New to anchoring - appreciate advice/opinions

[Stu Jackson]

Originally Posted by cheoah

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Practice lots in good conditions and understand the forces involved, develop a routine. You can easily lose fingers in a storm. >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>
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Practice lots
Practice lots
Practice lots
Practice lots
Practice lots

Look, we understand you're new to this, but if you are trusting your life and your boat to your anchor, you really DO need to learn how to use the gear.

Just like docking, if you don't practice, you won't learn how to do it.

Safe journey, have fun.

[powsmias]

Originally Posted by Stu Jackson

https://www.westmarine.com/WestAdvis...nchor-Securely

thanx for this post.. great info.. ie: never (and not real versed in it) gave thought to the added security of the suction of anchor getting pulled..after thinking about it.. it's probably equal to the importance as the weight or more..but for me is first time mentioned as part of the equation. Always thought that the only merit was to the anchor weight and the rode..

[model 10]

Sometimes you don't have time to pratice enough, you just go cruising. I'm still so terrible sometimes it's embarrassing, so it's fun to see other boat have problems. I usually screw up when I'm tired.

[powsmias]

Originally Posted by Spade Anchor

In the video Panope notes that he prefers the Spade over the Sarca due to the curves of the Spade. Panope's comments on the Mantus are that it "it is too spindly looking and may be too spindly looking for use" and "does not look robust".

The Spade Anchor is currently on Sale for 30% off. So a 45lbs Mantus costs $379.99 and a 44lbs Spade Anchor costs $529.99 a difference of $150. So for about what you pay for one night at a hotel you can now sleep on the hook with a Spade Anchor.
https://www.spadeanchorusa.com/produ.../spade-s-steel

Spade Anchors.. thank you very much.. I won a contest on here that you gave and chose your swivel.. it's a piece of work!! hear it mentioned that swivels are bad but you have no record of failure with yours.. something to be said for that.. all the best

[UNCIVILIZED]

Originally Posted by a64pilot

One off the anchor manufacturers that I assume has a difficult design to regalvanize has come on here and I believe stated that needed to be regalvanized is a warrantable action, they would replace it under warranty.
Not sure which one though, but I was real surprised by that as I see zinc wearing off as normal wear and tear myself, I would have never asked for warranty.

I'm pretty sure (90%+) that it was Spade that stated this. It's easy enough to ask (assuming they don't chime in).

[evm1024]

Originally Posted by JPA Cate

I'd like to propose another explanation for that picture: the tip got caught under a concrete mooring block (something that happened to us, once), and efforts to extract it exceeded the anchor's tip's specs. The anchor could have been properly sized for the vessel, and this could still happen, with no blame to the manufacturer. We bent one fluke of a genuine Bruce that way. Anchors are not designed to lift mooring blocks.

I really doubt any anchor is, by virtue of its manufacture, entirely safe with regards to mutilation. People do anchor in places with years of discards and jetsam fouling the bottom, and sometimes the anchor gives, sometimes the windlass.

Something I wanted to say with regards to anchors with lead in the tips is that they can be a real headache at re-galvinizing time, we've seen folks having to re-lead them each time.

Exactly - and you notice that the shank did not bend.

And don't forget the manson photo with the bent tip.

[Jim Cate]

FWIW, while the bent tip means the anchor is out of service until repaired, this sort of damage happens whilst retrieving the anchor, not while it is busy securing your boat. This is a lower risk sort of failure than the shank breaking off or other major structural failure.

We actually bent a fluke on a genuine 20 kg Bruce freeing it from an abandoned mooring block... didn't think that was possible! Continued to use the anchor for a while, and it seemed to work much the same as pre-bend. A shop with a 60 ton press was not able to bend it back, so in the end we replaced it.

More recently we've used a Supreme for about 12 years now. We live at anchor so it has had lots and lots of use. Been fouled a few times, and no bending has yet occurred (touching wood surreptitiously), so I imagine that it is strong enough, even though someone managed to bend one, somewhere, somehow, and then photographed it for publication.

This does not mean that I'm touting the Supreme as being stronger than the X brand, just that it is strong enough to trust in use... and I suspect all the rest of the mainstream anchors are too. I must admit to a bit of worry about the Rocna copies that are appearing these days. It will be interesting to see how they fare.

Jim

[UNCIVILIZED]

One other comment is that folks mention & stress practicing. Which I take to mean practicing one's basic technique: Which, this likely can't hurt. But there are a lot of other things that can & should be practiced, so that you're not doing them for the 1st time when you truly need them to work.
For example:
- Using 2 or more anchors at once
- Bahamian & Med mooring. And using anchor combiner plates for same. Ditto assembling Hurricane Moorings. Hurricane Mooring System — Colligo Marine®
- Hurricane Anchoring Plans
- Using shore lines/ties
- Swimming & Rowing out anchors. Especially when you consider that many times when you may need an extra hook out there, you may not be able to move the mother ship in order to do so. Either due to wind & wave conditions, the proximity of your neighbors, not wanting to risk disturbing the set of your primary hook, or fear of fouling your prop with your primary anchor rode when motoring forward to set a second, or third anchor. Or, you may not have sufficient rode on your primary to allow you to drift aft far enough in order to set a stern anchor.
- Practice techniques for stuck or fouled anchors. As everyone has to deal with this at some point.
- Adding more length, & or chain, to your primary or 2ndary rode while they’re in use.
- Switching out anchors quickly on your 2ndary rode before setting it, so as to use the optimal anchor for local bottom conditions, etc.
- What’s your plan for picking up your anchor & rode when your windlass quits, & have you practiced it?
- Buoying a rope rode in areas where fouling, or chafe could be a high probability.
- Freeing fouling from your hook/rode should it come up with things like cables or chain snagging on it.
Such as say using a cheap aluminum C-hook on a pendant, attached to a halyard in order to lift the snarl off of your anchor/rode. And once the snarl’s free, cut the pendant, sacrificing it & the hook.
- Have a plan/system for braking the descent of anchors which you bring up from belowdecks, when the windlass is already spoken for.
- Attaching (multiple layers) of chafing gear.
- Plotting Danger, & Escape Bearings
- Piloting into, or out of an anchorage in zero visibility. Including raising or lowering the hook when you can’t see the hand signals coming from the person on the bow.

