{"id":2728,"date":"2024-05-16T16:06:33","date_gmt":"2024-05-16T16:06:33","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/racecoast.net\/omstest\/?p=2728"},"modified":"2024-05-16T16:06:33","modified_gmt":"2024-05-16T16:06:33","slug":"chain","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/racecoast.net\/omstest\/chain\/","title":{"rendered":"Chain"},"content":{"rendered":"

There is a man living in my chain locker. His name is Marcel and he\u2019s a second-row forward for the French national rugby team.<\/p>\n

Marcel is a big lad \u2013 just over 20stone (that\u2019s 130kg to the French \u2013 \u00a0286lbs if you\u2019re American). But stocky: Marcel has very short legs. Second-row forwards don\u2019t have to run.<\/p>\n

I am fantasizing, of course \u2013 but the weight is real enough.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s all to do with replacing the anchor chain. The last time I wrote about this was in March 2021 \u2013 when I was enthusing at getting it re-galvanised for a fraction of the cost of a new one.<\/p>\n

Well, now I\u2019ve got a new one.<\/p>\n

Periodically, I was supposed to take the stainless steel swivel off the end and measure the last link. This was 10mm chain and one day the last link would rust away to 8mm \u2013 at which point it would need cutting off so the swivel could get on with sacrificing the next link. However, the corrosion seemed to have stopped at a fraction below 9mm \u2013 and a 32ft boat doesn\u2019t need even that much.<\/p>\n

Like many things about Samsara, <\/em>the chain is somewhat unusual: When she was built 51 years ago, it seems she started off with 30metres, and then one of the succession of previous owners decided to add another twenty. It was the last link of this 20metres that I had been measuring so conscientiously.<\/p>\n

Then, a couple of weeks ago, on a whim, I decided to measure some of the links at the other end \u2013 the older end \u2013 the end that was (not to put too fine a point on it) fifty years old\u2026<\/p>\n

I found one that was down to 6mm.<\/p>\n

\"\"
Not 10mm chain – and there’s a link somewhere even thinner than this!<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

And you know what they say about the weakest link\u2026<\/p>\n

So, a new chain was called for \u2013 and what did I say about a 32ft boat and 10mm chain?<\/p>\n

The worst part is the way it gets jammed in the chain locker by its own weight. So, the new chain would be 8mm.<\/p>\n

But then there is this thing called catenary \u2013 the weight of the chain providing a shock-absorbing effect. This would be reduced with a lighter chain, meaning that I would need a bigger scope. Up to now, I\u2019ve worked on 3:1, which is very old-fashioned. Modern anchor manufacturers all seem to recommend 4:1 as a minimum.<\/p>\n

Well, that was OK, because 50m of 8mm weighs only 70kg, compared to 115kg for 10mm.<\/p>\n

Or I could get another 32 of length for the same weight. I would be able to anchor in 20metres \u2013 and still have 4:1 scope!<\/p>\n

But who walks into a chandlery and asks for 82m of chain? I rounded it up to 85m \u2013 it was only another 4kg.<\/p>\n

And this is where Marcel and his short legs came in. Instead of measuring all 85m, he cleverly paced out the remaining 15 to leave in the tub. In fact, he paced out 14, to be on the safe side \u2013 at least, that\u2019s what he said he was doing. I was over on the other side, working out how many more chain markers I was going to need.<\/p>\n

It turned out I didn\u2019t buy enough.<\/p>\n

When I loaded the new chain into the dinghy to row the half-mile back to the boat \u2013 and then, when I laid it out between two pieces of plastic tape stuck to the deck exactly five metres apart, it transpired that Marcel\u2019s little legs hadn\u2019t measured out 14metres to leave in the tub\u2026 but only seven.<\/p>\n

Either that, or he\u2019d forgotten to double it.<\/p>\n

Either way, I\u2019ve now got 93metres of 8mm chain, weighing a colossal 130kg or, as I say, just over 20stone (or 286lbs).<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

I could just cut off the excess \u2013 but who throws away brand new Vigouroux chain? Also, the extra eight metres only adds another 15kg\u2026<\/p>\n

But when you add it all up – with another 20kg for the anchor – that\u2019s an awful lot of weight up front. It\u2019s a whopping 150kg!<\/p>\n

As I say, that\u2019s the same as having a rugby player in your chain locker (instead of where he should be, on the weather rail.)<\/p>\n

I can only hope that the Rival\u2019s famously fat and buoyant bow will be able to cope\u2026<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

There is a man living in my chain locker. His name is Marcel and he\u2019s a second-row forward for the French national rugby team. Marcel is a big lad \u2013 just over 20stone (that\u2019s 130kg to the French \u2013 \u00a0286lbs if you\u2019re American). But stocky: Marcel has very short legs. Second-row forwards don\u2019t have to … Read more<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2728","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/racecoast.net\/omstest\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2728","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/racecoast.net\/omstest\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/racecoast.net\/omstest\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/racecoast.net\/omstest\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/racecoast.net\/omstest\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2728"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/racecoast.net\/omstest\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2728\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2731,"href":"https:\/\/racecoast.net\/omstest\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2728\/revisions\/2731"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/racecoast.net\/omstest\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2728"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/racecoast.net\/omstest\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2728"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/racecoast.net\/omstest\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2728"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}