Anchor refuses to set

snowleopard

snowleopard

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This morning I had a call from the boatyard - my mooring had parted and the boat was on the beach. We tried to kedge off, taking the kedge out 50m before dropping it on a firm muddy bottom in about 2m of water. Every time it just slid across the bottom, bringing with it a large lump of mud but not once setting. After 4 attempts we gave up on it.

Care to guess what anchor it was (recommended by the manufacturers for use as a main anchor on boats of 10-12 metres)?
 
Sorry to hear about your boat.
But if your anchor is getting into the mud, enough to bring up lumps of it, perhaps it's the mud at fault not the anchor?
Other than the usual stuff about enough scope, etc, any anchor is only as good as what its stuck into, other than a massive weight of course.
Kedging off will always fail if the boat has a better grip on a bigger cross-section of mud I suppose. In my limited experience, gained with the RYA's sonata fleet many years ago, a kedge will stop the boat going back onto the mud, but you have to push it off in the first place, or let the tide come up. Messy as I remember!
Best of luck anyway!
 
Experience says that the only thing that holds in millbrook lake is a danforth type. I was amazed how fast your boat accelerated under bare poles, but that is a big wingmast that you have.
Luckily not too much collatoral damage . /forums/images/graemlins/smile.gif
 
I have a strange feeling you are going to tell us that its a Rocna/Spade hybrid, yes? /forums/images/graemlins/laugh.gif

PS sorry to hear about you misshap, hope you get it sorted soon.
 
If you try to set an anchor in 2m you won't have any weight of chain above to form a catenary, so it won't set - no way will you pull the boat off. Best you can hope for is to stop her driting further onshore

Sorry to hear of this and hope you get it sorted. Could you not combine rope & chain to get her set deeper?
 
Sounds like a Bruce! Had a similar experience of one of them behaving like a very large an efficient ice-cream scoop! I gave it away.
 
[ QUOTE ]
Experience says that the only thing that holds in millbrook lake is a danforth type.

[/ QUOTE ]

It was a Fortress (FX16).

The boat was afloat so not trying to compete with 5 tons sitting in the mud. We just reeled in the anchor hand-over-hand, never more than a few kg of resistance. I had the same trouble once on sand too.

It's holding OK with a Delta now. Damage seems to be light though the tip of one bow has been crunched, I'll have to wait till morning to find out who we hit and what damage was done.
 
Was it set for mud, or fitted with mud palms? I just bought a Guardian as a kedge and the latter are now given away free with the anchor, indicating a problem in mud without them...
 
Gosh your marina gave you a call to say your boat was aground! I would have thought they would have been a bit more proactive. Sorry to hear this.
 
[ QUOTE ]
The boat was afloat so not trying to compete with 5 tons sitting in the mud.

[/ QUOTE ]

in yer dreams!!!

No way can your boat be 5 tons, is she carbon fibre?

seriously?

The mast must weigh in at 2.5 tons alone..

/forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif
 
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