Anchors!

What Anchor

  • CQR is fine

    Votes: 24 17.6%

  • Bruce / claw

    Votes: 10 7.4%

  • Delta / wing

    Votes: 25 18.4%

  • New generation (i.e. Rocna)

    Votes: 77 56.6%
  • Total voters
    136
Cactus Sailing

Cactus Sailing

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I currently have a CQR appropriately rated for my boat but i wanted to make sure i was using the right type!

i'm yet to stay on the hook for extended periods but have done so for lunch times, few hours etc in relatively calm conditions.

My area of sailing is from the Solent and westwards pretty much to Plymouth with a potential run to the isles of Sicily planned but what anchor should i be carrying for overnights to enable a good nights sleep without worrying.

Any advice on type appreciated or if there is any option ive missed feel free to shout. - i've added a poll hopefully correctly :) i hear good things about Rocna - might be difficult to store though unless i leave it on the bow (but im on a trot mooring so tend to take my anchor off to prevent chaffed lines)

last thing to add to the mix is i dont have a windless so i have to manually haul it up too!
 
Last edited:
There isn't a "correct" answer.

New-generation anchors are unquestionably better than the CQR, but thousands of people have been sailing the same area successfully with CQRs for over half a century.

Personally I feel much happier with my oversized Spade - I never ever worry about it dragging and in five years of reasonably frequent (for a weekends-and-holidays sailor) anchoring it has never failed to set first time. This despite a technique no more sophisticated than "chuck it over, drop in 20m of chain and a load of rope, fall back on the tide (or reverse if slack), apply full revs astern and check not moving".

If you have a CQR I don't see any point in switching to a Bruce; a Delta is reputedly a bit better than the CQR but probably not better enough to be worth the switch.

It can only be a personal decision based on how much confidence you have in the CQR and how averse you are to spending the money to switch (the Spade is undeniably expensive).

Pete
 
You will get many replies but if you choose from Knox, Rocna (CMP/Peter Smith), Supreme (Manson), Excel (Anchor Right), Spade and Kobra you will not go far wrong.

You will find this list of anchors will offer good security and reliability. They will set remarkable quickly. There are differences in which seabed they are most suited - and they will become apparent as the thread develops :)

I'm not au fait with UK prices but if you are on a budget the Kobra is the cheapest, I think - and comes via Plastimo.

If you are retrieving by hand then Spade and Excel come in alloy versions (approx half the weight of the steel versions) as does a Fortress. Knox, Rocna and Supreme have roll bars and you need to check if they will fit on your bowsprit (most suppliers offer information on sizes and shapes). Kobra, Excel and Spade should fit without issue where your CQR is located. If you have desire to support British industry then Knox is made from UK steel, fabricated and galvanised in the UK and from a UK design. Spade is made in Tunisia, Excel in Australia, Supreme in NZ. Kobra and Rocna are made in China.

Other designs from reputable suppliers - Boss (Manson), Vulcan (CMP/Peter Smith) but neither have as much background as the first 'list' as they are relatively new - I'd hesitate to suggest you look at either - unless you convince yourself that's exactly what you want!

I might have missed a design, for which apologies - again I'm sure someone will add to my list.

Personally we use an alloy wardrobe of Excel, Spade and Fortress.

Jonathan
 
Cactus Sailing said:
last thing to add to the mix is i dont have a windless so i have to manually haul it up too!
Click to expand...


I have recently got a new anchor which seems to be fine. It's a pain for short stops because it either will not dig in on a ultra short scope or given enough rope it digs in tremendously well.

My old Bruce could be dropped on 1.5 the depth of water and would hold, in good holding, sufficiently well for a cup of tea and yet be hauled out by hand very easily. The upshot is that I am thinking in terms of an easily deployed kedge which will, of course, never be as easy as just dropping the bower.
With the new anchor I would be stuffed without my manual windlass and would have to resort to motoring the thing out, when I would usually rather sail off.

Anywayup, I am sure people will say this is a small price to pay for a very sticky anchor but, you know, I do like short stops. Just a point to bear in mind.

A 10kg Rocna fits very easily into my locker (as would the Manson, I am sure), your locker may be smaller but I would doubt it. I settled for a 9kg Knox, on a 32ft boat, which still fits but is very snug indeed.
 
I have a 60lb CQR and a 35lb(?) Danforth but I'm told I must get a 100lb Admiralty Pattern anchor. How can you pick the best anchor when conditions vary so much?
 
prv said:
There isn't a "correct" answer.

