kedge anchor stowage - your ideas please

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niccapotamus

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just after ideas on kedge stowage.

when we bought our boat the kedge (danforth) was in one of the main under berth lockers in the saloon (30ft oldish boat) and we could hardly get it out of the locker as it was so big - if it had to be deployed in a seaway or a hurry we'd be buggered.

So I have lobbed it in the bottom of the cockpit locker which is also crap.

so what kedge anchor do you have and where do you keep it?

ta

nick
 
20lb Danforth under the starboard forecabin bunk in chocks fitted by the boat's builder. It isn't very accessible due to the amount of stuff packed round it and on top of the bunk. The kedge warp is also in there in a bag.

It would probably take quarter of an hour to get it ready. Then there's the dinghy to inflate etc.

Not very good but I haven't used it for years since I found an uncharted mudbank in Newtown Creek :o
 
The Scandinavians like to anchor by the stern with the bow tied to a rock, so we have a dedicated locker:

IMG_0375_zpsqinajyzh.jpg


(Sister-ships sold in Sweden often have a windlass on top of the plinth to starboard of the locker)

Not a lot of help for you though :)

Pete
 
We don't have a kedge, as such. We just have other anchors, which are 'primary' sized and currently all alloy and weight 8kg each (for a 38' cat). We keep one anchor on the bow roller and the Fortress, assembled, is kept in a bow locker with its rode in a milk crate, nearby. it would take seconds to retrieve the anchor and rode. If we had a mono I'd look for a bracket so that I could stow the Fortress on the transom, it could always be taken and stuck down below when not 'in use', as we do with life rings. I have seen Fortress stored 'flat' on the side of chain lockers and Fortress and Danforth lashed to the aft lifelines. In the Med it is common to see anchors, any design, on bow rollers (really stern rollers) for Med mooring sometimes with the rode as tape on a big flat reel.

Jonathan
 
Another Scandinavian idea: Alu Spade on a bespoke bracket on the stern rail, 45m rope rode bundled just aft of the cockpit coaming, ready to go in seconds.

spade1.jpg


spade2.jpg
 
It depends so much on the design of the boat. I have quite a collection of photos of arrangements used, ranging from an anchor well inside the lazarette complete with stern roller, anchor in clips on the pushpit, to warp stowed in a plastic drum tied to the pushpit with anchor tied alongside it.
Sailing Holidays use a stainless steel bin bolted outside the pushpit, rope and chain stowed into the bin and the anchor pushed in on top. They use these kedge anchors almost every day and this makes a very convenient location for them.
We keep our Fortress upright in the stern locker with the rope and 5 metres of chain in a bag alongside. Our pushpit is narrow and already cluttered with other kit, so no room to put the anchor on it. The bag is one intended for a close fit in a supermarket trolley so it can be lifted straight out and put in the car. Bought in Holland and made in strong material, we lift it out with the anchor to use it.
 
In the stern locker in a bag with chain and rope. Kedges are rarely used in the UK compared with Scandinavia and the Med so no real need to have dedicated outside stowage. Just need to use a bit of commonsense in deciding where to stow it.
 
Our 'official' kedge is a decent sized Danforth stored in the boat's original anchor locker, which is a shallow locker set into the foredeck which is purpose made to suit this type of anchor. I didn't fancy using a Danforth as my bower so a soon-to-be-replaced delta copy sits on the bow roller.

In practise, though, I used a miniature Manson Supreme (about 4kg) as the kedge. I originally bought it for use on my Wayfarer, and put it into a neat little box with a short length of 6mm chain and 50m of 10mm nylon rode. The box is small and neat enough that it takes a second to lift it out of the cockpit locker a sling it into the dinghy. The box can also sit in the corner of the cockpit, or up on the foredeck.
I wouldn't use such a tiny anchor in any sort of situation where I needed to rely on it completely- that's where the Danforth would come into use- but 90% of the time I find a second anchor is just there to adjust how the boat lies, e.g. tight anchorages, cross swell, etc.
 
