Chain and Rope Selection

[nowornever1972]

I just bought the boat in the pic, its only got 60 meters of rope, going to buy rope and chain. Looking for sugestions on length of chain and how mm diameter rope for this size boat 6.3 meter for offshore work.

[GABBA110360]

mate
try the lenth of your boat in 8 mm short link and probably10 mm silver and in deeper water you shouldn't go anywhere

[FishHunter]

Chain as above and at least double the deepest water you will anchor in. I use 12mm because its easier for my dodgy hands to grab.

[Smithy]

I prefer 8mm rope. It is harder on the hands but is thinner for less water drag. I'd go 4-6m of 10mm close link chain and then a tripped 20lb plough. That setup was fine on my 6m boat but I have gone to a 27lb plough now on my 25'er. That is enough to do the job now and still only 6m or so of chain, just at the limit of what I can lift to throw it all overboard anyway.

[EdBerg]

This subject comes up a lot and there is no correct answer just usually a whole heap of answers from which you can make your own mind as to what you think is required.

My view is that assuming you don't have a electric winch with a Gypsy to worry about, (which would dictate the chain and rope size) I would not go under the length of your boat for the chain probably in the 8mm size, it feels better and inspires more confidence for me than the 6mm and I would prefer 100mt of nylon rope in 10mm or 12mm. You don't need the strength of that size nylon as it's way overkill but 10mm or 12mm is easier in the hands to haul up than 8mm. Bearing in mind that you will be very hard pressed to break it off if you got the chain or anchor snagged up. Depends also where you intend to anchor, if it is always shallow where you are anchoring, then 1 boat length of chain plus rope should suffice, if deeper, then 2 boat lengths of chain would be better.

For mine, I have 16mt chain and if I was in shallow water and using 16mt of rope with it would give me a 1:4 ratio at 8mt water depth, also would depend on the local tides too, I have been in areas where there is a 7mt+ tide so that same length now becomes a 1:2 ratio so I would have to allow a total of 60mt just to keep the same ratio. Now if a storm kicked in........, well you should be able to work out where I am going with this!


As for 100mt vs a 50mt coil, chances are you will never pay out that much rope, but it's nice to know you have got it should you need it. The difference in the price of the rope in the 50mt vs 100mt lengths is only about $50-80. Think of it as cheap insurance.

Lastly, don't skip on the size of the anchor, the last boat show I went to, I was shocked at the size of anchors they put on boats, I have seen quite a few boats dragging and now I know why. Just my 2 cents worth.

Cheers

Ed.