Ineke and Henk Peters did a 3 day course with me from Lagos Marina in December 2010 - They have recently bought a 7.3 metre Sealine Continental which they are keeping in a marina on the Guadiana river, I emailed them recently to say that I would be sailing in the river on June 3rd and to please let me know if they were going to be out on their boat that day so that I could look out for them. Their reply was as follows ......
 

Hi Martin

I guess we will be there on June 3, we will certainly try. But we are a bit unsure to go too far from the marina. We still have to buy and install the anchor rope because the equipment in the boat is insufficient and with old ropes.

There are three anchors at present, one with a chain attached of 1-2 meters,  but we do not know which is the best option.
Combination of chain with rope or rope alone? and how loriverng the total should be? Could you please advise us on how many meters of anchor chain/ rope we need?

That would be of great help.

Warm Regards, Ineke and Henk Peters

Hello Ineke and Henk,

Thanks for your email. Firstly rope alone is useless because you need the weight of chain to ensure that there is a horizontal pull on the anchor. All chain is the best option and the minimum that you should have would be 30 metres.

If you want to have chain and rope (the only good reason for this is to save money) then you should have about 5 meters of chain and about 45 metres of rope.

Before I give you any more advice on this I need to know if the boat has a windlass (a device situated on the foredeck either electric or manual to assist you in bringing in the anchor chain).  Also I need to know if the boat has a stem roller on the stem.

Best wishes, Martin.

Hi Martin

Thanks for your quick reply!

No we do not have a windlass or any device to assist us in bringing in the anchor, not manually nor electric.
Also no stem roller present on the bow. I guess we would have to bring in the chain or chain/line by pulling it up ourselves.

On the foredeck there is only a small compartment to put in the chain/ropes, do not know whether this is big enough to hold 30 meters of chain or 5 meters of chain and 45 meters of line.

At the moment the anchor is being kept in the back of the boat (stern) beneath the couch, so until we figure out what to buy and how to install the lot, it is of no use.

Warm Regards, Ineke and Henk Peters

Hello Ineke and Henk,

Thank you for this information – In that case I would get 5 metres of chain and 45 metres of rope and keep it where the anchor is now and then when you want to anchor carry the chain and anchor forward allowing  the rope to uncoil as you need it from under the seat.

The rope should not be fixed to the chain with a knot, it should be spliced directly to the chain or spliced round a thimble as you can see in the drawing above, the thimble should be galvanised or stainless steel.

The thimble should be connected to the end of the chain with a ‘moused shackle’ as you can see in the drawing to the right.

The other end of the chain should be connected to the anchor with another moused shackle.

I normally use stainless steel wire for mousing OR a plastic electrical tie works very well.

Whatever you do don’t buy the cheap polypropeline floating rope that the fishermen use because it floats and will get caught round your propeller.

You should use 3 strand polyester or nylon rope about 14 mm thick (3 strand is much easier to splice than multiplatt) you will find some companies sell anchor rope with a thimble already spliced to one end.

Best wishes, Martin.

PS  If you can't find a rope with a thimble spliced to the end, if you buy a thimble, when I am sailing in the river on June 3rd I will come and splice your rope on for you.