Anchor line strength

[Blackbird]

I just bought a 2005 283 Release and obviously, the previous owner did not spend much time at anchor. I'm planning to replace the anchor line and am wondering what the best line size would be. I anticipate anchoring in water as deep as 100 feet and the smaller the line, the more I'll be able to store. The boat weighs about 9000#. 3/8 inch diameter line shows a tensile strength of about 3500# and 1/2 inch is about 7000#. This is no place to cut corners but I also don't want overkill. Any advice.

Thanks

John Beach

 

[Blackbird]

Anchor line

Just a test of the system to see if I'm doing things right.

JJB

 

[Tuna Man]

I reccomend you use a quality 3/8" three strand rode rope. Unless you plan on regularly anchoring in a storm with 40mph plus winds and heavy seas, you should be fine. I am no expert on the subject, but I have fished with boats in the canyons that were roughly 14,000 pounds (31' Blackfin with tower and twin diesels for example) that had no problems with 3/8 rope. The key is a long length of chain between the anchor and the rode. For 100' of water I would prefer 30' feet of chain but 20' should surfice. I am sure others would not head out with any less than 5/8" rope on your boat, but that is total overkill in my opinion. I have a 30' marlin and plan on purchasing two 600' lengths of high quality 3/8" rope in the next few weeks for my boat for overnight trips to the canyons.

 

[BobP]

I think you overstated the boat weight, considerably. Check the number.

You may want to consider 1/2 or 7/16 inch, too.

A longer than typical chain section will save you from storing additional length nylon.

 

[White Horses (Mike)]

I guess you do not have a windlass to worry about? If you do, I think you would want to fit the chain and rode to the windlass. I'm no expert here - I only dream of having a windlass.

Here is an IMPORTANT point though - if you have to haul this by hand - don't use less than 1/2" because it will kill your hands. Our old 18 foot boat had a 5/16 line which used to just make my hands sore. Better in my humble opinion to enjoy overkill on line strength and ease for your hands.

If you need to be in deeper water than your anchor locker capacity is good for, its nice to have a 100' of spare line in the boat anyway - just tag that on for those occassions.

When making this decision for our 225 tournament, I was able to cram 250 feet of 1/2 brait into the locker with 12 feet of 1/4" chain, a swivel, and a fortress anchor. The brait takes up less space than 3 strand because it lies alot more neatly. a bit more money though... It all seems pretty strong. I kept the danforth that came with the boat as the backup with the original 200 feet of 3 strand.

Sorry for the lengthy reply but I recently went through a bunch of head scratching on this exact topic. Good luck with your choice!

 

[Grog]

Get an anchor ball if you don't have a windlass.

3/8 has enough strength but you might want to have some 1/2" by the anchor so if it gets nicked it's still strong enough.

 

[TunaT]

anchoring / length

take a few moments and check out some of the old posts you should find some good ones on just this topic. You will get some really info from them...but in a nut shell you need at 3x the depth you plan on anchoring in as far as line goes. I would say 1/2" line is better, but I also carry extra water seperators on the boats in case of emergency, extra vhf's, etc.....I would rather error on the side of safety then to need an anchor and not have one strong enough to hold. Also as stated above the Chain is a very important piece of this puzzle....I use 30ft of chain on what I have but I might anchor in 200+ ft of water...I have other fishing partners that use 10ft of chain but they have 5/8" link or larger...the chain is very important to keeping the anchor safety attached to the bottom...as I'm sure you know already.....we could go on and on........but really look up some of the old posts on this topic, every issue is covered in extreme detail.

 

[CJBROWN]

Welcome to the forum!! Hope you find what you came for.

I have to echo the line diameter for retrieving and handling. I went with 250' of 3/8 because that's what they say is sufficient for a little boat, but boy is it hard to pull in because the diameter is so small. I would have been much happier with 7/16 or 1/2.

I run about 30' of 1/4 chain, the more chain the better, it helps create a horizontal pull on the anchor.

The downside of all this line is once everything is piled in there I have to dig a hole to fit the shank of the anchor down into or it won't hang on it's mounts to shut the flap door. It is kind of a hassle, thicker line would be even worse. I think I went oversize on the anchor too, I'm pretty sure it's a 18, and I had to cut off and inch or so off the end of each rod the flukes are welded to in order to get it to fit down into the compartment.

My last boat had 300' of 5/8" chain, but she was 24K pounds :wink: and it had an electric windless. Geez thats a lot of weight in the eyes of a boat!

Another consideration for anchor rode as well as docklines: nylon 3-strand is nice and stretchy, helpfull for both applications. Dacron braid doesn't really stretch at all. When it comes taught it will jarr severely, and can even pull anchors and cleats loose. I'm always appalled at what they're selling at the chandleries (WM and BW) for dock lines. They should be ashamed. Besides, 3-strand is a helluva lot easier to splice, I never did figure out how to do dacron braid. Dacron braid is for halyards and sheets on a sailboat, doesn't belong on a motor boat.

 

[jehines3]

You absolutly want a stretchy line, Nylon is great for this and cheaper too. I'd suggest you consider eight plait as opposed to three strand as it is just a better line. I've used it and its great and far better for hand retrieval. It is also best when using a windlass as it is much less suseptible to override, kinking and memory. try defender.com. jh

jh

 

[Sailfish25]

Anchoring

In reality, you should have a 7:1 scope. So you should 700 feet of line. That is the normal textbook answer. It all depends on conditions. I suggest a good quality 1/2" line. You would be amazed at the strenght it has.

CJBROWN wrote

The downside of all this line is once everything is piled in there I have to dig a hole to fit the shank of the anchor down into or it won't hang on it's mounts to shut the flap door. It is kind of a hassle,

I have a piece of 4 inch dia plastic pipe standing in the anchor locker. I let the line fall around it and then place the anchor shank in the pipe. This works great.

 

[CJBROWN]

Re: Anchoring

In reality, you should have a 7:1 scope. So you should 700 feet of line. That is the normal textbook answer. It all depends on conditions. I suggest a good quality 1/2" line. You would be amazed at the strenght it has.

CJBROWN wrote

The downside of all this line is once everything is piled in there I have to dig a hole to fit the shank of the anchor down into or it won't hang on it's mounts to shut the flap door. It is kind of a hassle,

I have a piece of 4 inch dia plastic pipe standing in the anchor locker. I let the line fall around it and then place the anchor shank in the pipe. This works great.

Ahhhh...veddy crafty indeed, you smart fellow...

I'm going to steal that one :wink: Maybe even get 1/2 rode since a windless doesn't make much sense on a 20' boat!

 

[White Horses (Mike)]

Sailfish25 - You are a genius... I love this site for these kinds of tips. I'd love to write more, but I have to go to Home Depot for plastic pipe!

 

[Danmac]

4" pipe

Sailfish that is a clever idea, can you give details? Im assuming you used pvc pipe monted on some kind of base, if so can i ask how and what you mounted it on? I too find it to be a pain trying to dig a little hole in the stored line to get the shank of the anchor down deep enough so that you can close the hatch. I thought this problem was just a issue with my 20 ft overnighter, guess not.