Anchor gear for tender?

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Baddox

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I need to buy an anchor, chain and warp for a 9ft inflatable tender. Any suggestions on what works well? Is 10mm rope a good balance between storage volume and handleability? Which anchor (sorry) works well, without having too many spiky bits to puncture the tender – I don’t sense much love for the folding grapnels?

I anticipate using it on sandy beaches and as a safety back-up in case of engine and oar failure.
 
Personally I have a folding grapnel, 2m of 6mm chain, and a long (not sure exactly how long) length of 6mm braided line, all in a small mesh bag with a drawstring. Sure, this anchor design is not the best, but I reckon it’s probably good enough to hold a drifting inflatable for long enough to have a go at fixing the engine, and it’s very stowable which of course is what it spends most of its time doing.

The water depth, of course, doesn’t care how long your boat is, so you need a decent amount even in a little tender hence the 6mm to reduce the bulk. The loads on a dinghy’s anchor warp are never going to be high enough to need maximum grip on the line.

If you really can’t trust a grapnel (you may have a point :) ) then a danforth pattern is probably next best for stowage.

Pete
 
prv said:
Personally I have a folding grapnel, 2m of 6mm chain, and a long (not sure exactly how long) length of 6mm braided line, all in a small mesh bag with a drawstring. Sure, this anchor design is not the best, but I reckon it’s probably good enough to hold a drifting inflatable for long enough to have a go at fixing the engine, and it’s very stowable which of course is what it spends most of its time doing.

The water depth, of course, doesn’t care how long your boat is, so you need a decent amount even in a little tender hence the 6mm to reduce the bulk. The loads on a dinghy’s anchor warp are never going to be high enough to need maximum grip on the line.

If you really can’t trust a grapnel (you may have a point :) ) then a danforth pattern is probably next best for stowage.

Pete
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+1 for a folding grapnel but ours is all rope and works well.
 
I have a folding grapnel, but a small dinghy can be kept in place by the weight sitting on the bottom, and in most conditions I suspect that the anchor is not dug in at all.
 
I have a 4.5lb Danforth, which I bought when I was a schoolboy, rather a long time ago. Both it and I are still going strong. I use the anchor frequently for my rubber dinghy, when going ashore on sandy beaches, so realistically it's more often than not set into dry sand, just to avoid unnecessary drama with a flood tide.
 
Baddox said:
I need to buy an anchor, chain and warp for a 9ft inflatable tender. Any suggestions on what works well? ... I don’t sense much love for the folding grapnels?...
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Get a 'real' anchor and put a short length of chain to it. Ours gets used a lot diving/snorkeling and the grapnels are simply unreliable; for the last few years we've had a small danforth - perhaps 3 or 4kg - on about 2m of very light chain - really to protect from abrasion - plus about 10m of 8mm line. Nothing needs to be heavy, the anchors generally just sit on the bottom, but if the conditions pick-up, then you want something that'll actually dig in/hold and those grapnels don't. Friend has a really cute s/s Bruce which I liked the look of (less likely to puncture/damage the dink?) until he offered a straight swap; his advice was that it looked good, but Bruce design required more 'self-weight' than his to dig in.
 
The same question was asked on the live aboard link.

http://www.ybw.com/forums/showthread.php?511620-Mantus-dinghy-anchor

Jonathan

My comments have not changed

I'd check with Lewmar and see how much and when their new alloy fluke, Fortress look alike, will be on the shelves.

I'd guess it will be made in China and if it is as good as it looks and with Lewmar's unequaled global reach will show up the dangers of the 'America First' concept.

But Fortress/Guardian I believe come up on eBay regularly - worth a watching brief.


Except to ay that if you ever lose your main rode a grapnel can be useful when you come to retrieve from a dinghy.
 
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For the uses you describe, I recommend a mushroom anchor. You can see an example at Force4 chandlery. I use one on my dinghy. Instead of dragging the dinghy up the beach, I throw the weight a few feet offshore and the dinghy sits there happily. As the tide rises or falls it is a simple matter to pull the weight in or move it out a little as the anchor does not set and dig in. There are no sharp edges and the anchor takes up little space. My dinghy has a polypropylene painter with a loop spliced on the end. To attach the anchor, I pass the eye of the splice through the eye of the anchor then pass the anchor back through the loop. Simple and failsafe. It never drags, even in a decent current.
 
I like dual use products. I like the grapnel idea as they can be used for the dinghy and as grapnel to retrieve lost chain (been there, done that - though we used a 'reef' anchor which is a bit like a grapnel). I like the idea of a small(ish) fluke type as it could be used as a kedge for the yacht, to keep the yacht pointing into swell. Weight v hold the alloy wins hand down over a steel danforth (type).

We use a 10' folding dinghy which I can carry and a 2hp engine (which I can also carry) and we actually seldom anchor the dinghy - but carry it up the beach. One's choice of dinghy anchor may be highly successful, as evidenced in the posts, but leaving above high water mark dispels any doubts over the integrity of the anchor.

Jonathan
 
Neeves said:
I like dual use products. I like the grapnel idea as they can be used for the dinghy and as grapnel to retrieve lost chain (been there, done that - though we used a 'reef' anchor which is a bit like a grapnel). I like the idea of a small(ish) fluke type as it could be used as a kedge for the yacht, to keep the yacht pointing into swell. Weight v hold the alloy wins hand down over a steel danforth (type).

We use a 10' folding dinghy which I can carry and a 2hp engine (which I can also carry) and we actually seldom anchor the dinghy - but carry it up the beach. One's choice of dinghy anchor may be highly successful, as evidenced in the posts, but leaving above high water mark dispels any doubts over the integrity of the anchor.

Jonathan
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We also carry our dinghy up the beach, but since on one occasion, having the dinghy blown away in the wind, we always anchor it as well. We also always tie the oars.
 
We have a 1kg genuine Bruce anchor - but only because it used to be the kedge on our cruising Wayfarer! Stored in an old duffel bag with 2m of light chain and some rope; not sure how much but we tie a bit more if we think we need it.
 
2.5kg stainless Bruce copy with two metres stainless chain and warp.

Clean, safe and effective and it looks good!
IMHO grapnels are only useful as weights.

The Bruce digs in if necessary!
Tony.
 
James_Calvert said:
ready instantly unlike a folding grapnel type.
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The normal pattern of folding grapnel must take all of two seconds to turn the locking ring one way, drop it down the stock, and turn it the other.

Time to deploy is a legitimate concern if you’re thinking of carrying a disassembled Fortress (as I have done on a larger inflatable; I replaced the screws and included two stainless spanners on lanyards in the bag) but it’s not an issue for a grapnel.

Pete
 
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