Brent":2cx6gata said:
150 ft 3 ply rode , 20 feet chain and swivel
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To be honest with you, I would've gotten more in your situation.
With 150' (chain doesn't really count in rode calculations, seeing as that's the weight that's really keeping the boat in place), you're only able to anchor securely in about 30' of water (5:1 ratio being a decent rule of thumb). In an extreme situation, you'll be hard pressed to anchor at all in more than 50' of water, and only then if you have REALLY good holding ground and a very good, heavy anchor. I understand that you tend to anchor only in shallower water, but here's why this is important:
Suppose you're offshore somewhere and suffer a breakdown (hit a log, motor malfunctions, dead electrical system/electrical fire, etc. etc. etc.). At that point, you're pretty much stuck waiting for a tow. There's no guarantee how long it's going to take that towboat to get to you. If you're in any sort of wind or current (Gulf Stream) setting you offshore or away from your destination, even a couple hours can see you drifting a pretty fair distance. That can translate into difficulty for rescue/salvage services finding you, or at the very least a much more expensive tow. Plus, if there's any sort of adverse weather, drifting could be very uncomfortable if not somewhat dangerous.
The opposite holds true as well: if you find yourself in a situation where you're without power, setting down onto a lee shore, and the bottom comes up quickly, you may not have enough rode to keep yourself away from dangerous water. Especially if the holding ground is bad (weeds, very hard clay, etc.) you're going to want as large a scope of anchor rode as you can get to ensure your anchor holds and you don't drift closer to shore.
Couple either of those situations with high winds/seas and you'll need to increase scope to make sure you continue to hold.
Additionally (and not recommended under normal circumstances), for most people their anchor rode is the only thing on board long enough to serve as an emergency towline. Anchor rode is usually undersized for the purpose, but in an emergency you use what you have. In this case, the longer the length of towline you put out, the less overall strain on the gear, and the less chance it will part. I would generally say that 150' would be barely adequate in good conditions, and that's not really counting the length to secure it on either end.
Less emergency related: your boating needs may change to include deeper waters where you want to anchor, and you'll necessarily need more rode. I've never met anyone who complained about having too much anchor rode, and even if they did that's a pretty easy problem to solve. On the other hand, if you do want more rode later on, its very difficult to lengthen an existing shorter anchor rode as very few windlasses will eat a short splice, especially in 3-strand. So generally speaking it's best to get as much as you can early on. Additionally, as the rode wears, this allows you to remove a worn or damaged section and re-do the chain splice, without losing a useful length of rode each time.
Many people tend to view their anchoring gear as an afterthought, and just a way to keep yourself in place at the sandbar on rare occasion. But in actuality, it's an important piece of safety equipment that needs to take into account all the places that you use the boat, not just where you might choose to do the majority of your anchoring.
How much space do you have left in your anchor locker with the 150' you have there now? If there's enough to add more, perhaps you can modify your order. If you're full up with 150', then as others have suggested, depending on your windlass you may benefit from switching to 8-plait, which tends to lie more compactly.
