Kedge anchor - what size?

[JeremyF]

A couple of basic questions, fellow posters.

I need to get a kedge anchor. What weight should I go for? Is there a rule of thumb? Its for a Bav 34, 4500 kg. And can I use the 2 x 20m of 16mm nylon, which I normally use as shore lines when rafted up, or should I get something specific for the kedge?

Thanks

Jeremy Flynn

 

[Twister_Ken]

Have you been following the two articles in the last months on anchors in (I think) PBO?

Lots of food for thought there, not just for your kedge.

The kedge question you must answer before deciding is 'What is it to be used for?"

If you want it as a lunch hook, or a kedge when the wind disappears when you're racing, the requirements are different from a kedge which is a back-up to the bower when the bower won't hold or has been lost.

Also, generally thought that the kedge should be a different sort of anchor to the bower - if the bower doesn't work on that seabed, maybe the kedge will.

Apropos using two mooring lines as a warp, see above - yes if its a benign lunch stop. no if it's a question of survival. I can't remember the figure but knotting a rope introduces a weak link - a knotted rope is only 50%?????? as strong as an unknotted one. So with a knot onto the anchor and two knots (effectively) where the lines join you have far less strength than a dedicated warp which is spliced onto chain, or is thimbled onto the anchor shackle.