Going All Anchor Chain

Current OEM set up: 2003.5 Sea Ray 340 Sundancer, 200' of 5/8" anchor line with 25' of 5/16" chain attached to a 25# plow anchor with a Lofrans Progress One windlass. My playground is Lake Ontario. My typical over night anchoring situation is less than 12-15' in protected waters with a combo of sand/rock/weeds/mud. No currents or tides to deal with. (or saltwater)

Situation: The boat is 16 years old, I am the second owner. It is probable, the PO used it as a day boat, so he'd probably drove it 20 minutes from the slip and anchored in 10 feet of water for the afternoon. I say this because it appears he let all of the chain out and then another 5'-15' of line, leaving it in the windlass. The anchor line from 0'-20' is showing signs of wear, with two spots I am not comfortable with. IMO it needs to be replaced. The line 25'+ is pristine. I combo cruise and day trip with the boat. I all most always tie off the anchor anchor line to the bow cleat when I anchor to get any stress off the windlass, unless it's just for a few minutes with little or no wind.

My thought: I want to go with an all chain replacement. It was an option for this boat year/model: 125' 5/16" all anchor chain, according to the manual. I understand about using a bridle/chain snubber when anchoring with all chain and the one I like puts out 25' of line for the absorption and lowering the pulling point along with preventing the dragging chain noise while sleeping. The replacement price for all chain (on sale right now at W.M. so no shipping charges) is close enough in cost to line/chain rode combo to make it worth it to me right now. Added note: The gypsy wheel occasionally stumbles on this 0'-20' section of anchor line because of the wear.

Question: Are there any disadvantages that would make me rethink going all chain? Anyone have regrets or wish they didn't have all chain? Should I go longer than 125'? The potential noise is the only one I can come up with.

I'd stick with 200' on the great lakes. I've had occasion to anchor in 20-30' of water. 125' could get a bit short.

I guess the only downside to all chain is the cost?? Well...and the weight. But if your 2003 340 runs anything like my 99 did you'll actually enjoy a little more weight up on the front.

If you go all chain you'll want to invest in some nice bolt cutters for that "what if" scenario. Chain will be a bit harder to cut free with a knife

Stee6043 said:

I'd stick with 200' on the great lakes. I've had occasion to anchor in 20-30' of water. 125' could get a bit short.

I guess the only downside to all chain is the cost?? Well...and the weight. But if your 2003 340 runs anything like my 99 did you'll actually enjoy a little more weight up on the front.

If you go all chain you'll want to invest in some nice bolt cutters for that "what if" scenario. Chain will be a bit harder to cut free with a knife

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I saw where guys added 10' of line to the boat end of the anchor chain, attached in the anchor locker, so they could cut it free in an emergency. I'd have to be about a mile out, in open water, to anchor in anything more than 20' which would never happen for an overnight or windy conditions. As you know, a 15-20 knot breeze with 4'+ waves on the Great Lakes are much different than 4' waves on the ocean. I'd duck in somewhere shallow and protected if I saw that coming. Believe it or not the cost is only about $125 difference which is why I'm leaning heavily in that direction. Yes, not concerned about the added weight at the pointy end at all.

I have 200’ of chain on my 340. Wouldn’t have it any other way.

Another option would be to cut the line off of the last link, wash the rope, finish by soaking in fabric softener, flip the rope end-for-end and re-splice it to the link. Problem solved and it's a 'freebie' fix.

I replaced my 25/200 rode with 50/200 for my 320. Works good for the Chesapeake. All chain is to noisy for me.
https://www.ahoycaptain.com/imtra_SPA-I2H50B.html

We have all chain 230 feet. It will allow you to go with less scope. We anchor in 50 feet most of the time and we put out 200 feet of chain. Have had winds of 40MPH gust and sustained 30 for hours. The anchor and chain hold. It does not seem to matter if bottom is rock or mud. Wind has shifted 180 degrees and the anchor held. We push the man over board when we drop the anchor and when it is set then leave the chart plotter on until we feel we are secure. We tie the chain off with a single line with a 5/16 chain grab attached to 15 feet of 1/2" rope we tie it off to the cleat near the anchor then let more chain out until it is slack with 2 foot loop in the water. No chain rattle.

northern said:

We have all chain 230 feet. It will allow you to go with less scope. We anchor in 50 feet most of the time and we put out 200 feet of chain. Have had winds of 40MPH gust and sustained 30 for hours. The anchor and chain hold. It does not seem to matter if bottom is rock or mud. Wind has shifted 180 degrees and the anchor held. We push the man over board when we drop the anchor and when it is set then leave the chart plotter on until we feel we are secure. We tie the chain off with a single line with a 5/16 chain grab attached to 15 feet of 1/2" rope we tie it off to the cleat near the anchor then let more chain out until it is slack with 2 foot loop in the water. No chain rattle.

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That sounds interesting. I'd love to see a photo of your setup. I've also never had an issue setting and holding, but we have had some noise from time to time on particularly windy nights. We use a snubber that's essentially 2 hooks with a bungee cord in the middle. It's about 2 ft long when not stretched. We attach one hook to the cross bar on the anchor roller, and the other to a link of chain. The length of chain between where it is attached to the boat and where the snubber attaches to the chain remains slack. Typically I let out enough chain to hang down in a U 2 ft or so below the anchor roller. Maybe we need to let out more chain to avoid any noise or do a setup like yours? I've thought about tying off two lines (one to each cleat at the bow) and tying both of those to one chain hook that we could then use to attach to a link and pull the chain slack. That seems like that would (could) work well and be less stress using two points of attachment on the boat.

onthejob said:

Question: Are there any disadvantages that would make me rethink going all chain? Anyone have regrets or wish they didn't have all chain? Should I go longer than 125'? The potential noise is the only one I can come up with.

