'Quick change' anchor chain connectors

[jakeroyd]

I'm thinking of getting a new anchor but all anchors of the size I need will not fit in my anchor locker.
Yes , I could stow the anchor on the foredeck but this causes issues with chain handling etc.
It's a Hunter Ranger 245 , the locker is shallow and the foredeck small.

The alternative is to store the anchor in the stern locker and join it to the chain when I want to use it.

Looking at a suitable sized 'Kong' anchor connector.

Does the pin that couples to the anchor cahin hole provide easy assembly and dissasembly ?

Is there a more suitable alternative..?
TIA

 

[VicS]

I'm thinking of getting a new anchor but all anchors of the size I need will not fit in my anchor locker.
Yes , I could stow the anchor on the foredeck but this causes issues with chain handling etc.
It's a Hunter Ranger 245 , the locker is shallow and the foredeck small.

The alternative is to store the anchor in the stern locker and join it to the chain when I want to use it.

Looking at a suitable sized 'Kong' anchor connector.

Does the pin that couples to the anchor cahin hole provide easy assembly and dissasembly ?

Is there a more suitable alternative..?
TIA

Heres a Kong ( non swivel) galvanised type

Smaller than what you will need I guess. Bought to suit my chain but the jaws are not wide enough to fit on my anchor shank (15lb CQR lookalike). Check dims before you buy, preferably actually looking at one rather than buying blind via t'internet

Easy enough to assemble/ disassemble when new and corrosion free Socket headed screws . Allen key provided

The stainless ones seem to have some quick fit pin arrangement at the anchor end , and a single screw in the middle between the two halves.

There is a difficult to understand website but probably worth a look.

 

[jakeroyd]

Yes I agree.
You can see on the 'latest' ones what looks like a half turn retaining mechanism that might do what I want.
Need to look at one physically to see if it is what I think it is..........

 

[VicS]

Diagram at the top of this page shows how it works
http://www.kong.it/media/Component/...ector/attachments/I_KONG_ANCHOR_CONNECTOR.pdf

or here for the swivelling type

http://www.kong.it/media/Component/...ttachments/I_KONG_SWIVEL_ANCHOR_CONNECTOR.pdf

 

[pvb]

I wouldn't have thought it was a good idea to be messing around on the foredeck with loose screws, allen keys, etc. Why not just get a shackle with a captive pin?

 

[VicS]

I wouldn't have thought it was a good idea to be messing around on the foredeck with loose screws, allen keys, etc.

Esp on a cold , wet, windy night'

I bought mine 'cos I wanted a connector that will run over the roller, which the shackle wouldn't. Just too bad that It would not fit onto my anchor.

 

[Len Ingalls]

Esp on a cold , wet, windy night'

I bought mine 'cos I wanted a connector that will run over the roller, which the shackle wouldn't. Just too bad that It would not fit onto my anchor.

Would this type of shackle fit thru your bow roller VicS ?
http://www.suncorstainless.com/straight-d-shackle-w-no-snag-pin

 

[Len Ingalls]

I'm thinking of getting a new anchor but all anchors of the size I need will not fit in my anchor locker.
Yes , I could stow the anchor on the foredeck but this causes issues with chain handling etc.
It's a Hunter Ranger 245 , the locker is shallow and the foredeck small.

The alternative is to store the anchor in the stern locker and join it to the chain when I want to use it.

Looking at a suitable sized 'Kong' anchor connector.

Does the pin that couples to the anchor cahin hole provide easy assembly and dissasembly ?

Is there a more suitable alternative..?
TIA

Would a bolt/nut type shackle or a captive pin(halyard) type shackle ?
http://www.bosunsupplies.com/Bolt-Chain-Shackle/

 

[jakeroyd]

Good suggestions , all
Thank you.

On second thought I might use a shackle with a captive pin and a half turn to lock , like you use for a main halyard to head of sail.

There is the risk of this coming undone , so maybe the "allen key over the side" on a wet and windy night might be the best option ?

 

[jakeroyd]

Maybe this ?
http://www.proboat.co.uk/item.asp?cat_id=21&prod_id=618&dep=1

 

[Neeves]

Why not a conventional Green Pin, Van Beest galvanised, bow shackle with a cable tie to secure. It will be safer than any equally sized stainless shackle, surely cheaper (but maybe not if you compare Chinese stainless with Dutch galvanised) and the cable tie not particularly inconvenient.

I'm not keen on stainless because they can yield/distort more easily (though I have never heard of one actually failing).

Jonathan

 

[kalanka]

I have a Kong connector on 8mm chain and a 2O kg anchor carried in the bow roller. The Kong connectors are excellent and high spec. Should you wish to do so they are very easy to put on and take off, as I recall, with just a single large socket screw.

 

[Spirit of Glenans]

My thoughts are that it would be safer, and good seamanship to find a way to keep it permanently connected to the chain and stowed on the foredeck, in chocks, or on the pulpit somehow, if not in a bow roller. There may come a time when you will need to deploy it very quickly, to prevent disaster.

 

[NormanS]

My thoughts are that it would be safer, and good seamanship to find a way to keep it permanently connected to the chain and stowed on the foredeck, in chocks, or on the pulpit somehow, if not in a bow roller. There may come a time when you will need to deploy it very quickly, to prevent disaster.

