lustyd
Well-known member
Do you mean an experienced instructor, or an instructor who is set in his ways with old fashioned equipment and methods? If you can do something to cause a decent modern anchor to not set I'd be impressed.
Saving Money
- Thread starter LadyInBed
- Start date
Do you mean an experienced instructor, or an instructor who is set in his ways with old fashioned equipment and methods? If you can do something to cause a decent modern anchor to not set I'd be impressed.
SolentBoat
New member
LustyD,
Of course I do pour a whisky over the side for Neptune and Morris Dance on the foredeck to ensure it holds.
Ah. That's what I'm doing wrong - I was completely unaware of these critical final steps.
I've never got round to marking out the chain; just sort of guess metre lengths as I lay it out on the deck. Don't even know what sort of anchor I've got!
Twister_Ken
Well-known member
If it sinks it's a metal or concrete one. If it floats it's wood or plastic.
JumbleDuck
Well-known member
I know, I know. Some people make such a fuss, don't they? I've even heard of people using "sails" to get about when everyone knows that with a modern diesel you can get even more time for G&Ts before bed.
JumbleDuck
Well-known member
I bought a new chain a couple of years back and only got round to marking it this year. I was interested to see that my estimated length were waaaaaay too generous. What I had thought was 15m of chain (it was lying on deck after moving from an anchorage to a pontoon) was actually 25m. Now that the chain is marked properly I seem to be using a disconcertingly small amount. Doesn't seem to both the nice, modern CQR at the other end, which does its stuff very nicely.
lustyd
Well-known member
Actually your argument is more like using old flappy sails rather than modern fabric well cut ones. Nobody would argue that the boat won't move with the poor sails but very few would suggest performance is on a par with the good ones. For some reason with anchors it's different and all the oldies insist they are just as good despite (usually on the same thread) having to explain how to use them and that both chain and anchor need to be upsized...
lustyd
Well-known member
Using Tom Cunliffe's method you don't need to know how many metres of rode are out. Put a mark on the rode for every metre of depth using your own calculation and ratio and then you can count out the same number of marks as the depth on the display (plus one for height of bow). It's nice too because when you switch to rope halfway the marks can be further apart if you like and you still just count them the same.
Seajet
...
LustyD,
you'll love this; I mark my anchor warp in fathoms ( 6' ) as metres are too frequent and mean too many marks.
The marking system is obvious to an experienced sailor but is explained anyway on briefing new crew.
Unless Tom Cunliffe is a mate of Gene Roddenberry I reckon I need to know how many fathoms / metres / hectares of rode I have out.
you'll love this; I mark my anchor warp in fathoms ( 6' ) as metres are too frequent and mean too many marks.
The marking system is obvious to an experienced sailor but is explained anyway on briefing new crew.
Unless Tom Cunliffe is a mate of Gene Roddenberry I reckon I need to know how many fathoms / metres / hectares of rode I have out.
sighmoon
Active member
I use a recommended size CQR and do nothing more sophisiticated than chucking it in the briny while reversing. Even with gusts up to 40kts, it hasn't dragged.
IMHO, comments like this are very unhelpful to the inexperienced who might think they need to upgrade their anchor when they don't. (I was one such - but the previous owner talked me out of it). Maybe a Rocna is better, but that doesn't mean a CQR isn't good enough.
JumbleDuck
Well-known member
I expect a Spade or a Manson would set faster than my CQR, but it works fine and I don't feel any pressing need to change. Other people might, and that's just fine by me.
JumbleDuck
Well-known member
I had an 8mm anchor chain break in a gale on the Clyde. There was a 20lb CQR at the other end of it.
Twister_Ken
Well-known member
Dodgy chain, then.
My old boat had a CQr. It dragged a few times and also sometimes need another go or two to get it to set.
New boat has a Spade. Let it go, it sets. It's not dragged yet, although I haven't experienced a Glasgow gale.
