New Member... just did first 7 day live-aboard trip... Anchor Questions!!

[skipmac]

Originally Posted by repsb

When anchored I have never woken up in the middle of the night, with the wind up and thought to myself "I wish I had a smaller anchor" .

Very true. Goes along with you never think to yourself "I wish I had less money", or "I wish I had a smaller ..................... boat".

[scotty c-m]

What's the downsize of going bigger? It costs a bit more and you have to be able to store it on the bow. With a windlass you don't have to pull it up by hand. I too am in favor of having a larger anchor. As Stu, and others, point out, use the anchor system sizing tables to figure out your anchor, chain and rhode sizes.

[Cheechako]

I would go with the 35# minimum. You don't say what you changed to for a windlass, but I would go with min 100 ft of chain just to make anchoring easy if your windlass works well with chain. With that you should be able to retrieve the anchor with few problems and anchor in up to 20 ft of water without getting to the rope backup.

[svJasmine]

What's wrong with the delta on your roller?

[skipmac]

Originally Posted by svJasmine

What's wrong with the delta on your roller?

For one thing, too small. 22 lbs isn't enough anchor for that boat.

Also, Delta just doesn't have the holding power of the New Gen anchors like Mantus, Rocna, etc.

[MarkJ]

O.v.e.r.k.i.l.l. Kill, kill, kill, kill. Sounds like a gun thread


Ummmmm. Get the biggest anchor you can especially as you are getting 50% off. The savings in that alone would sway me.

No one on this forum or in 'real life' has ever complained about getting a too big an anchor (unless they have a manual windlass). I would buy a shipping anchor if my deck were big enough

[Tom and Maje]

Go with the 35lb and with at least 50ft of chain. I'm on a L40 cat with a Rocna 25 (55LB) and 250ft of chain. Sometimes I wish I had gone up one size. You never realize that you should have had a larger anchor until it is to late.......

[HopCar]

Welcome to the forum. I usually warn new comers from starting anchor threads but you've already done it.

Here is a summary of every anchor thread ever started.
Your anchor is too small, it's the wrong kind, and you don't have enough chain.

Also just in case you ask, your gun is too small, it's the wrong kind and you don't have enough ammunition.

I think the size charts for the Delta might be a little optimistic. For your size boat they recommend a 22 pound anchor. I'll bet all of the other modern designs will recommend a 35 pound anchor.

I think that if the Delta chart recommended the same size anchors that the other companies do, it would get better performance ratings.

You just need a little bigger anchor and if you can get a really good deal on a Mantus, go for it. If you want a new Delta, Rocna or Vulcan, talk to me.

[SV Sailfish]

Welcome PetePetePete,

Congrats on your first trip away from home dock.

I would go 35# on the anchor (or larger) and add more chain also.

Now to the most important question...

Where the heck do you hank the sails on that puppy?

[jeremiason]

My boat is a C-470 and weights around 37,000 when fully loaded (Cruising Weight).

Our boat has a Rocna 25kg (55 pounds) attached to an all chain rode of 5/26 HT Chain.

During our three years of cruising we never dragged once and were anchored out during some blows that exceeded 55 kts. And went through several blows at 35 kts sustained for over 24 hours... Always at a 5 to 1 scope.

The anchor you are looking at is a similar design to our Rocna.

I went to the Mantus site and used their calculator to determine the anchor size using my boat... It recommended a 38.9 KG (85 Pound) anchor for my boat!
Which in my opinion is way to big and probably would not fit on my anchor roller.

A couple things to consider...

Will your windless and anchor roller handle a larger anchor and do you need it?

I would not go larger than you need... Larger anchors will shorten the life of your windless and of course be more of pain to get up by hand if the windless fails.

Just my free advice...

[Scout 30]

The Rocna Vulcan might be a better fit for the way your bow is set up.

[svJasmine]

Originally Posted by skipmac

For one thing, too small. 22 lbs isn't enough anchor for that boat.

Also, Delta just doesn't have the holding power of the New Gen anchors like Mantus, Rocna, etc.

I agree that 22 is too small. I didn't see that.

[PetePetePete]

Been reading all the links in this thread... and I'm appreciative for all the help.

I still haven't decided which one I'm going with, but right now I'm thinking the 35# makes the most sense.

I do have a question.

In many cases I'll be 3-5' of water... which is perfectly fine for my shallow draft boat. My question is dealing with chain. I have 30' of chain, and a Lewmar 1000 FF. I'm reading a lot of people like to use chain only.

What I don't understand is that I was told to never allow the windlass to hold your anchor when on the hook, to tie it off to a cleat... fine, but what do you do when it's chain? In other words, if I'm in 4' of water and I let out 25' of chain for 6:1... where/how do I secure the chain?

Thanks,
Pete

P.S. What's the deal with anchors being taboo for the first post?

[Scout 30]

You'll need to rig up a snubber to your chain. It often involves a chain hook attached to a bridle with each end of the bridle lines attached to cleats on each side of your bow. The bridle lines provide the stretch that the chain cannot.

[Scout 30]

With only 30' of chain you really don't need a snubber. Just let out 40' of road & cleat off the line.