Hey boaties,
can someone suggest the correct length of chain for my boat, it's a 5.2 aluminium cat with a fairly broad beam.
When i bought the boat it only had around 3 meters of chain, i swapped to a 5.5 meter chain but i'm still straining the tines on a fairly thick reef pick, i'm thinking chain length is still the issue here.
Either length or gauge. Basically you don't have enough weight in the chain. I generally have a chain of about 6 metres on a boat that doesn't use a gypsy type winch - generally with 10mm links. On my current rig with a winch that restricts the gauge that can be used (7mm short link) I run about 10 metres.
I think the scope is probably more the issue or inadequate reef pick. Longer your chain on a reef the greater chance you have of losing it. Chain only comes into play as a shock absorber in light to moderate conditions anyway.
Other thing to consider is the length of the tines and how far from the shank of the anchor they are once bent. Reef picks don't need long tines - the longer they are, the easier is to straighten them. They really only need to end up 10 or so centimetres out from the shank at the completion of the bend.
Measure the diameter of your tines.
3-4 Metres of 8 mm chain.
10 mm anchor but I think you could easily go down to 8 mm or even 6 mm which is what I'm thinking of doing as I only anchor in safe locations.
You can straighten 10 mm prongs with a 17' boat but if you have to straighten 2 or 3 of them it can take some doing.
If you don't want to cut the prongs then you can just bend them at the ends making tight bends rather than a wide gapped sweeping bends.
Well its a fairly heavy duty reef pick and the chain is 10mm gal so a fair bit of weight and strength in it.
I'm wondering if dropping to a thinner rope might help and tying a rubber ring as added shock absorbtion might help.
I'll look into shorter tines on the pick, the current ones are a little longer then i've used previously.
They are designed to straighten when you 'de-hook' from the reef you know?
Airlock, some stuff in this thread that may help re size and shape of reef pick tines, mods, plus rope type etc that may help you. Go back to top of thread. There was another but can't locate it.
Cheers
Brendon
http://www.ausfish.com.au/vforum/showpost.php?p=1573981
At what angle is your anchor rope?...........anything less than 45deg is going to snatch and pull tight when it's rough IMO.
3-4mtrs of 10mm long link and 10mm rope is good for a boat your size and sounds like what you already have.........Just try dropping the pick another 20mtrs further forward than usual........or do what I did and get a Motorguide and never touch that dirty anchor again!.
Dan
Confidence.......the feeling you get before you fully understand the situation.
What does that mean, are they pulling funny faces?i'm still straining the tines
How thick is fairly thick?a fairly thick reef pick
How thick is fairly heavy duty?Well its a fairly heavy duty reef pick
Seriously airlock, no one here has any idea what you have for an anchor including me, is it a secret?
This is what I was told Years ago...
The function of a chain on a reef pick is only to stop chafing the rope and on a sand anchor to make it lay flat.
Rubber ring shock absorbers? ROTFLMAO!
Sorry i wasn't attempting to hide the secrets of my anchor, i simply hadn't got the exact measurements. The tines are 13mm thick witch should be plenty as they take some grunt to straiten and bend by hand, It sounds like it could be a problem with the angle of the rope.
I'm guessing you've never tried this, with a good sized piece of rubber tied between two loops of rope makes a huge difference with smaller boats when the wind blows up. As the boat pulls on the line the rubber expands and contracts keeping a more even tension rather then rope that slackens and then snaps tight when the swell increases (think bungie cord vs climbing rope) and reduces the jarring noticeably. This used to be the only way to stop my deckie from adding to the burly trail. Weather it would help with bending tines i'm not sure but considering it makes a difference at the boat i would assume the same shock absorbing benefit would be transferred the other way.Originally Posted by Fed
It's called "Snubbing".......I used to work/guide on some larger motherships in years gone by,we used to do a similar thing when we had to anchor in less favourable conditions......Most of the boats had 20mm short link chain so we could tie through the chain some 32mm rope and let it out another 20-30 mtrs then tie it off to the bollard on the bow...
This takes the pressure of off the winch and lets it act like a bit of a shock absorber......It's pretty common practice it's also in the small ships manual for when you do your master's......You can also just use a shackle instead of tieing off through the chain.....depends on what works best at the time.
I think you may just need a bit more rope angle to start with though.
Confidence.......the feeling you get before you fully understand the situation.
Knowing that I would say it definitely is. You could certainly try a rubber ring to see if a reduction in the snatching motion allows you to keep a reduced scope. Not like it will break the piggy bank if it doesn't work
I think 13mm is more than enough airlock, it would be interesting to see what everyone else is using on what boat?
Fed, 10mm on 5.2M Glass Mono. Considering going smaller.
Fed, 13mm on 6.2M Glass Mono. Felt like an overkill.
Airlock, 13mm on 5.2 Alloy Cat. Having straining problems, (what is that?)
Anyone care to add their numbers?
I've anchored with a treble hooked jig with 15Kg Mono line in 70M of water and a 1.5M swell.
Posting Permissions
Reply With Quote