My first ever anchor thread .... I've bought a new anchor, am I going to die as a result?

[MisterBaxter]

We have a 20kg (or was it 25kg?? ) Rocna but some on here think the boat is under-sized for it. What should I do?

Just fill the boat with anchors until it reaches the correct displacement.

 

[Bouba]

Now the difficult question - to swivel or not to swivel?

This is where it gets painful…Ultra recommend their own swivel…and this is where Baggywrinklés eyes will swivel…they cost as much as most other anchors

 

[john_morris_uk]

This is where it gets painful…Ultra recommend their own swivel…and this is where Baggywrinklés eyes will swivel…they cost as much as most other anchors

Bargain. Only £400 for our 10mm chain.

I’ll get one and a spare. Not.

They do work nicely though.

 

[Baggywrinkle]

The hole is in my wallet when I buy a new anchor.

The anchor equipment is always the first thing I overhaul on a boat. I anchor whenever possible and would rather anchor than sit in a marina. This is what I use to justify my investments in ground tackle and accessories - I don't necessarily trust second hand anchors, and one with an extra hole in the shank means a new anchor IMO.

So I did some online comparisons .... a galvanised 25kg Rocna MkII which is a direct competitor can be had in Germany for around €1650 ... going with something else like a Lewmar Epsilon (galvanised) would be about €1000 - Stainless Steel versions of these anchors are all around €3k

So from those 3 - Rocna, Epsilon and Ultra I can only get a saving by going galvanised, and there's nothing in it if they are all stainless steel.

I already have a 10mm SS chain which is gorgeous - I am now a SS chain convert - it drops into the anchor locker like a dream and doesn't bunch or back up at all. It's also very shiny - I've gone over it all quite carefully. I've also renewed the remote, cleaned up the anchor locker, and it's beginning to look really rather well organised and workmanlike.

The chain must have cost the previous owner somewhere in the region of 5K but there is only 50m of it (upgrade 2 in a few years will take that up to 80) ... so why did he skimp on the anchor? I don't know but it needs to be put right.

Now comes the man-maths .... an overnight berth in a marina costs around €90 these days ... so an Ultra is the same price as about a month of overnight marina fees. I intend to keep the boat for at least a decade or more and I'd easily rack up a month in a marina if I had ground tackle I wasn't 100% happy with ..... so I ordered it.

.... and it arrived yesterday, and it's very shiny. .... my precious ....

This is where it gets painful…Ultra recommend their own swivel…and this is where Baggywrinklés eyes will swivel…they cost as much as most other anchors

... you can see it hanging from the shank .... in for a penny etc.

 

[Bouba]

It’s very shiny

 

[john_morris_uk]

The anchor equipment is always the first thing I overhaul on a boat. I anchor whenever possible and would rather anchor than sit in a marina. This is what I use to justify my investments in ground tackle and accessories - I don't necessarily trust second hand anchors, and one with an extra hole in the shank means a new anchor IMO.

So I did some online comparisons .... a galvanised 25kg Rocna MkII which is a direct competitor can be had in Germany for around €1650 ... going with something else like a Lewmar Epsilon (galvanised) would be about €1000 - Stainless Steel versions of these anchors are all around €3k

So from those 3 - Rocna, Epsilon and Ultra I can only get a saving by going galvanised, and there's nothing in it if they are all stainless steel.

I already have a 10mm SS chain which is gorgeous - I am now a SS chain convert - it drops into the anchor locker like a dream and doesn't bunch or back up at all. It's also very shiny - I've gone over it all quite carefully. I've also renewed the remote, cleaned up the anchor locker, and it's beginning to look really rather well organised and workmanlike.

The chain must have cost the previous owner somewhere in the region of 5K but there is only 50m of it (upgrade 2 in a few years will take that up to 80) ... so why did he skimp on the anchor? I don't know but it needs to be put right.

Now comes the man-maths .... an overnight berth in a marina costs around €90 these days ... so an Ultra is the same price as about a month of overnight marina fees. I intend to keep the boat for at least a decade or more and I'd easily rack up a month in a marina if I had ground tackle I wasn't 100% happy with ..... so I ordered it.

.... and it arrived yesterday, and it's very shiny. .... my precious ....

View attachment 184100




... you can see it hanging from the shank .... in for a penny etc.

Makes perfect sense…

In our family we don’t bother with the man maths. We simply refer to the purchase as ‘an essential safety item’. The phrase can be stretched to cover almost anything.

 

[Bouba]

Now comes the man-maths .... an overnight berth in a marina costs around €90 these days ... so an Ultra is the same price as about a month of overnight marina fees. I intend to keep the boat for at least a decade or more and I'd easily rack up a month in a marina if I had ground tackle I wasn't 100% happy with ..... so I ordered it.

.... and it arrived yesterday, and it's very shiny. .... my precious ....

View attachment 184100




... you can see it hanging from the shank .... in for a penny etc.

