Yesterday while painting marks on my anchor chain I got into a discussion on what distance apart on the marks. On our Catalina 30 I added marking tags to the three strand nylon at 40 foot increments because that's what was available at the marine supply shop. Now on my all chain rode I've painted every 10 feet with florescent orange and additionaly have plastic wire ties at 50, 60, 70, and 100 feet. My friend has every 25 feet marked on his and I'm thinking I may have gone a bit overboard.

What do you think? Oh yeah, it hurts when you get your fingers tangled in the chain.

All U Get

All, yours is marked almost exactly as mine is except I did not use the ties on the chain.

 

[Ron20324]

With the B323s roller 9 feet off the bottom, I very seldom have out less than 75 feet unless just a lunch hook or waiting to join into a raftup. My first mark is 75, then every 25 after that. I'd think markers every 10 feet is too close, like "fine tuning", and maybe harder/confusing to measure out?

 

[Winkfish]

25 foot markings seem counter-intuitive. Isn't it easier to multiply by 10s than 25s?

I lose count too easily.

 

[Buck420]

Chain Marking

Hi all,

Yesterday while painting marks on my anchor chain I got into a discussion on what distance apart on the marks. On our Catalina 30 I added marking tags to the three strand nylon at 40 foot increments because that's what was available at the marine supply shop. Now on my all chain rode I've painted every 10 feet with florescent orange and additionaly have plastic wire ties at 50, 60, 70, and 100 feet. My friend has every 25 feet marked on his and I'm thinking I may have gone a bit overboard.

What do you think? Oh yeah, it hurts when you get your fingers tangled in the chain.

All U Get

In 2001, I, too, painted my, then new, (5/16, BBB) 250' chain rode every 25' w/ florescent red and green spray paint in a striping pattern of 1,2,3 red, ... then (at 100', etc), green+1,2,3 red, ... then ( at 200', etc) 2green+1,2 red.
Within 4 years the florescent spray paint had caused such severe corrosion on the painted links of the chain that I had to replace the entire chain rode.
Apparently spray paint, especially florescent spray paint, severely degrades
galvanization.

To mark the new chain rode, I have been using red and green colored cable ties every 25' in the same striping pattern. No Corrosion;... however, the chain gypsie tends to occasionally "eat" one or another of the cable tie markers, so... every couple of years I have had to replace half a dozen or so.

 

[Delezynski]

Marking

We normally use an all chain road.

We marked ours at 5 fathom increments (about 30 ft.)

I used both paint and plastic wire ties to mark our chain.

First, I treated the galvanized chain to be painted with vinegar, then rinsed it off with fresh water & let it dry.

I then painted it with 1 red stripe at 5 fathoms, white (or yellow) at 10 fathoms and blue at 15. I then painted two (2) red stripes at 20, 2 white stripes at 25 and 2 blue at 30. I used the same color wire ties and same setup of 1 then 2.

This can go on and on....
I then painted the last (about) 10 foot of chain red. It's followed by nylon line that I can (if required) be cut to let the system go.

Just our way....

Greg

 

[wetass]

Every 30' with a different color based on "Go Rub Your Balls With Grease" - Even my kids remember that saying and can tell how much scope is out.

Green
Red
Yellow
Blue
White
Green
...

 

[smokey73]

RYBWG - your way is a little more memorable!

Every 30' with a different color based on "Go Rub Your Balls With Grease" - Even my kids remember that saying and can tell how much scope is out.

Green
Red
Yellow
Blue
White
Green
...

I always remembered as we used to say for UNREP (Underway Replenishment) on Navy Ships as Read Your Books With Glasses, but your way is more memorable for sure.

What is the consensus for the type of paint or other marker to use on chain to not cause damage or hang up on the gypsy of an anchor windlass. Same for rope to avoid damage or possible slipage on the drum. I'll be marking my soon so insights so I don't screw it up and have to replace rode woud be helpful THANKS

 

[Scott B]

I have 50 ft. chain and then marked every 25ft. after that with coloured zip ties. We usually anchor in 10 - 15 ft. of water so 5:1 is 50 - 75 ft.. So it's the first mark on the rope at 75 ft., any deeper up to 20 ft., go to the second mark. I'm not going to stand there and calculate 10.3 ft. of water and 3.8 ft. to bow x 5:1, etc. etc. to get 70.5 ft. of rode, 75 is close enough. I just tell my wife first or second mark in the water.

We usually anchor in fairly busy anchorages and protected so 5:1 is adequate. Any stronger winds go to 7:1 if I have the room.

My anchor has held in 52 knot winds at 3.8:1 so not overly concerned about exact ratios.


Must be winter, that's when anchoring and coffee discussions come up