Another anchor question

Iliade

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Yealm, You're a very naughty boy! >3000 posts and asking anchor questions! ;0)

If you are in the region of the Yealm I'd have a 6lb grapnel with 5m of high tensile chain & 200m of 6mm dyneema and a very large bag of chum to hang off the rode to keep the boat from swinging wildly about the anchorage because the chain is too light!
 

V1701

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I would say add a Fortress FX-16 on a few metres of chain & the rest rope to use as a lunch hook, it will be a revelation to you and could also be used in benign conditions to overnight...
 

James_Calvert

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Yealm.

I had a 35lb sowester plough with 50m 8mm chain for our Sadler 32. No windlass of any sort.

Now gone for a newer generation lighter anchor. It's much easier to get off the bow roller and into its locker. But it's the additional weight of the chain in deeper water (say 10m plus) that can still be heavy going. Happily the tidal range in these parts is only 5m or so so easy enough to anchor somewhere where the depth at HW is more manageable. Of course if you can always arrange to weigh anchor at low water the problem is trivial.
 

Kukri

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I like to carry a kedge anchor with a couple of metres of heavyish chain and a warp stopped down to it, lashed on the foredeck. I got into this old fashioned habit when I had no engine or an engine which might stop at any moment, and the ability to chuck a kedge over at short notice got me out of trouble a couple of times.

I mean a light anchor that you are prepared to lose. It doesn’t have to keep you there in a storm; it just has to stop you, in a hurry, and hold the boat whilst you sort things out. This is a use for an old CQR or Danforth or Bruce, about half the weight of your bower anchor.

Belay the bitter end, stop the coil down, take the business end through the fairlead and back and lash the coil to the shank of the anchor and the whole lot to something solid so it won’t pay out when you don’t want it to.

Cut the lashings and drop the anchor from the deck. This is much quicker than using the bower anchor and chain - yes the anchor is stowed in the roller, but it’s secured there, you need to sort that out, and the windlass... and do you want to drop a good anchor where the bottom may be foul?
 
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Neeves

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I'm not sure I like the idea of the (spare or kedge) anchor lashed somewhere on the foredeck. I know the RNLI do this (with their main anchor) but something like any 'common' anchor CQR through to Rocna would be a devil to lash and a major obstruction (as it looks to be on RNLI lifeboats). I prefer the idea of the kedge being lashed to the lifelines somewhere aft, close to the helm or cockpit where it is more quickly (and safely) accessable. There are a range of devices available now to secure a spare anchor and I would have the rode handy - neatly coiled in a milk crate.

My preference would actually be a Fortress which is good in most seabeds, other than rocks, stones and weed, and I would be looking at something small FX16.

But location, type etc does not matter - just have one, that is handy with rode that is also handy.

We of course do none of this, but a cat offers different opportunity :). Our spare ground tackle is stored in a large bridge deck locker with an FX16 (and FX 37 for mud) stored 'vertically' (its a deep locker) and assembled, shackle attached and the rode coiled neatly in a milk crate with the 'anchor end' obvious (in the centre of the coil) and the bitter end also hanging outside the crate.

Just convincing people to have a spare anchor is an uphill struggle :(

Jonathan
 

Sybarite

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We took our S&S original of the Contessa round the Atlantic circuit with a Plastimo copy of a 25lbs CQR on 15m of 8mm chain and 3 strand nylon warp.

Anchored over 400 nights in everything up to 50 knots (plus being side swiped by Hurricane Hugo) and never had any concerns about it holding.
The criticism of the CQR in French reports was that the anchor was liable to falling on its side with a change of pull direction. The weight of the bulky hinge militated against it righting itself to dig in again. The weight is in the wrong place whereas a Spade for example has lead in its tip.
 

Neeves

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Sybarite,

I think you might be showing but a little bias.

Delta was first with weight in the toe, and I stand to be corrected there were not others earlier and to be told that Spade pre-dates Delta. Followed by, in no particular order, Rocna, Supreme, Excel and Ultra. The alternate route was the unweighted fluke anchor Danforth, Bruce, Fortress, SARCA (both similar timing to Spade), and most recently Mantus (edit, not forgetting Knox). There have been some other developments and some mistakes....