+1.

 

[RichardS]

I have two swivel anchor connectors; one is the better Kong sort which has captive "stalks" for the chain and anchor and has to be rotated through 90 degrees to engage before screwing in the single centre Allen bolt. The other is the sort where both the stalks are the Allen bolts are at either end.

The second type is much less fiddly as it doesn't fall apart when one or both Allen bolts are removed. This sort could be attached in rough seas quite easily provided you do not drop the Allen bolt as the other end would already be permanently attached and tightened.

The first sort, although a better design in use, would be a nightmare to attach to both chain and anchor in difficult conditions and you could easily end up with half the fitting going over the side.

Richard

 

[Sinbad1951]

http://www.southernriggingsupplies....sign/snapshackle-carbine-asymetric-tested.jpg
I use one of these on a smallish boat that requires frequent anchor changes depending upon the bottom. Easy peasy to use.

 

[Len Ingalls]

My thoughts are that it would be safer, and good seamanship to find a way to keep it permanently connected to the chain and stowed on the foredeck, in chocks, or on the pulpit somehow, if not in a bow roller. There may come a time when you will need to deploy it very quickly, to prevent disaster.

+1 See my posts #12 thru #14 in this thread. There are hangers available to hang an anchor from a pulpit/pushpit railing.
http://www.ybw.com/forums/showthread.php?451605-kedge-anchor-stowage-your-ideas-please/page2

Cheers/ Len

 

[Neeves]

My thoughts are that it would be safer, and good seamanship to find a way to keep it permanently connected to the chain and stowed on the foredeck, in chocks, or on the pulpit somehow, if not in a bow roller. There may come a time when you will need to deploy it very quickly, to prevent disaster.

Whereas i subscribe, fully, to the sentiment the only way it works is if the anchor is always ready for immediate deployment
Our anchor is always secured, with a chain hook, in case the windlass auto-deploys and if we have been sailing in any sort of sea the anchor has been lashed to stop it swinging like a pendulum. To deploy the anchor someone has to go to the foredeck to free the anchor up. Suggestions have involved lashing the ops anchor to the foredeck or holding in some sort of bracket.

I would think it will be just as quick, in case of disaster, to walk up the sidedecks carrying said anchor and simply attach, with a shackle (or whatever) and deploy. But the idea of disengaging from a bracket or chocks on deck will not be that quick - unless its a very clever method of attachment.

If quick deployment were a priority I might look at identifying if a Fortress/Brittany might sit flat on top of the chain/anchor locker but in decades of sailing we have never been caught with a panic deployment. For us panic sets in slowly (and inevitably) and we have always had plenty of time (to avert disaster).

Jonathan

 

[Len Ingalls]

Whereas i subscribe, fully, to the sentiment the only way it works is if the anchor is always ready for immediate deployment
Our anchor is always secured, with a chain hook, in case the windlass auto-deploys and if we have been sailing in any sort of sea the anchor has been lashed to stop it swinging like a pendulum. To deploy the anchor someone has to go to the foredeck to free the anchor up. Suggestions have involved lashing the ops anchor to the foredeck or holding in some sort of bracket.

I would think it will be just as quick, in case of disaster, to walk up the sidedecks carrying said anchor and simply attach, with a shackle (or whatever) and deploy. But the idea of disengaging from a bracket or chocks on deck will not be that quick - unless its a very clever method of attachment.

If quick deployment were a priority I might look at identifying if a Fortress/Brittany might sit flat on top of the chain/anchor locker but in decades of sailing we have never been caught with a panic deployment. For us panic sets in slowly (and inevitably) and we have always had plenty of time (to avert disaster).

Jonathan

Agreed-an anchor may need to be deployed very quickly in a bad situation. Best to have it ready,rather than stored in the bottom of a locker.
Both of the brackets in my post allow the anchor to just drop into them with rode attached & can be deployed simply by lifting anchor a couple inches & chucking it. Both allow anchor to be hung outside the pulpit or pushpit.
I tried to upload a pic of my spare danforth style mounted outside my pulpit on stbd side but it won't allow uploading anything larger than 60kb. Lots of pics of these brackets in use over here on the I-net.

Cheers/Len

 

[Neeves]

Len,

Its actually more difficult than you maybe think. Danforth and Fortress anchors are very common in N America but very unusual, or unusual to be available for instant usage, in Europe (or Oz). If we have one of these they are usually kept as a second (or third) anchor, in a locker. Our Fortress is in a bow lock, rode in a milk crate next to it - but this is a cat and most monos simply do not have large enough bow lockers.

A well respected N American yachtsman, done the world cruise, done the high latitudes made critical comment when I suggested an anchor could be stowed on a bracket on aft stanchions, said it was bad seaman ship (not sure where he stowed his boards, nor liferings).

Assuming what we do in Europe is normal elsewhere is not always valid, and vice versa.

Oddly, or contrarily, the RNLI lifeboats stowed their Deltas on dedicated brackets on the foredeck and now have a Spade located in a bracket on the foredeck of the new Shannon class, and the latter is stowed with the shank 'up'.

Jonathan