Bag full of rocks as a dinghy anchor? What weight will be enough?
- Thread starter Greenheart
- Start date
NormanS
Well-Known Member
Yes, see #14.
JumbleDuck
Well-Known Member
So use more rocks.
Greenheart
Well-Known Member
That's exactly how I have been doing it. Fine in a force 1, assuming no power boats have passed in the last quarter-hour. But whenever there are breakers, the boat really takes a pounding, and the beach is too steep to pull her up out of harm's way. I've discreetly taken time to watch lone singlehanders arriving in pristine Lasers or Contenders, waiting indefinitely for someone on the beach to bring them their trollies...because they can't risk beaching the boat while they fetch the wheels themselves. Eventually I helped.
Thinking about it, the bag of rocks won't be much help for arriving at the shore, if I'll have emptied it after setting off...I didn't really think that through...
Hmm. I already sunk a couple of pins in the top of the slipway to attach a line to, for hauling the boat up. I had to do it discreetly...I had suggested posts or buoys too, but the idea wasn't greeted with enthusiasm. Hence my current search for alternatives.
Dost thou speak of that foulest thing, the grapnel? Actually that's a very good idea Andy, thanks. The reason why I've never respected the grapnel is because it's so rotten if used in proper anchoring situations...but for five minutes in a situation where the water's deep enough to prevent a fluke holing the boat, it might be ideal.
Easier to live with than a damp, gritty old bag, too. But don't tell SWMBO I said so. :encouragement:
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PuffTheMagicDragon
Well-Known Member
For my small boat I had made a simple grapnel that folded flat. It was good enough for a morning's fishing. The flukes were simple flat bars (1/2" x 1/8") strong enough to hold but still light enough to bend when they got caught in a foul bottom, enough to be pulled off.
Seajet
...
Dan,
I do think a grapnel is a good bet, the snag is you'd better make it as heavy as you can bring yourself to carry around, as you say they're not very efficient on a soft seabed; good on rock and weed though, so in emergency might save the boat and crew.
Stow it low and think of it as ballast...a good thing is it's useful even in folded state, as a weight on lines alongside a wall to keep her in, an angel on a line to a buoy if waves are causing snatching, or simply administering to PWC operators in a downward motion.
I do think a grapnel is a good bet, the snag is you'd better make it as heavy as you can bring yourself to carry around, as you say they're not very efficient on a soft seabed; good on rock and weed though, so in emergency might save the boat and crew.
Stow it low and think of it as ballast...a good thing is it's useful even in folded state, as a weight on lines alongside a wall to keep her in, an angel on a line to a buoy if waves are causing snatching, or simply administering to PWC operators in a downward motion.
Kelpie
Well-Known Member
Just to check- Dan, you need something to hold the dinghy in place whilst you go and fetch the trolley? I.e. a shore anchor of some kind?
Greenheart
Well-Known Member
The situation is that I want to leave the boat in shallow water while I fetch or deposit the trolley. No problem with crew - one person holds the boat. Much harder, singlehanded.
If the wind blew offshore, the breakers would be so slight that I could leave the boat half-in, half-out, resting in little danger...but that is almost never the case, and I've often had to leave her graunching horribly on the steep shingle beside the slipway.
If the wind blew offshore, it would be much easier - I could just tether the boat to a tree or bench ashore. As it is, I think a hefty grapnel will work very well - the beach is pebbly over soft mud.
I suppose I'll have to get the boat in the water, then hurl the opened grapnel as hard as possible offshore, on about 30ft of line. The water is rapidly too deep to stand in, so a shorter line risks the grapnel not biting...although, if I get it wrong, the length of the line will let the stern of the boat run ashore, and the same will happen if the grapnel drags.
The appeal of the stone-bag was the shortness of the warp required...although a large dinghy tugging horizontally on a nearly-vertical line, would probably have moved a much greater weight than I'd want to have to load and unload each time.
Trial and error will be the test.
If the wind blew offshore, the breakers would be so slight that I could leave the boat half-in, half-out, resting in little danger...but that is almost never the case, and I've often had to leave her graunching horribly on the steep shingle beside the slipway.
If the wind blew offshore, it would be much easier - I could just tether the boat to a tree or bench ashore. As it is, I think a hefty grapnel will work very well - the beach is pebbly over soft mud.
I suppose I'll have to get the boat in the water, then hurl the opened grapnel as hard as possible offshore, on about 30ft of line. The water is rapidly too deep to stand in, so a shorter line risks the grapnel not biting...although, if I get it wrong, the length of the line will let the stern of the boat run ashore, and the same will happen if the grapnel drags.
The appeal of the stone-bag was the shortness of the warp required...although a large dinghy tugging horizontally on a nearly-vertical line, would probably have moved a much greater weight than I'd want to have to load and unload each time.
Trial and error will be the test.
FWB
N/A
Why not use the double anchor technique, as used by many to keep heavy dories, ribs and suchlike afloat whilst the crew are on the beach?
ie... Tie a long line to your main anchor (which has its own line of course) and to that affix a folding anchor or any suitable small anchor.
