Best way to attach anchor chain to a cleat?

Sometimes we anchor in water that is 5 feet deep. I have 40 feet of anchor chain. I would rather not drop all 40 feet of chain till i get to my anchor rope.

Re: Best way to attach anchor chain to a cleat?

I'd say either use another shackle and shackle it to the cleat or use a short piece of rope and loop it through the cleat and tie it to the chain.

Re: Best way to attach anchor chain to a cleat?

Depending on the size of your rig, you only need about 3' of chain on your anchor and rope for the rest. The chain will help the anchor seat itself when setting. Rope is light, cheap, easily replaced, and how do you cut a chain if the anchor is lodged and won't come loose?

You're better off to spend a few bucks and get a good length of rope. Or, in a pinch, you coule probably run a length of rope through a chain link and tie-off to the cleat that way.

Gook Luck!

Re: Best way to attach anchor chain to a cleat?

The short answer is no, you cannot safely make fast chain to a cleat. Shock loading from the chain will eventually cause damage. The chain is just one piece of the anchor rode. The braided section also serves to absorb shock in addition to locating the boat. The purpose of the chain is to keep the angle of the rode low to prevent losing bottom.

40ft of chain is ridiculous on that boat unless you're doing serious coastal cruising and resting at anchor in all weather with no other mooring option. I race on a 54ft 20 ton sailboat that doesn't carry 40ft of chain. 10ft of 1/4in G4 chain spliced to a 7/16 rode would be more in line for your boat. If you're just doing the family day cruise routine, stow 30ft of that chain in a locker and use shackles and seizing wire to attach it if you really need it.

You can use chain with a nylon snubber to take the shock loads, but you'll still need to install a chain lock unless you have a chain compatible windlass. The bow will need to be reinforced to take the loads from the chain lock and you would need a product like a Force 3 Shockle from Simply Brilliant Products to absorb shock.

Re: Best way to attach anchor chain to a cleat?

Well i got the chain for free. Some sites say that Your chain length should be as long as your boat. I can always shorten the chain. The chain is attached to 200 feet of 1/2 rope

Re: Best way to attach anchor chain to a cleat?

lime4x4 said:

Well i got the chain for free. Some sites say that Your chain length should be as long as your boat. I can always shorten the chain. The chain is attached to 200 feet of 1/2 rope

Click to expand...

You haven't said where you boat- what kind of water? I agree- 40' of chain is a crazy amount for that boat. If you're ocean boating, yeah, you might want a length equal to the length of your boat. Otherwise, not even close.

I have 8' of chain and 200' of 7/16". I don't see any need to go longer (semi-protected waters). Provide some more info.

Re: Best way to attach anchor chain to a cleat?

lime4x4 said:

Well i got the chain for free. Some sites say that Your chain length should be as long as your boat. I can always shorten the chain. The chain is attached to 200 feet of 1/2 rope

Click to expand...

If your boat is set up for it you can do a 100% chain rode. It's a lot of weight and complete overkill for 99% of the anchoring situations the average guy will ever encounter, but it can be done.

I'd cut 30ft of that off and stow it. That way you can still anchor with good holding power but you won't be forced to dump an excessively long rode in shallow water. If you need to anchor and conditions are a bit lumpy you can always add on the 30ft of chain.

You can reinforce the bow and add a chain lock with a snubber, but I'd imagine by now you just want to get out and have fun instead of crawling into cramped quarters and slinging 'glass.

Re: Best way to attach anchor chain to a cleat?

We boat in a freshwater lake and the cheseapeke bay. I'm not going to a 100% chain rode too much involved...lol I might consider it if i had a windless.

Re: Best way to attach anchor chain to a cleat?

Yeah, I'd say 10' of chain is plenty on a 27ft boat, and 150ft of good anchor rode is sufficient as well. I would hate to have to haul up 40 ft of chain when you pull up anchor; that will wear you out quick! The scope of the anchor line is going to give you that good hold, the 40 ft of chain is just piling up on the bottom of the bay.

Re: Best way to attach anchor chain to a cleat?

haulnazz15 said:

Yeah, I'd say 10' of chain is plenty on a 27ft boat, and 150ft of good anchor rode is sufficient as well. I would hate to have to haul up 40 ft of chain when you pull up anchor; that will wear you out quick! The scope of the anchor line is going to give you that good hold, the 40 ft of chain is just piling up on the bottom of the bay.

