Anchors, Yesterday's Hero?
- Thread starter Neeves
- Start date
Neeves
Well-Known Member
Seajet
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We can get into another discussion about ' the perfect anchor and technique ', all I'll say is I've found a 7.5kg Bruce has served me and my 22' medium displacement boat very well since 1978; as the weight of an all chain rode would cripple the boats' sailing performance, I use 100' of nylon warp and 6 metres of heavy chain to give a horizontal pull and deal with chafe on the seabed.
In heavy weather and / or katabatic squalls I've found a 7 kg folding grapnel halfway down the bower warp ( in folded state ) as an ' angel ' helps a lot, but that's apparently not a trendy idea, even if it works !
In heavy weather and / or katabatic squalls I've found a 7 kg folding grapnel halfway down the bower warp ( in folded state ) as an ' angel ' helps a lot, but that's apparently not a trendy idea, even if it works !
Neeves
Well-Known Member
We can get into another discussion about ' the perfect anchor and technique ', all I'll say is I've found a 7.5kg Bruce has served me and my 22' medium displacement boat very well since 1978; as the weight of an all chain rode would cripple the boats' sailing performance, I use 100' of nylon warp and 6 metres of heavy chain to give a horizontal pull and deal with chafe on the seabed.
In heavy weather and / or katabatic squalls I've found a 7 kg folding grapnel halfway down the bower warp ( in folded state ) as an ' angel ' helps a lot, but that's apparently not a trendy idea, even if it works !
You might find it even less trendy, but easier, if you simply drop the grapnel as a friction brake, simply let it drag on the seabed (not enough scope to 'catch' but enough scope to cater for the tide. It will stop you swigning about, and if you do not swing less chance to develop momentum. Not my idea, courtesy HM Navy. Kellets are nuisance to slide down and then disengage from the rode
Seajet
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Neeves,
I guess you mean anchor drudging; a great idea when it suits, but not for overnight staying put !
' Kellets ' is a new one on me, I was never in the RN.
Andy
Neeves
Well-Known Member
I have no idea of the origin of the word 'Kellet' but it seems to be term used for an object, it needs to be heavy, slid down an anchor warp to produce extra catenary. Some one in NZ makes them, I think, or guess, from lead (maybe its an antipodean term). Drudging is another new word (its not in my dictionary, but then neither is 'Kellet') and I might have thought has something to do with Cinderella - but the RN Navy has (more probably 'had') a practice (I have been led to believe) of dropping their second anchor, to simply drag, not engage, so as to stop the vessel swinging. It can be used for overnight, but if the anchorage is tidal - might be tangled up in the morning. Personally I prefer reliance on a good anchor (and not on something that was good 40 or 80 years ago), - which was why I started the thread in the first place!
But at the end of the day its all about what works for the individual - they need to live (or sleep) with it.
But at the end of the day its all about what works for the individual - they need to live (or sleep) with it.
Seajet
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Hi Neeves,
I think what you or the navy call a Kellet is referred to an an ' angel ' around here, a weight or spare anchor to weigh down the main bower warp or chain.
Drudging anchors is a technique used by ships, or very confident yachties !
As you say, the idea is to let the anchor drag a bit on the seabed on a short scope just reaching the bottom but not properly digging in, for example the small ships visiting Poole which has a fairly long straight dock do this to keep the bows straight into the channel while reversing away.
I think what you or the navy call a Kellet is referred to an an ' angel ' around here, a weight or spare anchor to weigh down the main bower warp or chain.
Drudging anchors is a technique used by ships, or very confident yachties !
As you say, the idea is to let the anchor drag a bit on the seabed on a short scope just reaching the bottom but not properly digging in, for example the small ships visiting Poole which has a fairly long straight dock do this to keep the bows straight into the channel while reversing away.
sailorman
Well-Known Member
My genuine Bruce has "raised" lettering
Baggywrinkle
Well-Known Member
sailorman
Well-Known Member
But covered in Essex glupe
Seajet
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I'll have you know Dear Sir, no Essex gloop in the form of mud or ' ladies ' with shocking white high heels on this boat, though the Bruce anchor has always been useful !
sailorman
Well-Known Member
do you have it over the table as well
Baggywrinkle
Well-Known Member
I had been using it to keep SWMBO in the kitchen, but the holding on a tiled floor was rubbish, perhaps I should try a Rocna?
..... it was bought because there seems to be a trend to drill a great big hole through the shank of claw anchors so they can be secured in the bow roller with a pin. The previous owners of our boat had this setup and there was a slight but visible bend where the hole had weakened the shank. It's now a garden ornament and my shiny genuine Bruce is on the boat. ..... bit of a bargain too at €18 on flea-bay.
Seajet
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Sometimes if the mood suits us, but that has little to do with anchors.
macd
Well-Known Member
re Baggywrinkles second photo:
Streuth, they're in Onchan (next to Douglas, Isle of Man, best known for its chippie and the fact that Cap'n Bligh was married there).
Bruce International Limited
Registered: Bahamas
Status: dissolved
Streuth, they're in Onchan (next to Douglas, Isle of Man, best known for its chippie and the fact that Cap'n Bligh was married there).
Bruce International Limited
Registered: Bahamas
Status: dissolved
Baggywrinkle
Well-Known Member
I would think it would take a long time to dissolve a Bruce anchor, unless you had the right solvent.
AFAIK they're now in Douglas. http://www.bruceanchor.co.uk
Greenheart
Well-Known Member
I'm 99% certain that I read in Cunliffe's book The Complete Yachtmaster, 1994, when the author had discussed the virtues of different designs, he stated that for anchoring in serious bad weather, he'd always choose "...a Fisherman anchor...a big one."
My copy of the book is in France, or I'd check...
Uricanejack
Well-Known Member
I think the term is dredging an anchor when using it to control the movement of a ships bow while docking or turning short round. The idea being to drop it just onto the bottom and dragging it intentionally.
On occasions they may drop an anchor well out from the dock and leave it to “kedge off” or to pull the bow out from the dock if wind and or current are pushing it into the dock.
My boat has a 33 LB Bruce. Or so it says. Came with the boat.
Seajet
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No, it's known as drudging; one keeps the anchor on short scope to just drag on the seabed.
I'd only try it on a known, fairly consistent seabed...
oldbilbo
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I understand 'drudging' to be a technique used by crews of the thousands of small trading vessels 'in sail' which carried cargoes of brick, stone, coal, coke, agricultural produce, pig iron, lead and metalware around our coasts and up almost all our rivers until, after the end of WWII, there were enough abandoned/cheap trucks to form the basis of our road haulage industry.
Essentially, a trading vessel 'in sail' without a reliable engine would work her way upriver on the rise of tide. In order to retain some vestige of steerage, she would come upriver with bows to the making stream, and with an anchor on short scope over the bows which was allowed to drag just enough to keep her speed over the ground somewhat less than that of the tide-stream. The resultant water-flow over the rudder gave steerage across the stream to avoid mudbanks, moored vessels, obstructions.....
After drying at the destination in the upper reaches and unloading/loading cargo, she would be worked back down river, on a convenient ebb tide, in much the same way.
Essentially, a trading vessel 'in sail' without a reliable engine would work her way upriver on the rise of tide. In order to retain some vestige of steerage, she would come upriver with bows to the making stream, and with an anchor on short scope over the bows which was allowed to drag just enough to keep her speed over the ground somewhat less than that of the tide-stream. The resultant water-flow over the rudder gave steerage across the stream to avoid mudbanks, moored vessels, obstructions.....
After drying at the destination in the upper reaches and unloading/loading cargo, she would be worked back down river, on a convenient ebb tide, in much the same way.