What's the worst anchor?

[noelex]

There are some very very wacky anchor designs such as the box anchor (see the first photo below) that claims only a 40 lb model is fine for a 70 foot yacht and a scope of only 2:1 is needed with all rope rode.

Why is it that the worse the anchor, the more outlandish the manufacturer’s claims?





But considering more mainstream models, for overall worst performance my vote would go to some of the convex plow designs that have attempted to copy the Delta, but have managed to make something worse.

Below is an example. This is a Shark anchor managing to slowly drag backwards (notice the clouds of sand) without ever setting in a nice hard sand substrate. This is in only 20 knots of wind with a 4:1 scope.

 

[bergie]

For the dinghy, in rocks they work very well, to the point that they are often hard/impossible to recover. A number of times we have had to dive to free it. I agree in sand they are pretty rubbish.

We also carry a grapnel for our dinghy. Holding in sand is well demonstrated by the one time we forgot to retrieve the anchor. We carried the boat some twenty meters into the water, not even noticing we were dragging the anchor behind

So, inspired by this thread we now invoke the roman gods to ensure better holding:

 

[srm]

Folding grapnels. I tested a few in knee deep water and good sand, and the hold was so poor it was easier pull them too me than to walk over to them. They might hold a life ring.

Rubbish, they are great anchors - provided that you use them correctly which is definitely not in sand. They have been used on hundreds of smaller coastal motorboats in Norway for generations. Mooring from the stern against a shore line to windward. They are designed to hook on a rocky bottom and held there by the tension in the mooring with the bows close enough to the rocks to step ashore.
I also carry a small one in the dinghy as its convenient to stow and has done all I needed it for.

 

[rogerthebodger]

I also have a folding grapnel in my dingy and when used it on a sand bottom in a strong flood tide was suppressed on its holding power

 

[servus]

The Seagull outboard motor.

Although it is a better anchor than motor.

 

[Blue Seas]

I once trained an Octopus to act as a 'Live Anchor'.
When in a bad mood she was fantastic, would back away from me and dig-in and would hold on tenaciously to the anchor line as well as any dog in a tug of war.
In a good mood however, she was useless - would just follow me round looking for cuddles.
Towards the end we sort of drifted apart.

 

[noelex]

So, inspired by this thread we now invoke the roman gods to ensure better holding:

Sailors are allowed to be superstitious.

One Christmas we tied some decorations to our Mantus anchor in order to please Saint Nicholas (who is also the patron saint of sailors).

I am not sure it helped, but we didn’t drag despite some wild weather that we experienced that winter in the Mediterranean.

 

[Geoff A]

Folding grapnels. I tested a few in knee deep water and good sand, and the hold was so poor it was easier pull them too me than to walk over to them. They might hold a life ring.

Some of the poor copy Danforths will hold a ton, particularly if you sharpen the flukes. Some are junk.

That is not my experience at all when I lived on my boat in the Med. I looked a the Spanish fishing boat anchors, most were home made using bent rebar. It got me thinking, the nearest thing was a folding grapnel. This was when Spain still used pesetas before the euro. At the time I had a Westerly Storm with a plough anchor in bad weather or soft sand / bad holding I used to shackle the folding grapnel about 3m back from the plough. On many occasions in strong winds I would see other boats dragging whilst my setup held us firm. After a blow I would check the anchor, more than once saw the grapnel had held while lose chain snaked up to the plough.

 

[Ray Purchase]

Fob.

 

[greeny]

Folding grapnels. I tested a few in knee deep water and good sand, and the hold was so poor it was easier pull them too me than to walk over to them. They might hold a life ring.

Some of the poor copy Danforths will hold a ton, particularly if you sharpen the flukes. Some are junk.

Although they're ok as fishing anchors (grapnels) with a trip line attached when anchoring in rocks. Not megabucks if you lose one either.

 

[jbweston]

We've thrashed the 'Best Anchor' contretemps half to death. There are lots of good anchors, I've concluded, also good chain and very good rope rode. 'You pays your money and takes your choice...' Whatever, apply a modicum of common sense and all will come out right. Mostly.