Spade not only used weight in the toe but the shallow concave fluke - which was revolutionary.

Jonathan
 
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Sybarite

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Sybarite,

I think you might be showing but a little bias.

Delta was first with weight in the toe, and I stand to be corrected there were not others earlier and to be told that Spade pre-dates Delta. Followed by, in no particular order, Rocna, Supreme, Excel and Ultra. The alternate route was the unweighted fluke anchor Danforth, Bruce, Fortress, SARCA (both similar timing to Spade), and most recently Mantus (edit, not forgetting Knox). There have been some other developments and some mistakes....

Spade not only used weight in the toe but the shallow concave fluke - which was revolutionary.

Jonathan
I don't deny that I am biased towards the Spade as it frequently comes out top in independent testing (followed closely by the Rocna which is sometimes handicapped in kelp by its ring) and the CQR comes out worst (and often the most expensive.)
Also I was only using Spade as an example of a new generation anchor. I wasn't trying in any way to demean the others.
 

Neeves

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Sybarite - I'm with you - a brilliant design concept. Its a pity the marketing was not as good as the design. I also wish they had tweaked the design (as others have dome with their designs) and made use of materials that were not so freely available when it was first introduced. A sharp toe would have been nice and better use of HT materials would have allowed a better shank.

However even its current form it remains the 'one to beat'

We use one! and would not use it were it not still a world beater.

Jonathan
 

Praxinoscope

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Warning, a bit of a thread drift, but just something to satisfy my 'satiable curtiosity' how many of you carry a small anchor in your tender?
 

Neeves

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I carry a small folding anchor in my locker (1kg I think) which I transfer to the tender when appropriate ..... which has never happened in 10 years of cruising in Croatia. :(

Richard

Thread drift? the thread title is 'another anchor question' :)

We have a small grapnel which we used when we lost our anchor and rode - successfully - so a good investment. We do not carry it in the dinghy and other than the reported incident have never found a need for a dinghy anchor - I carry the dinghy above high water (and/or tie it to a tree, or rock)

Jonathan
 

GHA

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Warning, a bit of a thread drift, but just something to satisfy my 'satiable curtiosity' how many of you carry a small anchor in your tender?
Usually all the time, though it's a crappy little danforth copy, might try to make something better with some stainless offcuts one day. A little chain and a loop of cord so you can pull the dinghy back into deeper water away from the rocks if need be.
 

Stemar

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Warning, a bit of a thread drift, but just something to satisfy my 'satiable curtiosity' how many of you carry a small anchor in your tender?
A folding grapnel and, I hope, enough line to keep the tide from carrying me out of the harbour, though the one time I might have needed it, I drifted into a moored boat before I could think about deploying it. It is useful when going to a barbie on the beach. No 1 son didn't use it once and saw the flubber wandering off as the tide came in. He got rather damp retrieving it.
 

prv

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Warning, a bit of a thread drift, but just something to satisfy my 'satiable curtiosity' how many of you carry a small anchor in your tender?

Yes, I have a small folding grapnel, a few metres of chain, and a long thin warp in a mesh bag which I put in the dinghy. I might occasionally leave it out in an enclosed harbour with a lot of moorings (where I’d hang onto something while fixing the engine, rather than anchoring) but it normally goes in the bow as a matter of course after launching, along with the pump and the petrol can.

Pete
 

noelex

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Warning, a bit of a thread drift, but just something to satisfy my 'satiable curtiosity' how many of you carry a small anchor in your tender?
We have a Guardian aluminium anchor, but it is normally only carried in the tender in locations where it is useful.
 

Praxinoscope

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Thanks for replies, I have a stainless steel 1.5kg folding grapnel with 4m of 5mm stainless chain and about 30' of 6mm rope, this seems to be adequate whether I use from my Bic tender or Avon inflatable, in most of the situations that I'm likely to encounter in these.
Why S/S?
Because the old galv grapnel and chain left 'orrible rust stains on the Avon, the stainless kit washes down easily and doesn't leave rust stains.
I only asked because I was taught always to have some form of anchor even on the tender, yet so few seem to.
 
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