Anchor Kettle

Anchors need to be pulled laterally along the sea floor to set and hold well on the bottom. This requires considerable weight of the anchor rode to produce the catenary curve within the specified scope.

When using all rope rodes, more scope is needed to achieve the same lateral pull. A common rule of thumb is 5:1 scope for all chain, 7:1 scope for all rope. Since the goal is to have more weight in the system, the idea of adding weight along the rode came to be. This was the birth of the anchor kettle.

An anchor kettle is nothing more than a weight tied into the rope rode. It hangs on the rope and pulls it downward. This in turn causes the rode leading to the anchor to pull at a lower angle and would nessecitate a shorter scope! 

In theory, this works well, but in practice, it leaves much to be desired. 

The first problem with an anchor kettle is that it causes additional wear in the line. When the weather is calm, the kettle will fall to the bottom and the rope that runs between the anchor and kettle will lay on the sea floor and chafe away as it moves around. 

When the wind begins to blow, the yacht will be pushed back and the kettle will begin to do its job. It will hold the line down in the water and keep the rode from it to the anchor at a low angle. The line from it to the boat will proceed up at a steep angle. This is precisely what they sell it to you as, and this is the only time it will work like this. 

When the wind really begins to blow, the rode will become tight and the kettle will be lifted up. All of a sudden, anchoring with a shorter scope becomes a problem as the anchor will not b able to hold as well. The kettle is hanging on the line, but the line is pulled taught as the yacht is pushed back with the surge of the wind and waves. 

In addition to the problem with the scope being too short and the kettle merely hanging lifeless on the rode, you have the issue with the weight of the kettle in the line. When the yacht relaxes, the kettle will sink down a bit. When the yacht is pushed back with a wave, the kettle will be flung upwards and its mass will continue to yank upwards as the rode becomes taught. This upward jerking motion will actually work to unset the anchor and cause it to drag! 

Anchor kettles are a cool concept, but they do not provide the benefits that they claim and actually harm your anchors ability to hold when the weather deteriorates, which is when you need to count on your anchor the most! If you are looking at an anchor kettle to allow you to anchor with all rope rode, consider investing the cost of the rope and kettle into a good chain rode that will provide you with the needed weight and catenary curve to hold well in all conditions. 

Types of Anchor Rope Rodes

When it comes to an all rope rode, there are two good choices and one bad choice. 

The first good choice is three lay nylon rope. This material has about 20% stretch and considerable strength for its size. It is also the cheapest of all the rope options. Being three lay, it is very easy to splice and also very easy to repair. Should a segment become chafed, it can be repaired by performing a mending splice. Should you need to add length to your rode, you can always carry it out by performing a short splice or long splice. The possibilities are endless when working with three lay nylon! 

The disadvantage of three lay nylon is that it is succeptible to chafe and the section of rope that attaches to the shank of the anchor will be the most chafed section of the entire rode. Careful inspection will let you know when it is time to repair this area and prevent the loss of your expensive and precious anchor! 

The second good choice is megaplait nylon rope. This rope is made by weaving many smaller strands of nylon together in a tight and integral pattern. This line is considerably more expensive but at the same time, considerably more resistant to chafe than three lay nylon. It doesn't have as much stretch as three lay, but it is still enough to absorb the shock loads presented by a well buried anchor.  

Splicing megaplait is very tedious, as there are many small strands to deal with and it takes considerable patience to complete a splice. Repairing megaplait is also rather tricky, so it is fair to say that it is not as friendly to the user as three lay is, but still a very good option if you can afford the line. 

The last option, which is the bad option for an anchor rode is any kind of double braid line. Double braid line does have an outer core that would protect the core from chafe, but the core is impossible to inspect from the outside to evaluate its strength and it does not have anywhere near the needed stretch characteristics of regular megaplait or three lay. This means that the shock loads on the rode will be higher, putting the rode at much greater risk to cause damage to the ground tackle system and possibly snap the rode.  

While all rope rodes are an option for an anchor rode, they are far from the ideal setup. The rope is rather light and will not provide the catenary curve needed to create the lateral pull the anchor requires to set and hold properly. All rope rodes require much longer scope to achieve the same holding power and are at risk of chafing through and breaking.  

If you anchor for a few hours on a weekend when the weather is nice, a rope rode will serve you well. if you plan on cruising and spend almost every night on the hook, it will be worth the investment into an all chain rode. 

Types of Chain

In the world of anchor chains, there are a few key players. All of these chains will be labeled with a number or letter stamped into the links metal. If you do not see any markings, the chain could be a cheap knockoff that might not be built to the same rigorous standards. 

Chain also comes in a few materials, mainly consisting of galvanized or stainless steel. We will be focusing on galvanized chain in this post. 

There are three main types of chain: Proof Coil, BBB, and High Tensile strength chain. 

Proof Coil is by far the cheapest and weakest of the chains. The links in this chain are made from carbon steel and covered in a protective galvanized coating to ward off corrosion. Proof coil is identifiable by the markings PC, PC3, G3, or Grade 30. Upon construction, the chain is stressed to its breaking strength and then inspected every 10 links. It is not calibrated to work with the wildcat on windlasses, so it might not be as easy to retrieve as you might have hoped. 