Mudisox
Well-known member
Getting back to the original point, we managed a 3 week cruise to Brittany and Channel Isles this year with only 4 marina nights [elect and water needed by SWMBO], and cost would have been halved if we didn't go ashore to eat. SWMBO reckoned that 2 nights at Anchor/ dried out paid for the meal ashore. One saving that was not taken into account was the lack of putting petrol in the car at home.
JumbleDuck
Well-known member
Quite likely. I have a new chain now.
Sounds great. Not worth the cost to me, though, and this thread is about saving money, is it not? It's not s straight choice between "posh new anchor" and "staying in marinas", whatever the Solent boys might think.
Slow_boat
New member
When we started our 'long summer' in May we replaced the 10kg Bruce and 20 meters of chain we used on the East coast with a 12kg Kobra and what I thought was 40 meters of chain bought from another forumite. The Kobra seems to work just fine but the chain turned out to be 70 meters. We were so down by the bow that I chopped it back to 50 meters, which is more than I'd want to haul in by hand anyway. Seems to work just fine on our 6.5 ton Countess and it has more than paid for itself.
PS we use the same tactic as the OP and never stay more than 3 nights anywhere. Going West it just gets better and better and there are loads of sheltered anchorages.
PS we use the same tactic as the OP and never stay more than 3 nights anywhere. Going West it just gets better and better and there are loads of sheltered anchorages.
JomsViking
Member
So basically every 2 metres (or 1.83 m)
Since my charts + sounders is in metres I can't fathom using anything else for marking.
Since my charts + sounders is in metres I can't fathom using anything else for marking.
Resolution
Well-known member
I chucked out the original CQR about 5 years ago having often had trouble getting it to dig in (mainly lunchtime stuff in Osborne bay). The replacement Delta has been much easier to deploy, both on deck and in the seabed.
This summer we have been having a fantastic time in the Stockholm archipelago and have spent nearly 50 nights at anchor. Apart from one location when we simply could not get it to dig in - it kept coming back up dripping thin mud, presumably with a smooth rock underneath - we had absolutely no dragging or disturbances. Top winds were about 35 knots, but of course they have no tides to worry about, so you lay out three times depth and hit the G&T.
This summer we have been having a fantastic time in the Stockholm archipelago and have spent nearly 50 nights at anchor. Apart from one location when we simply could not get it to dig in - it kept coming back up dripping thin mud, presumably with a smooth rock underneath - we had absolutely no dragging or disturbances. Top winds were about 35 knots, but of course they have no tides to worry about, so you lay out three times depth and hit the G&T.
lustyd
Well-known member
Ah the traditional anecdote saying that because your CQR never drags and always resets when the tide turns they must be fine. Unfortunately the sheer weight of anecdote and real evidence to the contrary makes it pointless but an anchor thread just wouldn't be the same without it. There are videos on the web showing why CQR is a poor anchor with it snaking accross the seabed due to the hinge. You may think my comment unhelpful, but if it gives one sailor a better night sleep after they change I can live with that.
Why do you care what length of rode you have out? If you need it to be 3x depth then mark at intervals 3x what's on the guage or chart (metres, feet or fathoms make no difference). As long as you know there is sufficient rode out for the depth the actual number of metres is irrelevant, and it's considerably easier to keep counting in ones when you get to the rope!
JumbleDuck
Well-known member
It certainly sounds fine for him.
Yeah, yeah, and there are people who use them without problems. The trouble with anchor tests, and videos, is that they can only ever cover an extremely limited and artificial range of conditions. If CQRs were as terrible as you think, wouldn't that have been discovered over the past fifty years? Wouldn't everyone have stopped using them?
I have no doubt that a Spade, Bugel or Manson works better than a CQR, but for many of us a CQR works well enough, and that's really what matters.
timmygobang
Member
Ok Question - If everyone's chucking all their chain over the side, instead of measuring out what they teach you say on a day skipper course (which is all I have to go on), how will I know what is a safe distance to anchor from my nearest neighbour who's scope could be more than required?
Should I just assume everyone has chucked 50m of chain over the side everywhere I go?
Should I just assume everyone has chucked 50m of chain over the side everywhere I go?