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It sounds like you understand the weight thing, the cost doesn't seem to matter in this case, and the noise won't be an issue when you figure out which tie off works for you. I have all chain and I would always go all chain on a cruising boat. For day boats that occasionally overnight you could do any combination. Personally, I'd go all chain on those boats too just because of my experiences with the windlasses inability to handle the rope/chain splice 100% of the time, and having to fiddle around with temperamental pressure fingers. I'd go more than 125'. If you think your boat would handle bad water just fine with a 200 pound guy sitting on the bow, I'd go 200', assuming your windlass takes 5/16 G-4.

I hear so many stories about windlass problems with a splice. Aside from having to switch to the metal finger I have never had one issue with my Project 1000. Is there a particular set up that's more prone? My previous Lewmar horizontal never had a issue either.

MProd
We have 15 foot 1/2" rope with a chain fall on the end. When we get close to the amount of chain out we hook the chain fall on the rope to the anchor chain, tie the rope to the cleat near the bow and chain, place the 1/2" rope in the guide at the bow near the anchor then let out 10 feet of chain until there is a loop of chain under water the chain fall is usually about 4 feet under water. The chain is 100% tight under water there is no tension on the chain above water. Then I back up after hitting the man over board. Back up is both engines at 600 RPM the chain either goes strait out and the boat stops or the anchor drags. If the boat stops I hit the man over board again. Then drink beer or scotch.

northern said:

MProd
We have 15 foot 1/2" rope with a chain fall on the end. When we get close to the amount of chain out we hook the chain fall on the rope to the anchor chain, tie the rope to the cleat near the bow and chain, place the 1/2" rope in the guide at the bow near the anchor then let out 10 feet of chain until there is a loop of chain under water the chain fall is usually about 4 feet under water. The chain is 100% tight under water there is no tension on the chain above water. Then I back up after hitting the man over board. Back up is both engines at 600 RPM the chain either goes strait out and the boat stops or the anchor drags. If the boat stops I hit the man over board again. Then drink beer or scotch.

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I’m going to try this for sure. The scotch not the beer. ;-)

I have gone to 150 ft of chain, but I added it between the rode and the anchor. So I still have the original 3 strand rode (maybe 200ft? ) attached after the chain. So i could anchor in pretty deep water in an emergency with about 350ft total rode/chain. Having all chain in the depths we anchor (15 to 35 ft) in is really good. Sets faster and no slippage in the windlass like you can get with rope. The chain weight droop means that you don't have a long distance from the bow to where the anchor chain goes underwater and deep enough to be below harms way. Less risk of anyone running over the anchor line. And the chain gives added bow weight which makes for a more level plan with less tab when running.

Anybody got a link for the chain sale? I checked WM and don't see 5/16" BBB G40 chain being discounted.

k9medic said:

Anybody got a link for the chain sale? I checked WM and don't see 5/16" BBB G40 chain being discounted.

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Keep in mind that BBB and G40 are different chain. G40, aka G4, HT etc is rated at twice the WWL as BBB. Link dimensions are slightly different also, Many windlasses that handle G4 can also handle BBB and vise versa, but you should check your chain links for markings or your chain wheel for a stamp.

Added a couple pics showing the 5/16 and HT chain stamps on my progress one

All great replies, thanks guys. Too much to quote everyone but I'll do best to respond and update what I've decided. I contacted West Marine Rigging Dept to confirm their G43 (G4) chain will run through my Lofrans Progress One windlass and it does, according to them. It was on sale last weekend:
https://www.westmarine.com/buy/west...old-by-the-foot--P005_154_001_002?recordNum=1

I've had my boat for 6 seasons now. Looking back, I've never anchored overnight in more than 8' or 10' of water. The worst I've encounter was 7' of water in muck and seaweed blowing up to 40 knots hiding behind an island, 1'-2' waves, overnight. I had about 90'-100' line out and slipped maybe 50' all night. Lots of swinging. I didn't sleep much. With that said, I'm comfortable having 125' of chain. That was the factory option length. I plan on doing my best to splice in 25'-50' of line from the old anchor line. The reason I am not flipping it and re-splicing is because the windlass is finicky transitioning from the chain to line at the splice and I'll lose about 25' of bad line. I will curse that splicing option each time I bring in the anchor and have to go back and forth ten times before it catches - "You fool, you should've gone all chain!" The reason for the extra line is to be able to cut it away in an emergency and to give myself an extra 25'+ to use a bridle/snubber. I'm also hoping in a blow, I can let out all 125' and only have the extra line touch the boat to prevent any chain noise to keep the commodore asleep.

This is the bridle/snubber set I am going to build



With that said, I pulled the trigger on 125' of 5/16" G43 chain. I bought some 5/8" three-strand line to start the bridle build. Doing some more shopping this week for the hardware.

For the record: Bourbon. Usually Blantons when I can get it. I bring a bottle every cruise. I sip some one the first night after arrival on the hook and again when I get to home port, after everything it buttoned up.