All Chain Rode

D

dad's turn

New Member
Jan 17, 2007
48
I would like to change my rode to all chain. Has anybody done this and can you tell me how many feet fit in the locker.
 
dad's turn said:
I would like to change my rode to all chain. Has anybody done this and can you tell me how many feet fit in the locker.
Click to expand...

On my 340 DA I have 220 feet of chain and about 100 feet of rope. Fits in the bow chain locker just fine.

Bountylb1.jpg
 
The thing you need to worry about is the weight obviously. That comes right off the capacity limits of the boat. I have an all chain rode and love it but I bet that thing weighs at least 200+ pounds on the nose. The nice thing is that when I put out 100+ feet of chain, the anchor really isn't needed... :grin:
 
I have all chain rode now, and have had nylon in the past. I'm not really impressed with chain. I have not noticed that it sets better <in my area>. It holds more dirt, rusts, more weight, etc. And it's more expensive to replace. Also, you are not supposed to use only the windless to hold the rode. You are supposed to secure it sepeartely. If you have nylon that's a quick and easy wrap around a cleat. With chain, you need a chock, or use a nylon line to secure the chain to a cleat. One night, we did drag the anchor and got up in the middle of the night. It took forever, and 2 people <even with a windless> to unsecure the line and retrieve the anchor. But the big thing is that there is no "give" in the chain. It the wind pushed you around, you will feel the slamming against the chain.

I have 150 ft of chain that is getting rusty. I am contemplating cutting out the good section and adding 200 ft of nylon rode <provided I can get a rope/chain gypse for my windless. Current one is chain only <Lofrans>. I think an ideal rode for me would be 50 of chain @ 200 ft of nylon

The only thing I don't know if how well a windless handles a chain/nylon rode.

Comment/oppinions?

Thanks
Larry
 
I agree with LM. We had all chain on the last boat and I was not impressed. I was glad to see the chain/rope combo on the new boat.

In the Chesapeake Bay, most of the time we're dealing with muddy bottoms which makes for quite a mess when the anchor comes up. Plus, it was more difficult to set the anchor than previous arrangements I have dealt with. Not only harder to set, but harder to tell if it was actually set; as Four Suns stated, 100' of chain is plenty of an anchor on it's own... until a thunderstorm comes along.

And let's not even mention what a pain in the a-- it was one day when the windlass crapped out and I had to retrieve by hand! :huh:

All chain has it's place in this world, but it was not a good fit for us.
 
My 280 came with all chain, but only 25 feet of chain. I boat in a lake where you often are in plus 30 feet of water so I need 150 to 200 feet of total length. The only way to do it was with the combination rope/chain. I am please with the new combo rode.
 
prodigalson said:
I agree with LM. We had all chain on the last boat and I was not impressed. I was glad to see the chain/rope combo on the new boat.

In the Chesapeake Bay, most of the time we're dealing with muddy bottoms which makes for quite a mess when the anchor comes up. Plus, it was more difficult to set the anchor than previous arrangements I have dealt with. Not only harder to set, but harder to tell if it was actually set; as Four Suns stated, 100' of chain is plenty of an anchor on it's own... until a thunderstorm comes along.

And let's not even mention what a pain in the a-- it was one day when the windlass crapped out and I had to retrieve by hand! :huh:
All chain has it's place in this world, but it was not a good fit for us.
Click to expand...

I noticed there is a star shaped opening in the top of the windlass....is there a hand crank that fits in here to handcrank a line back in???
 
Yeah, I have a hand crank that fits in there.
 
Sure you can crank it by hand. But don't kid yourself... 100' of chain being cranked up form the muddy bottom with a 10" manual winch handle is NO FUN! That's what I meant by "retrieving by hand".
 
I also have all chain,apx. 30 ft of it. If your hook gets stuck as Imine did,be prepared to have a big time work out pulling all of the chain out of the storage are rather than being able to cut it and continue,or carry your blow torch and melt it.
The capt's at TowBoatUS recommend that for those of us that carry all chain,whenever we are going to anchor out,we should carry a spare anchor with rope that way if you cannot get it back all you have to do is cut the rope and take off.
 
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