New-generation anchors are unquestionably better than the CQR, but thousands of people have been sailing the same area successfully with CQRs for over half a century.

Personally I feel much happier with my oversized Spade - I never ever worry about it dragging and in five years of reasonably frequent (for a weekends-and-holidays sailor) anchoring it has never failed to set first time. This despite a technique no more sophisticated than "chuck it over, drop in 20m of chain and a load of rope, fall back on the tide (or reverse if slack), apply full revs astern and check not moving".

If you have a CQR I don't see any point in switching to a Bruce; a Delta is reputedly a bit better than the CQR but probably not better enough to be worth the switch.

It can only be a personal decision based on how much confidence you have in the CQR and how averse you are to spending the money to switch (the Spade is undeniably expensive).

Pete
Click to expand...

Thanks Pete,

its why i put "CQR is fine" as an option, i set my anchor the same as you and haven't had issues , but i dont mind investing in something different if its alot better
 
coopec said:
I have a 60lb CQR and a 35lb(?) Danforth but I'm told I must get a 100lb Admiralty Pattern anchor. How can you pick the best anchor when conditions vary so much?
Click to expand...

Go cruising with a cqr for a month then swap to a new gen for a month, very few will want to swap back again - "best" doesn't exist but all round much better does :cool:

Which as Pete says doesn't mean a cqr won't often do the job, but there are much better options available these days.

Pulling up by hand some sort of chain grab can make a life a lot easier.
 
On my present boat the main anchor is a CQR and the kedge is a slightly smaller Bruce, both genuine. I much prefer a Bruce as the main anchor, like I had on previous boats but, at my age, I am unlikely to replace the CQR.
My location is Malta; different anchoring scenarios might well be different.
 
You edited and mentioned you retrieve manually - what rode do you use?

Prominently concave anchors (Supreme, Rocna etc) can carry mud, significantly increasing the weight to be retrieved. In sand this is not an issue.

Jonathan
 
Is it a genuine CQR? There are so many copies, all reckoned by their owners to be CQRs because they have a hinge. Not that I am saying the genuine article is very good but it must be better than many of the copies. There is a stainless one on FB at the moment, clearly a fabricated item. The owner is convinced it is a CQR and thinks it is worth lots of money.
 
I had the Moody version of a CQR, (Harbourfast??), on our Moody 44, and I had no confidence in it whatsoever. It worked fine most of the time but, on the occasions when we really needed it to work, it would let us down - by either dragging, or not digging in, or both.

I was planning on getting the first new gen anchor I came across, (Rocna, Manson, Spade at the time - 2006-2010), but illness overtook me and we sold the boat.
 
Thanks
I can see I'll have to do more research but it seems a lot of the time it is just an opinion. Not so long ago everyone was swearing by the Bruce anchor but not anymore.

Clive
 
Personally I feel much happier with my oversized Spade

I think the operative word here is "oversized". Someone once asked the question, "How will I know if my ground tackle is big enough?" One of the answers was, "When everyone else in the marina is laughing at you". Wandering around marinas, I see much bigger boats with smaller anchors than my 10kg delta, but I sleep well at anchor (24 foot boat - according to the sizing chart I could get away with a 4 kg one)

Without a windlass, weight is obviously an issue, but you can save a lot of weight by having a limited length of chain and adding lots of rope. While it's controversial, there are arguments in favour of a mixed rode; the only times all chain seems to be a good idea is if you're anchoring in coral, which chews up rope, or if you have a windlass. I have 17m of 8mm chain plus a bunch of rope and I can pull it up fine by hand unless it's really dug in deep, when we use the momentum of the boat to break it free.
 
Anchors! Performance depends quite a lot on how you use them. Day before yesterday, I saw someone come into the loch that I was anchored in, with a substantial Knox anchor. Watching his method of deployment, I wasn't in the least surprised to see that his anchor didn't get a grip, and he dragged.

I always find it amusing when people point to a preponderance of a particular type of anchor gracing the bows of boats in marinas, and assume that that particular model must be the "best". Maybe not. Maybe that's why they're tied up in the marina, and not anchoring!

I haven't voted, because, carrying three anchors of three different designs, for different conditions and seabeds, I cannot answer the question.
 
NormanS said:
I haven't voted, because, carrying three anchors of three different designs, for different conditions and seabeds, I cannot answer the question.
Click to expand...

I couldn't agree more. Conditions change enormously so there is no one best anchor.

Clive
 
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