Another topic not yet mentioned, is that in addition to having onboard all of the anchoring & mooring gear that you feel you need for your boat. It’s wise to keep some spares onboard; anchors, chain, & rope. For you, or in a pinch, for a neighbor in need. Especially to keep them from dragging down onto you in heavier weather, or poor holding conditions. That, & of course, should you lose your primary gear, or anchor for whatever reason.

Also keeping a set of bolt cutters is wise if you use an all chain rode. As in some emergencies, you may not have the luxury of letting your chain run out until the rope securing it to the boat comes on deck, to be cut with a knife. And trying to hacksaw chain in half when the bow is doing an approximation of a rodeo bull, is a desperate & dangerous one at best. Especially as bolt cutters will solve things in about 3 seconds.

It also might be worth practicing buoying the end of your rode, in case you need to slip it, & come back for it later on.

[CLady]

Question for Delancey--
What size Mantus were you using on that 40ft monohull?
C Lady

[groundtackle]

Originally Posted by NevisDog

Correct me if wrong:
1. the Spade (whether alu or steel version) has a hollow tip filled with lead (whereas Rocna / Mantus / etc have a roll bar). Every five years or so we must re-galvanize steel anchors. Q: How does one re-galvanize a steel Spade?
2. In order to be classified as 'Super-high Holding Power', the latest generation SHP anchors must have ? 4 times ? the holding power of previous generation HHP anchors. Q: Why would anyone forego that added safety nowadays?

1. Excel's weighted toe is cast filled containing no lead. Initial or re-galvanizing complications are solved. Loosing a leaded anchor into the environment is also worth consideration for all of us.
2. Excel is a certified SHHP anchor.
ce

[groundtackle]

Originally Posted by evm1024

Exactly - and you notice that the shank did not bend.

And don't forget the manson photo with the bent tip.

Did the shank not bend? We don't actually know that and may appear to be sorta the the same shape. Permanent shank deformation could / should also be a result of this real world test.
Mantus and others are first class in regard to warranty but I might like all those components replaced.
Worth considering Excel's and Anchor Right's impressive destructive tests.
ce

[donradcliffe]

Originally Posted by thomm225

I use the old anchors that were already on my boat.

There was a 20 lb CQR and an old Bruce with rode and chain for each. The CQR was on the bow when I found the boat so I have used that anchor these last six years. There's a heavy duty galvanized swivel near the anchor

It has worked great and must have worked for the PO since the Bruce wasn't rigged up. I have yet to back down with this anchor, but I sail in waters I've been on for years and use lots of scope

I sail mostly in the Chesapeake Bay but the PO was on his return trip North
after sailing two years from Massachusetts down to Florida and the Bahamas when he decided to cut his trip short and left the boat near here where it sat for 5 years on the hard

I have been caught in wind over 30 knots while anchored with this CQR and it has held. A few times the winds were heavy onshore winds and that wasn't much fun especially at 0200 or so with the temps in the 40's. (and I was anchored maybe 70 yards off)

If you're sailing in the Chesapeake, most any old anchor will do...except for off the Naval Academy in Annapolis. Let us know how the CQR holds in 30 knots there.

[donradcliffe]

Originally Posted by Cujo665

Danforth.
20% of rode in chain
I.E. - 40 feet chain to 200 feet triple braid
7:1 ratio prior to setting

Depth 20 feet = set out 140 feet total then set.

Hasn't failed in New England sometimes rocky, sometimes sandy, sometimes muddy waters....

Its a good anchor for a straight pull. Try it in a reversing current, like in front of the 79th St Boat Basin in NYC, or a strong frontal passage, and let us know how it works.

[Delancey]

Originally Posted by CLady

Question for Delancey--
What size Mantus were you using on that 40ft monohull?
C Lady

20kg/45lbs which is pretty manageable for me in ten or fifteen feet of water. If I were regularly anchoring in deeper water I might feel differently about the not having a windlass thing.

[thomm225]

Originally Posted by donradcliffe

If you're sailing in the Chesapeake, most any old anchor will do...except for off the Naval Academy in Annapolis. Let us know how the CQR holds in 30 knots there.

Thanks for the heads up.

I'm sailing in home waters for now and will definitely be watching my anchor closely in new areas.

I got into an argument on here on the last anchor thread because I mentioned that I've never backed down when anchoring yet.........in waters from say Tangier Island, VA south to Swansboro, NC

I think the old CQR dealt with more than 30 knots on my last short sailing vacation though. I was actually more worried about the lightning....since the CQR has pretty much proven itself here. (The camera is so old it's not showing the wind streaks on the water on the youtube video as it does straight off the camera)

I had just stopped for the day maybe 45 minutes before these videos were taken wanting to get a nice spot and enjoy being on vacation rather than sailing late in the day

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=okRZs6os5Eo

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6gcZKr25UUM