BBB is the next step up. Also made of carbon steel, it is inspected at each and every link upon testing. This means that the chain is strong and checked throughly before it reaches you, the consumer. The links in BBB are uniform and it will work with a wildcat on your windlass! Identifying marks on BBB chain are: BBB, and 3B. It tends to have the same weight per foot as PC chain, but it will work in your windlass and it was inspected more throughly before you bought it. 

Hgh Tensile chain is made from heat treated and high tensile strength carbon-manganese alloy. It is much stronger than regular carbon steel, so a chain of the same strength can be made of much smaller links. This means that the chain will weigh less per foot and will upset your displacement and balance much less when fully loaded.

HT chains are marked as Grade 40, G4, and G43. These are manufactured under the same rigorous testing of BBB chain, but you get a much lighter product with the same strength. Higher strength chain is marked as Grade 70, G70, and G7. This chain is very light and very strong, offering the best strength to weight ratio. This will allow you to carry hundreds of feet of rode in your bow without weighing your bow down into the water. 

While HT chains are favorable with their weight reductions, they do have one draw back over BBB, and that is the heat treatment that gives it strength. When a chain needs to be re-galvanized, the heating of the galvanization can damage the heat treatment of the chain. Grade 40 and 43 chain is more resistant to the process, but Grade 70 is very delicate and can loose its strength by regalvanizing. 

Anchor Rode Materials

When you think about anchoring, you probably just picture the anchor falling to the bottom and grabbing on with its flukes, and then the anchor rode holding the boat to the anchor. The anchor doesn't move, and neither does the boat! Simple!  

The truth is very far from this ideal mental image of anchoring. There are materials and calculations that need to take place for the anchoring to work successfully. 

While the anchor itself is an important topic for discussion, we will ignore the different brands and styles of anchors out there and simply picture the perfect anchor (whichever anchor you wish that to be) and simply focus on how the anchor is connected to the yacht. 

Boats have ropes on them! So naturally, the first material of thought for an anchor rode would be nylon line. It is both stretchy and strong, so why not tie the anchor rode to the anchor using an "anchor hitch" and all it a day! Nylon rode has the advantage of stretch, but it is very succeptible to chafe. There is little chafe as the line runs through the water, but considerable chafe as the line meets the anchor.  

The anchor lives on the bottom of the sea floor, and the shank is usually in very close proximity to this area. This means that the rode will be laying on the sea bed as well and will rub against many items that can chafe through the line. 

To alleviate this issue, a length of chain can be added between the anchor and the rope, this will take the brunt of the chafe like a champion, and allow the rope to complete the journey up to the vessel. Chain adds considerable weight to the system as well, and weight near the shank will help pull the shank parallel to the bottom and aid the flukes to dig in and hold well. 

If a little chain is good, why not make the entire system out of chain! This would be by far the strongest system, and also the heaviest. The weight of the chain suspended between the bow and the anchor will form a catenary curve that will help pull laterally on the anchor and keep it dug into the bottom. 

Chain is not elastic though, and the only elasticity in the system will come from the catenary curve being consumed as wind and waves push the bow back in a surge. As the bow pushes aft, the curve will flatten out and then the weight will pull the bow forward again until the curve is re-established. This works well for moderate to light conditions, but in heavy conditions, this curve will be blown straight and the shock loads will be transmitted to everything in the system. To prevent the cyclical and damaging shock loads, a nylon snubber can be tied between the bow and the rode, taking the force of the last few feet of the rode and offering some much needed elasticity. 

Your choices are very simple when deciding what type of rode to employ. You can either use all rope, rope and chain combination, or all chain. Naturally, the longevity and price will go hand in hand. Rope is the cheapest and will last only a number of years, while chain will be the most expensive and will last decades if well cared for. 

Cruising Dinghy

You may feel like you need to have the best dinghy in production on your boat when you go cruising, because this dinghy will be your dinghy from now until the end of time!

The truth is, your dinghy now may not be your dinghy in a short amount of time. We set out cruising with a 13 foot wooden dinghy named "Tooth" in tow and a partially constructed wooden dinghy named "Tooth II" on the deck. Once Tooth II was completed, we were going to retire Tooth because towing a dinghy is awful on a long passage! The sea trial of Tooth II was comical! I had built Tooth II to fit in the space available and hold our life jackets in a locked box integral to the hull. I forgot to account for the fact that we needed to fit in this boat with all of our bikes and groceries! Tooth II was very tipsy and didn't make the cut to be our next cruising dinghy.

We then searched Craigslist and stumbled upon our next dinghy, Tooth III. This was a 7 foot fiberglass catamaran dinghy and it was for sale at a price that was within our budget. A few months later, my dad decided he didn't want his inflatable dinghy anymore so he sold it to me since it was still new and it its original package. We carried the inflatable because it would serve as a crude anti theft device.  

A boat that is anchored has a huge giveaway to potential thieves that tell them if anyone is home or not, the dinghy! If the yacht has a dinghy tied up behind it, then someone is home and they should go visit another boat in the anchorage. If the yacht has no dinghy, then the people must be on shore and the boat is alone and vulnerable!  Our plan is to leave the inflatable locked to the boat while we go to shore on the rigid dinghy. 

In the ICW though, we quickly learned how easy it is to launch an inflatable and paddle the short distance to shore, so we have begun using both. 

My point is, we set out with a dinghy under construction that was going to take us to shore everywhere we went and ended up switching to two dinghies that we didn't even know existed in a few months of cruising. Rather than contemplating what dinghy you should get before you set out cruising, why not get anything that will get you to shore and go cruising!