Length of anchor rope?

[SimonCh]

Hey folks,

On my boat, i've got 3 metres of anchor chain, and the guy had MEGA amounts of rope - as he used it for shotting shipwrecks when he dived. Whats a reasonable amount of rope to have on the anchor?

Si

[bosun]

Six times the depth of water you intend to anchor in is the recommended amount.
Have a look a the chart of where you usually go,add the height of a spring tide to the depth of where you intend to anchor and you need a total length including the chain of six times that.

[SimonCh]

Yeah I know that rya say 6 times, but what length do you guys carry? I could look at where I usually go, but often may go elsewhere, just wondering what a decent length to have is!?

[willk]

We carry lots. You should consider more chain (6m ideally) and two anchor warps. One of about 25/30m for immediate deployment, and another of at least 50/60m (buy cheap fisherman's rope) to extend the first if necessary.

The advice above is sound. The last time that I thought I was going to need an anchor pronto, I was in 90m of water, very close to a lee shore

[SimonCh]

Lol, fair point! Think thats pretty much what i've got - a decent length bit immediately attached to the anchor, and another of about the same which were joined using a sheet bend, but i've separated them, and as you say - i can at least re-join if required.

cheers

[wavelength]

http://www.powerboat-training.co.uk/...anchoring1.htm

[captnjack]

140m or so. But I've anchored in 35m or water on divesites which is not really an "anchorage"

[yoyo]

My main anchor is an Alloy Fortress danforth type, with 7mtrs 10mm stainless steel chain and and 40m 12mm rope. I also carry a secondary anchor, one of those folding type with 4mtrs of 10mm SS chain and 20mtrs 8mm rope.
In addition I carry a seperate 12 mm warp of around 30 mtrs lenght.

[jyasaki]

6 or 7 times is recommended for overnighting. You can get by with less if you're in calm conditions, eating lunch or something where weather is not likely to change.

When diving, I personally scope out to about a 1.5 or 2 : 1 offset; i.e. in 80 feet of water, I adjust until I'm 120 to 160 feet or so from the numbers. Not going to do the math right now, but it should work out to about 3:1 rode to depth.

That said, I carry 400' of primary anchor line, with a spare anchor and another 200' rode stowed away. I usually don't anchor in more than about 140' depth or so.

jky

[Mollers]

My main anchor line is approx 60m. There's another 60m of other warp onboard. When in the sh*t, the anchor is the 1st line of defence.

[jyasaki]

Originally Posted by Mollers

When in the sh*t, the anchor is the 1st line of defence.

And often, the last as well. I can remember more than a few occasions when the ground tackle kept a disabled boat on the water as opposed to in the surf line.


jky

[m chappelow]

The longer the line or scope the better yes i would agree,

what you have to remind yourself though is that when most of the ratio's were calculated they were not looking at the prospect of fast planing hulled craft which dident exist back in in those days, but at heavy displacement sailing boats with the thought of anchoring with a gale or storm in mind using old admiralty (popeye) type anchors ,and not the high hold anchors of today ,

[SPR]

the length of rope required is usally 3 metres shorter, than the rope you have.....

[Grasshopper]

I found this an interesting article about anchors and anchoring its also based on practical experience. It’s quite an interesting blog to follow (if you like that sort of thing)
http://hackingfamily.com/Cruise_Info...nt/Anchors.htm

[dougal_22]

i have 30 meters of heavy chain, and 100 meters of 10mm chain..

[BogMonster]

Originally Posted by dougal_22

i have 30 meters of heavy chain, and 100 meters of 10mm chain..

That must make your 3m+ Valiant chug a bit getting on the plane