Click to expand...

I kinda of have to disagree, and here's why.
The more chain you have out the better "shock absorber"? you have when dealing with waves and wind.
If you used just the rope/rode portion, it would be tight from the anchor to the boat, with enough chain out, the chain section being heavy should weight down the rode giving you hopefully an "easier" less jerky movement everytime you get hit by a wave.
I know this started with anchoring in 5 feet of water, but I just wanted to add why the chain is required
I guess you could do the tie the rope to the tree thing, pull on the rope hard, then add an 100 pound weight to the centre of the rope and pull, that would be the shock absorber thing.
my take on it anyways.

Re: Best way to attach anchor chain to a cleat?

People's opinions of anchoring differ depending on where they are from. Europeans use a lot of chain, and Americans use a lot of rope. I don't know why. But anyway, there's no perfect set-up for all boat/anchor/bottom/depth scenarios.

You don't mention what type of anchor you have, but if it's one of the normal plow types they really benefit from some weight to hold them parallel to the bottom so they can get a good grip. The amount of weight necessary to do that depends mostly on the waves and size/windage of your boat.

Here's my setup, when I had a 25' boat with a mud or sand bottom. It might be fairly comparable to your situation. 10# Danforth anchor + 5' heavy chain + shackle + rope and snubber (A snubber is like a spring for a rope). The purpose of the chain is to make the anchor lie parallel to the bottom so it's in a good orientation to dig in, and also act as a shock absorber for waves. Usually, 5' is enough. If there are a lot of waves or wind, you might need more weight. In that case, dig out your extra chain, or a less messy solution is a 5# mushroom anchor clipped to one of your chain links, a few feet back from the anchor.

Let out enough rope so that you have at least 5x more rope out that the depth to the bottom. (in 5' depth, you've got out your anchor, 5' of chain, and 25' of rope.)

That may not be the best thing in all situations, but it worked for me and I never dragged.

Re: Best way to attach anchor chain to a cleat?

rbh said:

I kinda of have to disagree, and here's why.
The more chain you have out the better "shock absorber"? you have when dealing with waves and wind.
If you used just the rope/rode portion, it would be tight from the anchor to the boat, with enough chain out, the chain section being heavy should weight down the rode giving you hopefully an "easier" less jerky movement everytime you get hit by a wave.
I know this started with anchoring in 5 feet of water, but I just wanted to add why the chain is required
I guess you could do the tie the rope to the tree thing, pull on the rope hard, then add an 100 pound weight to the centre of the rope and pull, that would be the shock absorber thing.
my take on it anyways.

Click to expand...

I was not arguing whether the chain acted as a good shock absorber, it absolutely does. However, 40' is excessive in probably 99% of the cases. If you're in a 268 and 10' of chain plus proper scope isn't holding, you may be in some pretty nasty seas for a boat of that size.

Re: Best way to attach anchor chain to a cleat?

haulnazz15 said:

I was not arguing whether the chain acted as a good shock absorber, it absolutely does. However, 40' is excessive in probably 99% of the cases. If you're in a 268 and 10' of chain plus proper scope isn't holding, you may be in some pretty nasty seas for a boat of that size.

Click to expand...

We dont argue, we discuss.
I learned the lesson last year while we were out and a storm blew in. We were stern in, 10 feet from shore and I guess we had 60-80 feet of anchor rode and chain out. well the troughs between the waves were 3-4 foot deep and the boat was a rockin up and down. we made out good, but the people around us were chasing there boats due to their anchors getting pulled out.
(and our boats a 270 sundancer, the avatar is the morning after)
rob

Re: Best way to attach anchor chain to a cleat?

Currently using a 30lb navy anchor

Re: Best way to attach anchor chain to a cleat?

If you want to rig something up.......Eye splice to about 6' 1/2 soft nylon and a hook to chain. PM sent.

Re: Best way to attach anchor chain to a cleat?

I use one of these.

Re: Best way to attach anchor chain to a cleat?

Summer Fun said:

I use one of these.

Click to expand...

That's pretty cool, I never saw a commercial piece like that. Where did you find that?

Re: Best way to attach anchor chain to a cleat?

I got it off Ebay a few years ago. It works great.
Do a search for Anchor Snubber and you'll find them.

I know posting links on here is a no no . .