Has your anchor ever dragged? Tell us.

[KristiferColumbus]

After dragging and dragging the anchor was retrieved, when dropped it was a CQR, when we retrieved it it was a shank of a CQR! The pin had broken, all in light winds with a snappy 26 hanging on it.

Was it a cheap copy then because I believe the genuine CQR is a drop forged manufacture & I believe you should be able to see significant wear before anything like that is likely to happen.Certainly mine has taken the full weight of the boat thrown back against a fixed anchor on the end of about 60 meters of chain in what seemed like gale force conditions.The shank was bent like a banana but the anchor held or I probably would'nt be here to tell the tale now.
I doubt very much if many of the new fangled anchors on the market now would have done half as well.Not least because they seem to have very flimsy shank fittings where the chain is attached.
You can't beat a drop forging!

 

[doris]

Sheering, or hunting

A mate and I were chatting about all the different ways of stopping the boat going hunting when at anchor. The dropping of a bight of chain behind the snubber wasn't thought of but it was suggested that getting the heaviest and biggest bucket on board and attaching it to the chain/rode and lowing it down about 5 metres works.
Any comments? Might it work?
Also when in serious wind against tide I would expect the tide to win. Therefore is a couple of buckets over the stern going to make things better?

Comments chaps.

All this anchoring bit in iffy conditions is a tad new to me.

 

[HoratioHB]

A mate and I were chatting about all the different ways of stopping the boat going hunting when at anchor. The dropping of a bight of chain behind the snubber wasn't thought of but it was suggested that getting the heaviest and biggest bucket on board and attaching it to the chain/rode and lowing it down about 5 metres works.
Any comments? Might it work?
Also when in serious wind against tide I would expect the tide to win. Therefore is a couple of buckets over the stern going to make things better?

Comments chaps.

All this anchoring bit in iffy conditions is a tad new to me.

No doubt the best way to reduce shearing is to put a riding sail up the backstay. I had one made up for my boat but as I had twin backstays and HF aerial on one and the wind generator next to the other I had to use the topping lift and the back of the boom. Even so it worked a treat but every time the boat went one way it stalled the wind generator so in the end it didn't get used much.
The buckets might work but I bet they wouldn't be there in the morning - the handles are not that strong.

 

[MapisM]

Your missing the additional drag through the water.

Naah, I'd rather say that you're missing the last paragraph of my previous post!

 

[MapisM]

I spent a happy season experimenting to get the best out of it in my boat so why not just have a try and see if it works for you and your boat.

Good point. I remain rather skeptical that, say, a 10m bight (totalling 30kg or so) can affect the behaviour of a 35T boat, but then again, it cost nothing to give it a try...

 

[HoratioHB]

Good point. I remain rather skeptical that, say, a 10m bight (totalling 30kg or so) can affect the behaviour of a 35T boat, but then again, it cost nothing to give it a try...

Suspect you're right my boat was 9 Tons!!. Mind you a 35 ton boat probably doesn't sheer about that much anyway.

 

[Marsupial]

Was it a cheap copy then because I believe the genuine CQR is a drop forged manufacture & I believe you should be able to see significant wear before anything like that is likely to happen.Certainly mine has taken the full weight of the boat thrown back against a fixed anchor on the end of about 60 meters of chain in what seemed like gale force conditions.The shank was bent like a banana but the anchor held or I probably would'nt be here to tell the tale now.
I doubt very much if many of the new fangled anchors on the market now would have done half as well.Not least because they seem to have very flimsy shank fittings where the chain is attached.
You can't beat a drop forging!

Sorry but is was a genuine CQR drop forged in Scotland (I think) - we were a bit surprised too. Bearing in mind this 1970 something the anchor was replaced with a genuine Bruce because it had no moving parts.

 

[DogWatch]

I once caught my danforth sneaking off to the pink flamingo nightclub wearing stockings and heels, does that count?

 

[DavyMac]

Good point. I remain rather skeptical that, say, a 10m bight (totalling 30kg or so) can affect the behaviour of a 35T boat, but then again, it cost nothing to give it a try...

Does the bight not act in the same way as a chum/angel/kellet. 50% of the weight of the bight acts as a downwards force on the chain (the other 50% on the boat) and this has the effect of damping snatch loads because the additional weight of chain needs to be lifted before there can be any tug on the anchor. This is useful because the peak loads are, I believe, often 2-3 times the usual load. It's the same as having a spring in the rode.

The drag of the chain through the water possibly also helps prevent the boat from sailing at anchor.

 

[MapisM]

Does the bight not act in the same way as a chum/angel/kellet. 50% of the weight of the bight acts as a downwards force on the chain (the other 50% on the boat)

Yep, all agreed. I was just questioning the relevance of this effect (as well as the chain drag).
But as I said, it's my boat that I had in mind, and I don't think to be wrong assuming that a 15kg chum would be practically useless against a 35T hull. I can accept that these effects would be appreciable with light boats.

 

[spannerman]

My experience isn't so dramatic as the others.
I had my 22ft powerboat anchored off the beach at Seaton one summers day after blasting around at 60 kts with a load of girls who were down for the weekend, we were lying on the beach and I was studying the local 'topography' as one does when its lying so close and so scantily clad through my mirror lens Oakleys!
I checked on the boat which was anchored in the middle of a row of three off the beach, then carried on with the BBQ and with my observations, next time I looked it was now on the end of the row?
I was sure I hadn't put out so much anchor line, and as I watched the gap steadily grew as it drifted further off shore, now I've never really liked swimming other than underwater,but now I reckon I could have given Mark Spitz a run for his money, so I set off after my rapidly receding boat, first crwal, then back crawl to keep the water out of my mouth! It seemed an age before I felt like I was gaining on it then suddenly there it was looming over me, I dragged myself onboard and motored back in to shore and made sure the anchor was set, then realised what had happend, I didn't have enough line out and as the tide came in it lifted the anchor from the bottom and as luck would have it the wind was offshore, had it been the other way it would have just anchored itself again as it drifted into shallower water.
Lesson learned, I was in too much hurry to get back to the bikini clad babes on the beach!

 

[Tidewaiter2]

No doubt the best way to reduce shearing is to put a riding sail up the backstay. I had one made up for my boat but as I had twin backstays and HF aerial on one and the wind generator next to the other I had to use the topping lift and the back of the boom. Even so it worked a treat but every time the boat went one way it stalled the wind generator so in the end it didn't get used much.
The buckets might work but I bet they wouldn't be there in the morning - the handles are not that strong.

Our Red Fox used to skitter at anchor or on the mooring with foils & rudder raised- we used a large tile cement tub with a rope handle on an asymmetric rope bridle off the stern cleats- worked pretty well- towed back n forth, and offset of bridle made sure it turned open end to way of swing. SWMBO used to get seasick/dizzy sometimes on the mooring before if gusty.
Oh and the mooring warps went into the bucket tidy in the cockpit locker when sailing!

 

[michael_w]

On my last boat during a two year Atlantic circuit, the 10kg genuine Bruce dragged twice.

The first occasion was at Newport RI. Very small much ploughed up anchorage of hard mud, and the remenants of Hurricane Ivan.

The second time at Atlantic Highlands NJ where we caught the remains of a sunk telly....

 

[snowleopard]

The bottom there is very thin mud with about the consistency of porrige. My guess is that in over 20kn of wind any anchor is likely to drag there.

A lot of the hurricane holes in the Caribbean are like that and I have dragged in the lightest breeze with a Delta. OTOH a small Fortress on the soft mud setting will burrow so deep you might give a miner a sore head. They seem to be s*d all use in most bottoms but in soft mud boy do they hold!