But.... what constitutes the WORST anchor? The type we can all agree we'd steer both friends and foes away from. Could we find a consensus?
Sure, there have been some weird and wonderful contraptions - but we mostly can take one look, have a brief guffaw, and move on. Let's try to confine ourselves, l implore, to what we'd find these days in fairly civilised chandleries which we'd generally recognise as anchors... of sorts.

To set the ball rolling, I nominate the poor copy, cheap steel Danforth - of which there are thousands rusting away remorselessly in bilges nationwide.

Congratulations on starting a fun and informative anchor thread that hasn't yet attracted the attention of the Anchoring Taliban.

But, unlike the Spanish Inquisition whom noboby expects, everybody expects the Anchoring Taliban . . .

 

[NormanS]

There are some very very wacky anchor designs such as the box anchor (see the first photo below) that claims only a 40 lb model is fine for a 70 foot yacht and a scope of only 2:1 is needed with all rope rode.

Why is it that the worse the anchor, the more outlandish the manufacturer’s claims?


View attachment 182738


But considering more mainstream models, for overall worst performance my vote would go to some of the convex plow designs that have attempted to copy the Delta, but have managed to make something worse.

Below is an example. This is a Shark anchor managing to slowly drag backwards (notice the clouds of sand) without ever setting in a nice hard sand substrate. This is in only 20 knots of wind with a 4:1 scope.

View attachment 182739

I would like one of your Shark anchors, which is able to "drag backwards".

 

[srm]

It was probably in the 60's an anchor looking a bit like a danforth was being advertised as a kedge to use when the boat ran aground. The idea being that it could be launched from the stern and would glide away from the boat, settling on the sea bed far enough away to be used to haul the boat off.

However, the prize for the worse anchor must surely go to YM's water ballasted anchor that they promoted in an April edition, again probably in the 60's but may be more recent. It would suit those who are enthusiastic about light weight anchors as it could be stowed dry, and only filled with water ballast when deployed.

 

[noelex]

It was probably in the 60's an anchor looking a bit like a danforth was being advertised as a kedge to use when the boat ran aground. The idea being that it could be launched from the stern and would glide away from the boat, settling on the sea bed far enough away to be used to haul the boat off.

It was called the Flook anchor. It was quite popular in Australia at one stage:

 

[Roberto]

It was probably in the 60's an anchor looking a bit like a danforth was being advertised as a kedge to use when the boat ran aground. The idea being that it could be launched from the stern and would glide away from the boat, settling on the sea bed far enough away to be used to haul the boat off.

"Flook" anchor maybe (?), rings a bell about this underwater gliding thing

one second late to noelex

 

[Poignard]

Congratulations on starting a fun and informative anchor thread that hasn't yet attracted the attention of the Anchoring Taliban.

But, unlike the Spanish Inquisition whom noboby expects, everybody expects the Anchoring Taliban . . .

"Anchoring Taliban"!

I love it! That's a name that's bound to stick.

 

[awol]

However, the prize for the worse anchor must surely go to YM's water ballasted anchor that they promoted in an April edition, again probably in the 60's but may be more recent. It would suit those who are enthusiastic about light weight anchors as it could be stowed dry, and only filled with water ballast when deployed.

Apart from that joke there actually was an anchor that had an air tank to ensure it landed the right way down!

 

[Roberto]

Apart from that joke there actually was an anchor that had an air tank to ensure it landed the right way down!

Hydrobubble (?)

 

[awol]

Hydrobubble (?)

That's the thing!

 

[AntarcticPilot]

It was probably in the 60's an anchor looking a bit like a danforth was being advertised as a kedge to use when the boat ran aground. The idea being that it could be launched from the stern and would glide away from the boat, settling on the sea bed far enough away to be used to haul the boat off.

https://forums.ybw.com/threads/flook-the-flying-anchor.42742/ and