Anchor swivel are they necessary.

[Mirelle]

Well, I DO have a grooved roller, and a CQR, on chain, with no swivel

and I have never seen the need for one, but I don't stow the CQR in the roller; I pick it up and stow it on deck.

The grooved roller works really well, by the way.

I suspect that the CQR does twist on the way down, as Steve says, but it will also untwist on the way up, if given a chance.

 

[steve_cronin]

Re: Well, I DO have a grooved roller, and a CQR, on chain, with no swivel

Fine but some of us have self parking anchors and nowhere suitable to place an ugly great lump of galvanised iron on deck.

I just pushes a button on the steering console, up she comes, parks (right way up) and away we go!

Steve Cronin

 

[timevans2000]

Re: It just happens....

I was in the Caribbean over last winter. There was an article appeared in Compass mag over there about failures of anchor swivells. A number had failed causing boats to founder. A few days later a bavaria anchored next to us lifted its chain to find no anchor on the end! the weather conditions were benign and the bottom was sand. I know cos I dived down and recovered their anchor. The swivell had broken. Some boats seem to fit these because their bow rollers are too narrow to allow a shackel attachment to the anchor.
Be wary of using an aluminium anchor. We had a aluminium spade anchor that was smashed to bits simply cos its tip hooked under a rock. The boat was in a protected anchorage with no swell. It simply was not strong enough.

 

[Mirelle]

The grooved roller isa really good idea, by the way.

It's nice for the owner of an antique to show that we old gaffers can keep up with the technology, of course, but it is a HUGE improvement on the old roller, and I recommend it to anyone.

The frictional load on the chain , hence on the windlass, is about a tenth of what it was.

 

[Deleted User YDKXO]

You're right about reversing when pulling the anchor up into the bow roller. Despite having a Kong swivel on our last boat the Bruce anchor would come up inverted about half the time. We found by accident that reversing a few metres with the anchor still in the water righted the anchor for pulling into the roller. Works every time
Tend to agree with you on swivels. Our current boat also has a Kong swivel. It looks undersized to me but the cheeks are beginning to part and I'm going to change it for a larger model. As a mobo we dont anchor overnight many times and certainly not in high winds so I think, on balance, a swivel is worth having

 

[Talbot]

Re: It just happens....

[ QUOTE ]
We don't use rope. Didn't think anyone else sensible did either

[/ QUOTE ]

Think you will find that most cat owners use a combined chain/warp system due to weight constraints. Personally I prefer to have a heavier chain in the first 30m and then rope cause I reckon boat sits better to this system, provides additional power to the holding of the anchor, and I have as much chain as I can lift manually(just).

 

[charles_reed]

Re: I have nothing \"drastically Wrong\"..but...

I guess my CQR comes up wrong way round about 40% of the time.

I've got both a swivel and twin grooved rollers.

I bought the swivel as an experiment and, frankly, think it's pretty useless.

I wouldn't recommend anyone wasting money on one.

 

[Wiggo]

[ QUOTE ]
Wiggo described to me this week a simple gadget that ensures the anchor will come in correctly orientated.
So simple that it made sense to me. I'll ask him to elucidate?

[/ QUOTE ]

Sorry if this has been done to death, but I just got back from hols and found Brendan had posted this to me as a link. The contraption I use is the 'Twist' as described earlier. FWIW, the trick of reversing slowly to get the anchor right way round also works well.