Put the main anchor on the bow, hold the second anchor, push the boat out and when ready launch the main anchor by pulling it off the bow. Then put the second anchor on the beach.
When ready pull on the line and retrieve the boat.
ie... Tie a long line to your main anchor (which has its own line of course) and to that affix a folding anchor or any suitable small anchor.
Put the main anchor on the bow, hold the second anchor, push the boat out and when ready launch the main anchor by pulling it off the bow. Then put the second anchor on the beach.
When ready pull on the line and retrieve the boat.
Kelpie
Well-Known Member
Hey, just leave the trolley on the boat! What's not to like?
"For every problem there is always one solution that is simple, elegant, and wrong".
"For every problem there is always one solution that is simple, elegant, and wrong".
Kelpie
Well-Known Member
On a more serious note, assuming there is actually a slipway, can't you haul the boat up onto that for a few minutes whilst you fetch the trolley? That way it is sitting on its keel strap and won't come to any harm. I can do that with a Wayfarer so surely an Osprey, being lighter, is no bother?
Scotty_Tradewind
Well-Known Member
? 
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Scotty_Tradewind
Well-Known Member
I reckon the lead weights are the best suggestion yet.
Take up less room than most weights, wont rust, have built-in attachement holes and you can choose the right weight to suit after experimenting with rocks etc...
S.
Greenheart
Well-Known Member
I'm grateful for so many suggestions, serious and otherwise. Kelpie, my trolley is five feet wide and weighs about 25kg. Not a thing of beauty, either...I'll leave it ashore. 
We're only talking about holding the boat where she is in perhaps 3ft of water, for no more than two minutes. So, anything complicated begins to look a little mad, even to me.
I'm not convinced that a weight smaller than one of those old 56lb monsters, would keep the Osprey in position in steep breakers. And I'd rather not have to stow it on board.
I certainly have pulled the Osprey up on the slipway without wheels...but it's steep, perhaps 1 in 5 at the steepest...so I wouldn't relish having to do it all the time...
...and while I've replaced part of my central brass keel band, the "strakes" below the port and starboard sides are just GRP - not soft, but they certainly scratch on rough concrete.
Besides, the process of getting the hull out of the breakers always includes a few seconds when the stern is still afloat and gets dropped heavily onto concrete...not pleasant.
We're only talking about holding the boat where she is in perhaps 3ft of water, for no more than two minutes. So, anything complicated begins to look a little mad, even to me.
I'm not convinced that a weight smaller than one of those old 56lb monsters, would keep the Osprey in position in steep breakers. And I'd rather not have to stow it on board.
I certainly have pulled the Osprey up on the slipway without wheels...but it's steep, perhaps 1 in 5 at the steepest...so I wouldn't relish having to do it all the time...
...and while I've replaced part of my central brass keel band, the "strakes" below the port and starboard sides are just GRP - not soft, but they certainly scratch on rough concrete.
Besides, the process of getting the hull out of the breakers always includes a few seconds when the stern is still afloat and gets dropped heavily onto concrete...not pleasant.
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prv
Well-Known Member
I know you said the club weren't keen on haul-off buoys, but could you place your own semi-permanent anchor out in the deep water with just an unobtrusive bit of line running up the beach?
Pete
Pete
FWB
N/A
Trolley suggestion not mine.
I see you've corrected it
I see you've corrected it
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Greenheart
Well-Known Member
Apologies Foeu...post amended.
My club has so many dinghies launching on race-days, I think the objection to buoys and fixed cables on the slipway is an avoidance of liability, if someone were to tangle or trip.
A pontoon slung with tyres, tethered at the shore and anchored a distance out, so we could walk out dry-shod, would be fantastic. But I don't see it happening in the near future.
My club has so many dinghies launching on race-days, I think the objection to buoys and fixed cables on the slipway is an avoidance of liability, if someone were to tangle or trip.
A pontoon slung with tyres, tethered at the shore and anchored a distance out, so we could walk out dry-shod, would be fantastic. But I don't see it happening in the near future.
FWB
N/A
Since it's a club, can't you get someone to help you launch and recover?
Greenheart
Well-Known Member
Of course, that's usually the case. I even had to ask dog-walkers not to help me, in order to find out whether or not I can haul her up on my own...(I can) .
But the point is, I really don't want to rely on the kindness of people whose presence and willingness cannot be guaranteed. I frequently sail midweek, and the club is often empty on blissful hot days when the tide is high...because all those energetic young racers are busy banking, wanking and go-getting. So I need something to hold the boat.
Almost every aspect of owning the Osprey has involved coping singlehanded with tasks that were traditionally managed by two or more. It's very rewarding when it works.
.But the point is, I really don't want to rely on the kindness of people whose presence and willingness cannot be guaranteed. I frequently sail midweek, and the club is often empty on blissful hot days when the tide is high...because all those energetic young racers are busy banking, wanking and go-getting. So I need something to hold the boat.
Almost every aspect of owning the Osprey has involved coping singlehanded with tasks that were traditionally managed by two or more. It's very rewarding when it works.
JumbleDuck
Well-Known Member
I have a small rond anchor which is very useful in such circumstances. It's also a darn sight easier to store than other anchors, being flat and only pointy in one place.
