Mooring Anchors

Leighb

Leighb

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I have a couple of substantial mooring anchors which came with our house.

I have finally decided that they need to go, but have no idea what sort of price would be reasonable to ask.

I guess they weigh in excess of 50Kg each, I can only just lift one end.

The long axis and stock width are about 3 ft, the spade fluke about 18in.

See photo.

Anchors2.jpg


Any suggestions?
 
Cost of a complete mooring

This is not directly an answer to your question, but may help set an upper limit. I recently bought a mooring in situ comprising 2 anchors such as yours, heavy ground chain, riser, swivel, float and pick-up etc, all laid and working and with some inspection history. I paid £800, just paying the asking price immediately because I really wanted a mooring in that particular spot.

I don't think it was a special bargain, but nor do I feel I was ripped off in any way. I imagine the anchors themselves are unlikely to represent more than 15% each, or 30% total, of the value (caveat, this % is a complete guess!). However I'm sure loads of people on here have actually bought the components (and there is a gentleman who works for Gael Force who rather spcialises in these matters and who supplied the originals for the mooring I bought second hand).

By the way, I probably need a third anchor because my boat is a bit heavier than the mooring was designed for, so once you decide a fair price you might pm me (I live in Suffolk, so it would be convenient possibly).
 
In Gael Force catalogue a 60kg. Samson mooring anchor (painted finish & similar design) is priced at £252.62 (2010 catalogue) a 40 kg. is £188.00 but they are in Inverness and delivery will add quite a bit. If yours were around here I would be confident you would get £200 for the pair.
 
MM5AHO said:
a painted anchor?
what about corrosion?
Click to expand...

I had a pair made in 1976, welded up from mild steel channel and heavy plate, before I used them I coated them in bitumen shed paint. After I moved into a marina the club then used them each year for a running line for recovering dinghies to an exposed slipway; when I last saw one of them in 2005 it had no significant corrosion but a bit of rust around the edges. What would be the point in galvanising mooring anchors when the ground chain is uncoated.
If the water is deep enough they will rust very slowly.
 
Over the years I have done a fair bit of work on my club's half-tide moorings, which are moderately vulnerable in gales & storms.

Personally I'd never rely on an actual anchor ( or several ), due to the problem of re-setting on changes of pull angle.

We now use concrete sinkers 1 metre diameter about 700 cm thick, with very heavy 'destroyer' bottom chain leading to a swivel ( the weakest link, literally ! ) and a substantial floating buoy, with a pickup.

These sinkers are placed into a pre-dug hole about 1 metre or deeper, partly to avoid the thing dragging, partly so the boat doesn't get holed by settling on the chain or eye.

Some people like a nylon pickup warp as it doesn't leave rust stains and is supposed to take the shock out of waves, but I prefer chafe-proof chain ( had a deep water mooring at another place and the 16mm nylon was cut through in no time by barnacles under the buoy; also I don't believe a few metres is long enough to have much elasticity, better to go for the weight catenary effect of chain ).

Our moorings have been steadily upgraded over the years, ( it's a self-help club with all work done by members ) after the October 1987 Hurricane saw over a dozen boats washed ashore, most of them very seriously damaged; some of the moorings at that time still consisted of a couple of railway sleepers bolted into a cross, which might just about suffice for a dinghy !

Club boats range up to 32', including high windage catamarans.

I'd try to have a sinker as described, lowered into a hole, if at all possible.

I have on occasion done this by floating a sinker out under a boat such as a Centaur, releasing the lashings when in position.

A proper mooring laying raft with a gantry is preferable, as there's more chance of the sinker ending up the right way up, though to be honest if it and the chain are heavy enough it doesn't seem to matter that much !

Locating the boat over the pre-dug hole is assisted by bamboo canes set up as transits, fore & aft & abeam.

One final thing, no-one should go out on the mud alone, and a handheld VHF or mobile phone in a tupperware box can be a life saver.

Not much help for deep water moorings I know, I think a case for an even bigger sinker, if no pro' help can be had.
 
Last edited:
Seajet said:
Personally I'd never rely on an actual anchor ( or several ), due to the problem of re-setting on changes of pull angle.
Click to expand...

Best not come to Scotland then, or if you ever do, make sure never to risk using any of the visitors moorings you will find there.
 
I've sailed around the East Scottish coast - and observed the Western side from ashore many times - thanks, and as the locals are generally great engineers I'd be happy to chance such a visitors' mooring, on a temporary basis ! :)
 
MM5AHO said:
a painted anchor?
what about corrosion?
Click to expand...

If you want a genuine answer on that, give me 30 minutes and I'll ask the Mooring Engineering Director...;)

Leighb - The design is similar to our Samson SM12 anchor, and a 50kg version new would be around the £230 mark at current pricing. Bearing in mind that the Samson is Lloyds and DNV certified at that cost, couldn't comment on what certification or manufacture the anchors you've got there are, but it gives a ballpark retail figure to start from...
 
Thanks again to those who have replied with ballpark figures. It gives me an idea where to start with an asking price.

I am first going to ask the local yard who have loads of moorings if they might be interested in them, and if not offer them on the For Sale forum.
 
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