New anchor chain

[Zanshin]

I am replacing my old G70 low-quality high-rust anchor chain today! I had already cut some rusted sections at one end off a couple of years ago and then turned it end-for-end but when I looked at it this time it was in terrible shape under the first 100 feet which see constant use. The two drain holes in the anchor locker are just above the waterline on my Jeanneau, and when sailing will get some seawater coming in. The anchor locker is sloped slightly so that there is always a small 1cm or so deep puddle in there. The results of that condition are shown here:


The last picture is a big ball of rusted links soaking in HCl (Hydrochloric / Muriatic acid) overnight as even a big mallet couldn't get the rusted links to separate enough to go through the windlass opening! It soaked for 24 hours converted the rust enough to let me pound it but it still took around 2 hours to separate!

My old marking system was with little plastic inserts of different colors, but they faded and were hard to see. While I'm a metric person, I still think of altitude (flying) and depth (sailing) in feet so I've decided on a coloring scheme for the chain links as follows:

feet	Color Scheme
50	green
100	green - space - green
150	green - space - yellow
200	yellow - space - yellow
250	yellow - space - red
300	red - space - red

This is an easy progression to remember as it is like a traffic light. I am going to get less chain this time around with just 300 feet and another 100 feet of rode after that. The rode is for deep anchorages and I'll only let out rode if it can't touch bottom (and potentially chafe).  

I posted a question about color schemes for the chain on another forum and there were some wild answers - some of them were so counter-intuitive that I can't believe anyone would use them! This system is pretty easy; plus I have a chain counter as my primary system.

[Charlie-Bravo]

I use the snooker system, .... which is of no use if you have never played of course, white, red,  yellow, green, brown ( i have no brown markers) blue, pink ( no pink either ) black ,( no black markers .... but I have run out of chain by then ) , and as a back up scribble the code of colour to chain length on the inside of the anchor locker lid.
All the above is a bit of a non sense, just something I do, anchoring I put out as much as I can ( unless just for a lunchtime stop) with the given swinging availability, try shifting 50 meters of chain, it's as good as a pile of concrete blocks, and if in trouble with wind and sea I have another 50 meters of rope to attach for added scope.

One chain link in your second photo looks slightly passed its prime.
Hiding in the shed I have 30 meters of galvanised calibrated 10 mm chain with 30 meters of good warp spliced on, and a quick 10 mm gypsy, I replaced it with 50 meters of 8mm chain (about the same weight) and a hassle finding a matching 8mm gypsy , if you want to pop by for tea, I can do a good bargain! ( you get to load it up yourself ) 

Our anchor locker also has a poor drain arrangement resulting in a puddle, so I built a raised base from plastic paving mouldings from a cheap shop ... about £5 expenditure, I say 'built' , more like cut to a rough shape and thrown in the bottom,  these keep the chain out of the puddle, the puddle does empty via the drains when we are sailing hard washing the winches in sea water ! but this can cause threats of mutiny from Mrs CB.

Let me know if you are popping in for tea soon.
CB

[Zanshin]

I have some Starboard that I was going to over-engineer and cut / screw together as a raised platform above my "puddle", but I saw a suggestion of using old plastic San-Pellegrino bottles as a base and since I have 10 of those (half-filled with water and used as thermal ballast in my currently empty freezer) I will use the cheapo, jury-rigged, zero-cost solution tomorrow when I put the new rode and chain into the locker. I figure nobody will ever see it as it should be covered by 100m of 10mm G4 chain!

That one link in the second photo might, as the Americans would say, "buff out" I gave the chain away to some locals at the dock and really, really hope that after following my recommendation of hookup it up to their truck and dragging the chain along the beach they won't try to flog it off as anchor chain. Despite being G7 (G4 is 40% stronger than standard, G7 is 70% stronger!) that slightly corroded link and others like it are going to be weak spots that might kill someone if they put the chain under load...

[Charlie-Bravo]

I which you had mentioned the san Pellegrino bottles before ...... I could have saved a fiver !
CB

[NZL50505]

I find the easiest coding system to use is a chain-counter at the helm station. Much easier than trying to decipher chain colours especially in the dark! 😊

[Zanshin]

I have a chain counter and use that, the colors are backup. My chain counter has stopped working two different times, the first when the magnet in the base station dropped out and the second time (for a long period) when metal filings from the rusted chain covered the two sensing magnets. When that happens, the remote stops working and won't move the chain so you have to go forward and do it manually.

Another method is to measure how many feet or meters the chain moves in a given period of time 1, 5 or 10 seconds and once you know that speed you can guesstimate how much chain has been let out.

[NZL50505]

Yes I’ve used that method as a rough guide as well by counting the seconds for a drop or raise to give you an idea within about 5m accuracy (obviously dropping faster than raising)!

[Zanshin]

The chain arrived yesterday morning and I've been working on getting it marked and into the chain locker. I am using Krylon spray paint but need to wait about an hour between applications to let it dry sufficiently to handle the chain. I got 300 feet of G4 galvanized in Canada chain that Island Waterworld said was of very high quality. I also got 120 feet of 20mm high-strength polyrene 3-strand rode for a total of 400 feet of anchor tackle. I spliced the 3-strand to the hardpoint in the anchor locker already, and was about to continue work when the showers moved in. Looking at the weather radar for St. Lucia shows rain coming through all day; so I might not get my work done today. There is a complete lockdown from Saturday 4pm to Monday 4am so I'm not going anywhere. I fired up the air conditioning and am taking care of computer stuff. My final color scheme is as follows:

Every 10 feet there are 5 links marked in white, and the white that separates the 3 feet long colored stripes is the 10 foot mark and 5 links long. The first 10 feet closest to the chain are white so that I have ample warning that the anchor is about to come out of the water. 

feet	Color
0-10	solid white
50	green
100	green - white - green
150	green - white - yellow
200	yellow - white - yellow
250	yellow - white - red
300	red - white - red

[rxc]

You are very industrious. I tried several systems, including tying pieces of colored (red, yellow, and blue) ripstop nylon sailcloth every 50 ft, but I don't remember the sequence any more (COVID isolation is so hard on the mind). I think it might be time to replace the sensor magnet in the windlass, and that would be something productive to do today.

G70 chain is not hot-galvanised, correct? Or maybe it cannot be re-galvanized?