well on a 30 foot boat mainly used in shallow lakes and on the river, How much chain should you lead the anchor with?
i always thought 3 foot. is 8 foot too long?

The longer the chain the better the chance of getting and maintaining a good hold of the bottom. 8 feet is probably OK, I use about that much when I fish offshore in 100 to 300 feet of water. Chances are you wount have to be worried about riding out a storm on the hook in deep water though.

Would any benefits come from a few feet on a 19' in 35' or less water, less than 2'??

More is better, but remember, eight feet of anchor chain is pretty tough to pull without dragging it on something. On my fish boat I have eight feet, but on my Formula, it is closer to three or four.

Cuad
i agree the boat i just bought has about that much chain(8 foot)
It was a real pain in the ass to pull out of the locker. I am real close to cutting it down to about 3 foot.

Greg

Cut it off, if you find it doesn't work, you can link it back on.

Last years West Marine catlog had a chart about chain and rope length. The chart isn't in this years catalog. But, the anchor/rode packages they sell list:
up to 24'- 15' 1/4" chain and 150' 3/8 rope
up to 31'- 15' 1/4" chain and 250' 7/16 rope
up to 35'- 20' 1/4' chain and 250' 1/2" rope

I've got 16' feet of 1/4" chain and have never had an anchor drag. Even when others around me were having trouble. That was anchoring in 4' waves on Lake Michigan.

payton
thanks I think the chain on this anchor is larger then 1/4. that might be the problem. i will check into the different sizes, it may be that simple. this chain is like a log chain.
Do you have trouble pulling up that much chain? how do you keep from beating the heck out of the boat?

Greg

Depends what you are doing, but, shallow water lakes don't have much current. I agree with dhlaw in the sense that when you have current the more the better. But ,in shallow lakes with no current, the less you can get away with the better.

As far as keeping it from beating u the boat, you can buy pre-cut chain from West Marine coated in an epoxy that is much more forgiving on your fiberglass than the metal.

Be careful with those rubber covered chains. I had one that rusted in two, but I couldn't see it.