Marking braided anchor rodes for depth?

[Malcolm Young]

Has anyone found a great way to mark braided anchor rodes so that you know how much you have let out in order to get the desired scope.For twisted rodes you can use tags inserted between the strands at desired intervals, for chains you can use different colours of paint such as paint the link at 30' white at 60' yellow and so on - and when you run out of colours you can start painting 2 links. These are good methods. After the initial 40ft of chain I have 200 feet of braided rope as it does not snarl to the same extent as twisted. Patterns made with a permanent marker at 30' intervals are a possibility however I wonder how long the markings will be easy to see. Another possibility is marking the line with yarn stiched through although I wonder if this will come back out too easily.There are lots of knowledgeable sailors on this forum - any experience/other ideas?

 

[tcbro]

marker

I use marker. Red marker every 8' with black & red every 5th mark. Why 8'? That's the interval that was marked on the rode of my very first boat when I bought it and I got used to it so I stayed with it. It's hard to see in the dark so you have to turn the foredeck light on at night but I usually set my hook in daylight.Toms/v Orion's Child

 

[Paul (Affinity C320)]

Anchorline Markers

There are yellow plastic markers available. Try West Marine.

 

[Peggie Hall HeadMistress]

I read of a novel way on another site

The poster suggested painting entire 10' segments of line/chain different colors...make a little chart of the colors in their order so you don't have to remember. For instance, paint the first 10' yellow, the next 10' red, the next orange, the next blue...so if you see blue line at the water line, you know you have between 40-50' of line out. You can eyeball how much of the color is above the waterline. Even if the paint wears off, enough of it will remain embedded to see what color it was.

 

[David W]

Our is painted every 20 ft

Seems to be holding up well.We have 100 ft of chain so the nylon rode doesn't see much use. The chain is marked with 1ft pieces of 1/4" nylon rope woven through the links every 20ft. Works well, passes through our Freedom 500 windlass, is easy to see in the daylight and can be felt at night if lighting is bad.

 

[LKYusnret]

electrical tape

of different colors is what I use, every 20 ft and black to mark the 100 ft mark. example red 20ft, green 40 ft, yellow 60 ft, orange 80 ft, black 100 ft, you have to keep track of the blacks LOL. Run the tape around the rode enough times so it sticks to its self. You get the idea. I have used the same tape bands for two seasons with no problems.John, Baums Rush

 

[Don12364]

Gypsy?

Malcom,How do you find braided rope on the gypsy? Windlass makers say it us unsatisfactory but I am not so sure.

 

[Malcolm Young]

Donalex - Braided anchor rode on gypsy

I have a Maxwell VW800 windlass which has both a rope gypsy and chain gypsy. The rope gypsy works fine on braided rope provided you tail it (just like a sheet winch). I have not tried the rope on the chain gypsy although I hear it works. I expect that 3 strand would work better on the chain gypsy.My method of raising anchor is to bring in the rope rode by hand (with help in moving the boat from the engine as necessary) - I can bring it in and stow it faster and neater than using the windlass. (I find braided rope stow easily)When I get to the chain I flip it on to the chain gypsy and use the power to lift the chain and anchor. At 40 feet the chain is long enough that I never have to lift both anchor and chain using the rope gypsy (in places that I normally anchor) so I have never really given the rope gypsy a tough challenge.

 

[r.w.landau]

I also went with

the marker.Black marker all the way around the line every 10'. One ring 10 two rings 20 etc. The first ring of every set is the actual distance. I have 50' sections of anchorline that I connect together for the conditions. I also marked the 5' intervals 35' would be 3 black rings and a red ring.Yes it's alot of work but I know how much rode I have out. I am a fresh water sailor so 5' does me good. If I were a salt water sailor I would only mark 10'intervals.r.w.landau

 

[Les Blackwell]

Plastic wire ties

I'm surprised that someone hasn't already written in about using plastic wire ties that you can buy from West Marine and I'm sure from other marine stores. Probably cheaper at a harware store too.... The come in a bag of several hundred and they have a variety of colors.I have used my colored wire ties for six years and have not replaced one of them. I have 100 feet of chain and 200 feet of line, however, I use the wire ties on both chain and line. I've been doing this for years on my other boats. They work on braid or twisted line.I use a red tie at 25 feet, a blue tie at 50 feet, a green tie at 75 feet and then a yellor tie at 100 feet. Then starting with the line I use a yellow and a red tie combined at 125 feet. You can make up your own code.By the way, these plastic ties being cheap also go through the gypsy quite well. Never had a problem and with the spreader lights on at night I can see the color enough to know what I'm doing.I've also had made at a trophy shop a small sign with the code that I just told you about. So if a senior moment hits me I can look at the sign and see where I'm at. I am surprised that this system hasn't caught on. It's cheap, quick and simple.Les

 

[David11054]

Markers every 10 feet

With an increasing number of rings for each 10 foot stretch, and a fat ring after 100 feet. I just laid them on with a felt-tip waterproof marker, and they are doing pretty well after five years.When I'm chartering, I fake the line down measuring the length of each loop by eyeball after establishing the width of the foredeck. That way the right length is ready to run easy as we let the line out, backing down from the anchor.DavidLady Lillie

 

[Malcolm Young]

Thanks for the information on braided rode marking

There were several ideas that were new to me as well as experience in ones that I knew about - now which one to choose....This site does not dissapoint!