Anchor not holding- advice please?

[mtb]

You're compltely ignoring the effect of drag from the loose chain if the anchor fails to set. Just try dragging 20 metres of 10 mm chain across the boatyard some time and then apply the knowledge you've gained to a sea bed.
Having heavier rig is fine if you're hale and hearty enough to haul it up if it snags or you have windless problems. For older and less athletic members more creative solutions are required. The additional chain just acts as a multiplier. Try it.

the loose chain will not dictate how the anchor lays, their designed to have the load pulling at a certain point. With loose chain your likely to not allow the anchor to set as it should, the anchor could be sat on its side and not able to set as it should

 

[Deleted User YDKXO]

Deleted User is engaging keyboard before reading carefully enough the posts he is replying to

Not actually sure what you mean by that jfm. I didn't understand what bertramdriver was on about and I just tried to guess what that might be

 

[Uricanejack]

Hi we have been fishing today as its the cod season on the Mersey but when we released our anchor (6Kg Lewmar Delta which is supposed to be ok for my boat length) we were dragged about 200/300 yards before it eventually set . My boat is 24 ft ( 3tonnes I think) and I was in 35 feet of water and had released 48metres of 8mm chain. By the time it held we were in 50 feet of water. Todays H/ tide was 9.5 metres and we were setting anchor ( facing the tide) 2 hours before high- Mersey tide comes in about 7/8 knots.

I am wondering if the tidal force had spun the anchor around( its on a swivel) and it was lying on its back despite the blurb saying self righting etc.

I would welcome any views on this as I would like to rectify this and don't want a repeat performance really.

Any suggestions gratefully received.

cheers

Mike

Your anchor held after 300 yards in a 7 or 8 knot current.

Bloody good anchor.

More than adequate for most normal anchoring.

Just curios about your fishing.
what kind of fish are you after.I often fish in strong current. up to 8 or 9 knots at times. for salmon.
I rarly anchor. never really. ussualy try an hold position or slowly drop back
had a couple of hairy moments when a cannon ball hung up. fortunatly wire parted before stern dragged under.

 

[jfm]

Not actually sure what you mean by that jfm. I didn't understand what bertramdriver was on about and I just tried to guess what that might be

Your post 51 mike. MM was talking about the loose 20m of chain downstream of betramdriver's anchor and you were "correcting" him non sequiturishly by reference to the normal/proper anchor chain twist anchor and windlass. No big deal!

 

[Bertramdriver]

Seems like I'm causing confusion.
What I have been doing is this. The CQR has a steel loop/ ring formed at the base of shank above the hinge and the flukes. What I do is attach a loose length of 10mm chain to this loop. The loose chain is let down by hand first as the boat boat floats back in the wind and then I let down the anchor as normal. The effect is to have the loose chain streaming out across the sea bed before the anchor hits the bottom. In mild weather the loose chain trailing across the bottom is often enough to halt the drift before the anchor hits the bottom, requiring me to motor back to set the anchor. My thought process is that the additional drag caused by the trailing loose chain decreases the likelihood of the embedded anchor lifting out under stress and helps it reset if it does by adding additional kinetic energy (drag) over the flukes.
Because there is just the normal weight of chain involved the windlass is not over stressed when I lift the anchor. Once it's in the roller I just unshackle the loose chain and haul it aboard by hand.
Despite the various opinions expressed in this thread all I can say is it works for me. Maybe someone else should try and provide a record of their experiences.

 

[MapisM]

Seems like I'm causing confusion.

Yep, a bit, 'cause when you said "attaching 20m of loose chain to the lead of the shank", I understood (and also jfm did, I reckon) that this chain was attached, ...erm ... to the lead of the shank, i.e. not to its base.
This way, with the anchor properly set, the additional chain could only have avoided the shank to lift (hence the anchor to drag) with the very last bit of its weight, i.e. 5 inches or so - rather insignificant.

What you are actually doing is using a sort of tandem anchor setup, where the main (first) anchor is missing.
But while I agree that THIS can make your anchor hold better, I don't think I'll give that a try.
Each to their own, if it works for you that's what really matters at the end of the day.
But the brute weight of my 50kg anchors, overkill as it might be, works equally well for me without the hassle of any manual handling!

 

[Searush]

Your anchor held after 300 yards in a 7 or 8 knot current.

Bloody good anchor.

More than adequate for most normal anchoring.

Just curios about your fishing.
what kind of fish are you after.I often fish in strong current. up to 8 or 9 knots at times. for salmon.
I rarly anchor. never really. ussualy try an hold position or slowly drop back
had a couple of hairy moments when a cannon ball hung up. fortunatly wire parted before stern dragged under.

Even after years of improving the water quality (by stopping the flow of sewage into it) you're not likely to find salmon in the Mersey, but at least there are fewer "goldfish" or turds in it these days.