VicMallows
Well-Known Member
What other sort of anchor do people carry in a small inflatable to secure it on the beach? (or equally just to defy the types who claim "I saw the dingy washed ashore and just assumed it had been abandoned").
The Grapnel anchor...if everyone depises them, why are they sold by every chandlery?
- Thread starter Greenheart
- Start date
Seajet
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Old harry,
well that's like all the other BS from NE then !
How about the Fisherman anchor, and I presume no other anchor digs in then, just uses a Star Trek style anti-gravity station keeping effect...
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Eric79
Active Member
One of these came with my boat should I get a different one? Eventually planning on anchoring and going for picnics with the family. I have a 16ft day sailor using in the Torridge and North Devon coast
vyv_cox
Well-Known Member
As has been highlighted above, perfectly suitable for your application.
LadyInBed
Well-Known Member
A very useful anchor, I carry two!
For dingy use and as a drag hook - I recovered a pushchair (unoccupied) that had blown off a pontoon and a ladder which I let slip overboard by my mooring.
Also used as stern anchors onto shoreside rock's.
Much favoured by divers - first dive pair down jam it into rock's, last pair up unhook and lock in the flukes.
Oh! I have also used it to hook onto the big D ring end of Cherbourg pontoon when arriving single handed (before they added the center cleats).
For dingy use and as a drag hook - I recovered a pushchair (unoccupied) that had blown off a pontoon and a ladder which I let slip overboard by my mooring.
Also used as stern anchors onto shoreside rock's.
Much favoured by divers - first dive pair down jam it into rock's, last pair up unhook and lock in the flukes.
Oh! I have also used it to hook onto the big D ring end of Cherbourg pontoon when arriving single handed (before they added the center cleats).
Seajet
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Eric79,
not wishing to get into an anchor argument, but if on a soft seabed a plough type anchor like a Bruce would be more secure; depends on the depth and how long one is hoping to stay.
There is the point ( literally ! ) that a grapnel probably leaves 2 flukes stuck upwards which could be bad news for an inflatable or even a solid cruiser...
A very useful anchor, but for temporary use in my view.
Greenheart
Well-Known Member
Thank you for these prompt and informed replies, gentlemen.
True, I don't have the least experience from which to insult the grapnel. The only time I handled one was many decades ago at school, when a kid brought his Mirror's hook in, to illustrate a 'talk' about the boat. I secured the mechanism with only one fluke open, and laughed so hard at its ridiculous appearance, I was ejected from the room.
But lately, when & wherever I've heard anchoring discussed, the grapnel was immediately dismissed for its disinclination to hold securely in ordinary smooth ground.
I'll need a small hook myself - and my old Danforth is only about a kilo, and it's in France, and it'd look dodgy in hand-luggage - so I'd like to think a grapnel is just the thing, assuming it's any good. I daresay I've been dissuaded by the deep contempt expressed by Dinghy Cruising Association members, and other comparative analyses of different types.
Regarding which 'real' anchor best suits a big dinghy afloat overnight in a sheltered harbour, or used to secure her for the duration of a foul tide, I recollect that small versions of things like the Bruce anchor are said not to set easily...
...does anybody have strong faith in >4kg versions of a particular design?
True, I don't have the least experience from which to insult the grapnel. The only time I handled one was many decades ago at school, when a kid brought his Mirror's hook in, to illustrate a 'talk' about the boat. I secured the mechanism with only one fluke open, and laughed so hard at its ridiculous appearance, I was ejected from the room.
But lately, when & wherever I've heard anchoring discussed, the grapnel was immediately dismissed for its disinclination to hold securely in ordinary smooth ground.
I'll need a small hook myself - and my old Danforth is only about a kilo, and it's in France, and it'd look dodgy in hand-luggage - so I'd like to think a grapnel is just the thing, assuming it's any good. I daresay I've been dissuaded by the deep contempt expressed by Dinghy Cruising Association members, and other comparative analyses of different types.
Regarding which 'real' anchor best suits a big dinghy afloat overnight in a sheltered harbour, or used to secure her for the duration of a foul tide, I recollect that small versions of things like the Bruce anchor are said not to set easily...
...does anybody have strong faith in >4kg versions of a particular design?
Davy_S
Well-Known Member
A Delta would get my vote, for holding and cost.
Fantasie 19
Well-Known Member
Yup - same... held my 19 footer nicely when time for a tea and I couldn't be faffed to get the big anchor out....