While I’m a huge fan of man maths....you forgot to include all the days you will spend polishing it

 

[jordanbasset]

You could have bought 12 Kobra 25kgs for that money, although storing them on the boat may have been tricky

 

[Bouba]

Let’s do some real maths.....we’ll call it ‘wife maths’...when compared to the existing anchor....your new anchor will probably hold, where your original anchor fails, about one day in a year......now it takes thirty years to repay the debt. Still, thirty years .....I could probably sell that to wife using man maths

 

[mjcoon]

On the boat I’ve just been sailing and teaching on, the owner had recently replaced whatever anchor the boat came with with an Ultra 30 kg in polished stainless +100 m of stainless chain plus a self righting/stowing gizmo. The chain is 10 mm and wasn’t marked and we spent a happy hour or so laying it all out on the deck and inserting the new style screw in anchor markers in at 10 meter intervals. I must admit the anchor & chain is very shiny and it does self stow very easily and nicely.

In that case there's an opportunity to seal the anchor locker lid shut like the charter yacht I posted about here last year. Because unlike our situation, you can never get a huge knot of chain that prevents the anchor being paid out...
(forums.ybw.com/threads/a-knotty-anchor-problem)

 

[john_morris_uk]

In that case there's an opportunity to seal the anchor locker lid shut like the charter yacht I posted about here last year. Because unlike our situation, you can never get a huge knot of chain that prevents the anchor being paid out...

I made him a snubber and we stowed that on the shelf in the anchor locker.

 

[Hermit]

I got a 27kg Ultra on gumtree for the price of an equivalent new Spade - seemed a no-brainer to me but I will probably want to take it with me from boat to boat until it just looks too ridiculous after I eventually downsize to a Drascombe.

 

[john_morris_uk]

I got a 27kg Ultra on gumtree for the price of an equivalent new Spade - seemed a no-brainer to me but I will probably want to take it with me from boat to boat until it just looks too ridiculous after I eventually downsize to a Drascombe.

I’ll add to the ridiculous stakes as my brother tells me he’s got a polished stainless steel Bruce anchor littering his garage that would be suitable for our dinghy. At the moment we use a folding grapnel but I think I’m about to get an upgrade.

 

[Neeves]

Now comes the man-maths .... an overnight berth in a marina costs around €90 these days ... so an Ultra is the same price as about a month of overnight marina fees. I intend to keep the boat for at least a decade or more and I'd easily rack up a month in a marina if I had ground tackle I wasn't 100% happy with ..... so I ordered it.

You are being most parsimonious with the truth. You invested a months marina fees in a shiny anchor - what are you doing with all the other money you saved? or will be saving.

I've decided to migrate here - anchor threads here are much more interesting , or at least entertaining.

The real bonus is - no worries about being sent to the naughty corner

Jonathan

 

[Bouba]

I’ll add to the ridiculous stakes as my brother tells me he’s got a polished stainless steel Bruce anchor littering his garage that would be suitable for our dinghy. At the moment we use a folding grapnel but I think I’m about to get an upgrade.

I prefer a folding grapnel in the dinghy because of the room it saves...and no ankle banging

 

[GEM43]

I prefer a folding grapnel in the dinghy because of the room it saves...and no ankle banging

I bought a Mantus collapsible dinghy anchor. It's a fantastic little thing and offers terrific performance. I've found grapnel anchors to be in chocolate teapot territory.

Mantus Stainless Steel Dinghy Anchor

A good dinghy anchor is a mission critical piece of kit I reckon.

 

[Bouba]

I bought a Mantus collapsible dinghy anchor. It's a fantastic little thing and offers terrific performance. I've found grapnel anchors to be in chocolate teapot territory.

Mantus Stainless Steel Dinghy Anchor

A good dinghy anchor is a mission critical piece of kit I reckon.

Very impressive.....obviously well outside my needs....which barely amount to stopping the boat drifting if I’m swimming. But just out of interest....how much does it cost ?

 

[GEM43]

Very impressive.....obviously well outside my needs....which barely amount to stopping the boat drifting if I’m swimming. But just out of interest....how much does it cost ?

It was a bag of money TBH, when I bought it I think I paid £125, more now I suspect. The purchase was consequent of a dinghy "incident". We were anchored one windy day in a very good spot with the wind coming off the beach. My wife was in the dinghy and was struggling to get to grips with the outboard, I was stood in the cockpit watching. She was rapidly being blown out to sea, I was on the point of getting the anchor up and undertaking a rescue mission when she managed to recover the situation with the outboard. I vowed at that moment to have the best dinghy anchor system I could arrange notwithstanding the cost.

 

[Daydream believer]

... am I going to die as a result?

You certainly deserve death by torture-- for starting another b..y anchor thread

 

[Bouba]

It was a bag of money TBH, when I bought it I think I paid £125, more now I suspect. The purchase was consequent of a dinghy "incident". We were anchored one windy day in a very good spot with the wind coming off the beach. My wife was in the dinghy and was struggling to get to grips with the outboard, I was stood in the cockpit watching. She was rapidly being blown out to sea, I was on the point of getting the anchor up and undertaking a rescue mission when she managed to recover the situation with the outboard. I vowed at that moment to have the best dinghy anchor system I could arrange notwithstanding the cost.

Absolutely correct decision on your part…..safety of the crew (especially the married ones) is priority