Bag full of rocks as a dinghy anchor? What weight will be enough?

Certainly there are others who would benefit...the answer might be to set it up anonymously, without bothering to ask. After a month, very possibly lots of people would have noticed the benefit and request the club to set up a permanent version.
 
Sorry to revive an old theme, but I bought a 4kg galvanised grapnel today, as an alternative to the stone-bag idea with which I started the thread. I hadn't realised what a crude bit of ironmongery the grapnel is - there's really not very much to prevent the ring which keeps the flukes projecting out, from loosening and letting them flop back in.

I haven't yet tried using it as planned, but if you're on the beach and see a little chap spinning a hefty metal hook in tight overhead circles, letting it fly over the sea where it plops in the drink about 40 feet out, it's not a new form of fishing, it's me.

I reckon an attached block and two-part tackle (one part attached to the boat) will let me pull her out to a safe distance off the beach, without getting more than my feet wet.

I'm an unlikely fan of the grapnel and if I'm unsuccessful, I'll admit failure very frankly. But perhaps some refinement of the rough grapnel design could be a big, very practical improvement for small boats, over traditional little versions of yacht bower-designs. Sorry if this film has been shown before, here:

 
Good as a dinghy stern anchor for sheltered ports.

Always use what you would use on a yacht relative to the size of the tender.
 
Be VERY careful if you do try swinging the grapnel, to throw it.

Back in the 60's a mate of Dad lost an eye, when trying to throw the anchor of his small motor boat. He was out by himself midweek, on the Crouch, when it happened.

An absolutely 100% true life story.

Take care!
 
Thanks Neal, I'll take that very seriously, not least because the whole question arose because I'll be alone myself.

Maybe I'll develop a simple, straight-arm half-curving throw, rather than a spikey, spinning technique. Which on reflection, does sound pretty perilous!
 
Dan,

I think it's hard to beat a SAV folding grapnel for occasional / emergency dinghy use because of its small rounded state when folded, but no way an optimum anchor.

It should provide a toe-hold on rocks and weed though, in emergency situations but one obvious snag is the upwards protruding flukes, mainly OK if one is aware of the possible problem; a drogue from the stern like a sailbag or similar usually keeps the boat streamed away from the bower anchor, but does increase pull and swinging circle.

I found a small CQR a quick way of stubbing toes or nipping fingers and a complete sod to stow so went for the grapnel when cruising my Osprey, didn't get round to a stemhead roller & Rocna !

The grapnel also makes a handy weight in folded state as an angel for a proper anchor or on lines to keep the boat by a wall, and as a last ditch effort against quayside yobs your mentioned overhead flailing technique would be worth a go. :)
 
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Without going through the whole post again I seem to recall the idea is to lob the grapnel out with pulley & line then pull the boat out whilst you sort the trailer.
Or has that idea changed
The problem with only throwing 40 feet is that as you pull the boat the angle of boat to grapnel changes & the grapnel will loose its grip
Not that they grip in much other than mud or thick weed that is itself well anchored
What you need to do is find an area with eel grass & a plastic seahorse. That should give the grapnel something to grip
then this thread will really develop some reaction
 
Daydream believer said:
...I seem to recall the idea is to lob the grapnel out with pulley & line then pull the boat out whilst you sort the trailer...the problem with only throwing 40 feet is that as you pull the boat the angle of boat to grapnel changes & the grapnel will loose its grip...
Click to expand...

Well, I can only hope you're mistaken DB, because I chose the grapnel specifically for its ability to grip, albeit tenuously, on a short scope.

I won't need the boat to be further out than makes her safe from crunching the beach - so I was thinking 40ft as a manageable throwing distance, minus the boat length and a few feet off the beach - let's say 20 feet - divided by the depth where the grapnel lands 40ft from the edge (probably 5ft) equals about 4 to 1, which I hope is enough scope for temporary grip.

Actually I know damned well that it's deeper than that, 40ft from the edge at HW...so I'll have to throw further, to the point where the seabed levels out a bit.

Or, I could use a very short warp, with something heavy on the end. I'm sure I heard of a sort of bag-thing which one can fill with rocks. :rolleyes:
 
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I still think an inflatable roller the best bet. You can just drop it on the beach & lift the bow a bit & kick the roller under the bow then pull the boat on to it a bit which will let you get it partly out of the water
the roller can double as buoyancy
Even a piece of upvc 100 mm soil pipe with a plug each end might work
 
Don't forget that the man in the video is crouching and the 'scope' on the line seems to be close to 50 to 1 when he is achieving the claimed "35Kg holding power".
 
I use my wife ... not that she is similar to a bag of rocks , far from it ! I just ask her to stand and hold the dinghy while I take a stroll.
 
All true, thank you.

I actually bought a Plastimo inflatable roller early last year...I don't know exactly why I haven't been tempted to use it. I think it looks and feels a bit lightweight for the considerable burden of the boat, as well as seeming very vulnerable to the several rough edges on the hull's underside, and to the gnarled broken concrete of the slipway.

Anyway, in more than about ten knots of wind, launching and landing the Osp really is a bit hairy, singlehanded. The appeal of the grapnel (assuming it can hold the boat) is the freedom it would give me to hoist the mainsail whilst head to wind, and to fit the rudder with the boat already afloat, in water deep enough to sail away as soon as I'm ready.

The alternative is getting everything ready to go at the top of the slipway, then pulling the boat down into the water on the trolley nose first, so the onshore breeze won't throw her about...then somehow backing the stern up onto the roller so I can leave her there while I deal with the trolley...I'm sure it could be done, but the grapnel looks easier because critically, it would imitate the effect of another person holding the bow.

I haven't dismissed the inflatable roller from my plans - I have a heavyweight tarp, just the right size to make a tough outer cover. Trouble is, each time the covered roller comes aboard, it'll bring about half a gallon of gritty seawater, and it won't fold neatly into a small space.
 
Can you 'borrow' a vacant buoy near the slip, and then you can row out to it and rig there? That's my standard procedure in a decent onshore breeze.
 
That's a lovely idea, Kelpie. But there isn't a buoy or a post, or a jetty or an old bit of groyne, anywhere for a quarter of a mile. Besides, if I was able to get out to such a buoy, I would already have managed to launch...for the accomplishing of which simple yet frustrating purpose, I've bought the grapnel.

Several times I've watched a singlehander arrive off the slipway and wait 10 minutes, just hoping someone will bring him his trolley. They can't fetch it themselves because in the time they're running up the beach, the invariable onshore breeze and breakers will slam their racing hulls onto the shingle or slipway before they get back. I generally take pity and go to assist in the end, but it was interesting initially to see whether this was a problem I'd invented, or something all singlehanders endure at our club. It's the latter.

Here's a young friend kindly holding the Osp while I get my trolley, in a force 1 when I could probably have left the boat to drift without a problem...it's not usually so benign...

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...and the following appallingly-zoomed image is of another calm day, when small breakers were nevertheless forming on the beach, leaving singlehanders in need of grapnels:

20150129_211236_zpstamkqpfm_1.jpg
 
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That certainly is an impressive bit of kit. It's also quite a long way from a block & tackle attached to a grapnel!

I don't actually enjoy making a simple sailboat more complex than she was meant to be - but a little forethought & practical application can broaden the use of things intended for narrow roles. However nuts people may think my additions to the boat are, they're only to enable me to sail her without the crew she was designed & expected to require.

Then again, with remote-control like the chap in the Minn Kota ad, it might be possible to stay at home and go sailing by laptop. Perhaps I could even row, with a pair of joysticks?
 
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