Kelpie
Well-Known Member
I've got a mini Manson supreme, around 3kg IIRC, nice little anchor but if it hadn't been on special offer I wouldn't have been able to afford it. Have yet to use it in anger with the Wayfarer, but it actually has had a fair bit of use as a kedge on the yacht, to reduce swinging room, used in conjunction with a big bight of chain as a catenary. So nice and easy to dinghy out.
Greenheart
Well-Known Member
Hmm. I agree it looks good, although even the smallest (4kg) is over £80. Just how second/third-rate are the much cheaper plough/Danforth derivatives which the chandleries sell? Is it the old question of doubtful metallurgy, or is their design poorer as well?
I'd have no objection to using a few yards of chain, if it helps the setting, better.
Greenheart
Well-Known Member
Sounds great...what did you pay?
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D
Deleted member 36384
Guest
I worked at a Sailing School, dinghy sailing, and we cruised with small CQR anchors. Surprisingly they worked well with chain and warp as the dinghy always pulled up head to wind when we anchored in deep bays. I have no idea if it would hold in a blow/tideway but I would assume that it would not. As for the grapnel, I have used that a few times in the rubber duck to stay in one place when fishing; again it digs in and halts the fast drift of the rubber dinghy, snatching the head to wind.
Greenheart
Well-Known Member
Why was it surprising that they had worked well? And, why would you assume they wouldn't hold in a blow? Were they very small CQRs?
I suppose a grapnel's angle of attack would be akin to a very lightweight, long-nailed woman climbing the curtains...
...not a scenario I've recently observed...but I can imagine grip would be immediate, and pretty solid, until it breaks out, when it releases totally.
The grapnel doesn't have flukes angled for gradual burial under steady tension, so I guess it's only for very temporary halts?
KellysEye
Well-Known Member
It's a dinghy anchor, we used one all the time when we were diving off the dinghy.
Kelpie
Well-Known Member
Sounds great...what did you pay?
Do you ever call it 'Charlie', for a sick laugh? I'm afraid I would.
It was about £60 IIRC which is outgrageous for a dinghy anchor that has never been used for its original purpose!!
Eventually I will rig this anchor so that it can form a temporary running mooring, far more useful for a dinghy IMHO. And with that being the case, I would probably have been OK with a small danforth style, as the pull would have been consistent and from one direction.
But Charlie has earned his keep as a very handy little kedge on the yacht, so it's all good in the long run.
D
Deleted member 36384
Guest
It's very light and the CQR requires weight to yield the seabed for the tip to dig in. In strong wind the forces increases to the power law but the small CQR has such a low area that it would probably quite happily lift through the seabed and break out. The low weight would more or less prohibit it from digging in again; thats my thoughts on it. I have thought that a small Danforth would be a good idea as it relies less on weight and more on geometry and the tips of the flukes to pull down the anchor into the seabed but storing it could be an issue.
Seajet
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Hi Dan,
I carry a folding grapnel as in your initial pic in dinghies.
I'd use this even if seriously dinghy cruising, as it's good for grabbing a hold on almost any seabed and with dinghies one is usually by a beach, not planning to ride out a F12 at anchor in deep water.
I forget what weight my dinghy grapnel is, but I tend to err on the heavy side when it comes to anchors, and as mentioned the thing has to be tied securely and capsize proof in the meantime.
I carry a folding grapnel as in your initial pic in dinghies.
I'd use this even if seriously dinghy cruising, as it's good for grabbing a hold on almost any seabed and with dinghies one is usually by a beach, not planning to ride out a F12 at anchor in deep water.
I forget what weight my dinghy grapnel is, but I tend to err on the heavy side when it comes to anchors, and as mentioned the thing has to be tied securely and capsize proof in the meantime.
Greenheart
Well-Known Member
Good point Andy...
...while I'm wondering how effectively the anchor's biting ten feet below, any weather worth worrying about will have capsized a light sailing dinghy anyway.
Is 5 meters of 6mm chain enough weight to keep a grapnel's grapple usefully horizontal? Assuming it's supplemented with 4 x the depth, of nylon warp?
...while I'm wondering how effectively the anchor's biting ten feet below, any weather worth worrying about will have capsized a light sailing dinghy anyway.
Is 5 meters of 6mm chain enough weight to keep a grapnel's grapple usefully horizontal? Assuming it's supplemented with 4 x the depth, of nylon warp?
Seajet
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Well I might use a few feet of chain, mainly as anti-chafe on rocks - if cruising a dinghy seriously, otherwise I'd stick to just nylon warp; if things get really serious one can always donate a halliard ( spin halliard to start with ) to extend it, but with a dinghy it's usually best to beach the boat and drag her up above the HW mark.