I have a small Bruce with a couple of metres of chain spliced to some octoplait. It lives in one of those plastic tubs with handles which they sell in garden centres. Wedged in an only partially accessible part of the boat. If it's needed it takes a couple of minutes and some strenuous effort to disinter it. The bower lives with its chain in the anchor locker. That's the one for emergencies.
 
The Danforth can be a real pain to store because of the long cross bar. So generally if it ever does find a safe home, it will be at the very bottom of a locker and impossible to get out.
In France they seem to use a similar Britanny anchor, without the cross bar, so we seriously considered sawing short the cross bar of the Danforth to aid stowage.

However, we ended up keeping the Rocna from the previous boat which seems to be the ideal kedge. Very easy to handle due to the roll bar, and much easier to stow (in our case) as narrower. And if ever doing Baltic bow to mooring surely the fast set and good grip is at least as important when 2 feet from a rocky shore as it is using the bower (another Rocna)
 
dunedin said:
we seriously considered sawing short the cross bar of the Danforth to aid stowage.
Click to expand...

I did that, as you can see in the pic above, in order to fit it through the locker opening. I've sometimes wondered whether this would impede its setting or holding properties, but the alternative would be to start with a smaller size which would definitely hold less well. On the handful of occasions I've used it so far, I haven't noticed any deficiency.

Pete
 
Ours is a Guardian, stowed upright on the pushpit. The mud plate sits on a small hardwood block, the shank is fixed to the rail by means of a long shackle and the whole thing stopped from rattling by a length of bungee cord. The rode is stowed in a large bucket in the cockpit locker. Takes a few minutes to sort it out before deploying. I first tried this with a steel Danforth type but found it too heavy for me to be comfortable with the strain on the rail as well as leaving the odd rust stain but the Guardian weighs next to nothing and doesn't laeve rust stains.
 
You may just see the tube that hold my danforth anchors behind the pole. It has t tube to slide the stock into with ears welded to the side to hold the flukes in place.

IMGP1682_zpsd7b20edf.jpg
 
Rogershaw said:
You may just see the tube that hold my danforth anchors behind the pole. It has t tube to slide the stock into with ears welded to the side to hold the flukes in place.

IMGP1682_zpsd7b20edf.jpg
Click to expand...

I like that idea - my 6kg Delta, used for mooring bows-to, just hangs by a snap-shackle through the shank-hole (for a trip-line), lashed to the top rail of the pulpit. The 25m of chain, and 50m of octoplait lives in a battery box strapped to the aft end of the cockpit. That set-up makes single-handed Med-mooring fairly simple, but I tend to prefer to lie to a single stem-anchor.
My other kedge anchor is a 6kg Danforth, with the same amount of chain/textile rode stowed alongside the prop-shaft, under the aft-cabin bunk. Not the easiest to get out, but when it's (thrice) been required, panic has leant the necessary speed to manipulation.
 
Last edited:
niccapotamus said:
just after ideas on kedge stowage.

when we bought our boat the kedge (danforth) was in one of the main under berth lockers in the saloon (30ft oldish boat) and we could hardly get it out of the locker as it was so big - if it had to be deployed in a seaway or a hurry we'd be buggered.

So I have lobbed it in the bottom of the cockpit locker which is also crap.

so what kedge anchor do you have and where do you keep it?

ta

nick
Click to expand...

got a Bulldog aluminium anchor plus 20m chain and 30m rope in the lazarette.
 
Our 'project' boat has a Danforth style kedge anchor stored on its side in the cockpit locker, flat against the cockpit side of that locker. It stands on a simple wooden base which keeps it in place and off the hull. I've not yet used the boat, but this seems a good arrangement: it's always readily to hand; won't get buried under all the other clutter in the locker; and the weight is relatively central in the boat (important in a small boat).

In my current 'in service' boat the CQR kedge hogs the only readily accessible big locker in the cabin. I have long lost the battle to discourage other stuff being stored on top of it in case the kedge is needed in a hurry. Having only used it once in best part of ten years I have recently been tempted to move it to a less accessible location, but on that one occasion I needed it I was glad it was to hand.

On a previous boat the kedge stored nicely under the cabin sole, keeping it out of the way but accessible, and the weight low down and central. Not possible in the current boat as that space is occupied by water tanks.
 
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