I'm slowly getting the hang of some of the rigging jobs.

Here's my version of a "Shackle Splice". It's a Crown Knot and then the tails are buried under four turns of the line.

The splice is (clearly) bigger than the line. It's bigger than the chain, too.

But it can be squeezed through the windlass gypsy reasonably well.

We don't often see the rope part of the rode. There's 200′ of chain. We like 7:1 scope for anchoring over night, that lets us sleep soundly in almost 30′ of water. (We prefer to be somewhere around 10′ and not have a big circle to swing in.)

CA marks the chain every 25′.

Mostly it's blue at 25′, 75′, and 125′. Yellow at 50′ and 100′. And Pink at 150′. After that, we're all in at 200′.

CA says it's important to be able to count how many marks you've seen go by. The actual color doesn't matter as much as the number.

6′? That's dicey. Okay where there's minimal tide. It's 50′ of chain. Blue and Yellow.

12′ of water? About 100′ of chain. Blue, Yellow, Blue, and Yellow.

18′ of water? A foot past 125′ of chain. Blue Yellow Blue Yellow Blue.

This seems manageably simple.