Photos of Anchors Setting

[noelex 77]

A Claw (a Bruce copy).

It had been dropped in weed and dragged a reasonable distance. In the end it only had very poor grip.

[noelex 77]

This was quite a while ago, but I think I missed presenting this photo.
It was a disappointing Delta.

Just the toe has dug in despite a long setting distance:

[sanibel sailor]

no recent Mantus pics?

[Kenomac]

After several 180 degree wind shifts over the past two days, I decided with higher winds forecast over the weekend, a look at the Ultra 45kg was in order. What I found surprised me, at some point probably two days ago during the first 180, it had flipped and pulled out, dragged 50 meters, expelled a root ball of sod and reset itself in what can only be described as hard bottom sod.

Expecting a 45 degree shift later today then higher winds 20+ knots Saturday and 25-35 knots all day Sunday, I'll reset it later following the shift by throttling back at full reverse and the doing a visual.

[Kenomac]

Here's another view of the Ultra in the same position. Didn't get a picture of the 50 meter long furrow leading up to the big dig.

Many if not most boats experience dragging in this anchorage even in moderate winds. Looks can be deceiving, what appears to be a sandy bottom from the surface is in fact hard sand filled with roots. Almost like hard sod.

[jcapo]

Originally Posted by sanibel sailor

no recent Mantus pics?

And I would love to see the Mantus in heavy weed. Sometimes the only option is weed no matter how bad an idea it is.

[noelex 77]

Originally Posted by sanibel sailor

no recent Mantus pics?

The Mantus was still totally unchanged. The wind flipped back and forth, but when the anchor is well set it takes quite a bit of force to rotate the anchor around. The Mantus has just stayed exactly the same while the boat has wandered all over the anchorage.

It is boring as far as pictures go, but boring is what you want from an anchor .

This was the last pictures of the Mantus at the anchorage. You can see the chain marks running up and down around the anchor. Rocks and shells have been swept around by the chain. The setting mark has partially filled in, but some broken strands of weeds have accumulated in the depression.

Interestingly, the underwater float I use has moved slightly so at some stage the chain from our boat must have pushed it around, although there is some chance it has been caught by a fisherman. They often troll around the anchorage with lures not far from the bottom.

[noelex 77]

Claw (a Bruce copy).

It was dropped in medium weed and dragged a long distance until it hit a lighter patch of weed.

From the drag mark it appeared to grip on the underlying substrate in the lighter patch of weed then hopped out and moved back another couple of feet to finish where you see it here.

It had managed to rotate nicely upright, but anchors can do this just in the weed without digging into the substrate at all. The strands of weed essentially become the medium in which the anchor is working. It is not unusual to see an anchor that has rotated correctly and looks set when the weed has been supporting the weight and it has never even touched the underlying substrate.

An anchor lying just in the weed can have enough grip to hold the boat reliably in moderate winds, but to hold in strong conditions it needs to dig deeper.

The only way to check this is by feel. I cannot show this in photographs, which is a pity because this is what separates a good weed anchor from a model that is not doing well.

In this case the central fluke of the Claw had penetrated the substrate by a couple of inches. This is not a bad performance and suggests that the the anchor could dig in properly if exposed to stronger wind. The drag of the weed and in particular the weed roots absorb a lot of force. Fluke penetration into the underlying substrate with the limited power the engine can supply is much less than in sand. The better anchors manage more than a couple of inches, but this is at least a start and once the fluke has cut into the weed roots it stands a reasonable chance of doing well.

However, with a shallow penetration of only a couple of inches there is a risk the anchor will break out if it was exposed to more pressure as it had obviously done with the previous "hop".

It also needs to be noted that the anchor only managed this when it hit a less dense patch of weed. The long drag mark shows it was given some force in the medium weed over a considerable distance and could not hold the boat until it hit the lighter weed patch.

The Bruce/Claw is not my favourite anchor in weed. The anchor has to dig in what are essentially three separate, reasonably broad, flukes to get a good grip. However, in this example it was at least making a start and most anchors do not even manage that in this sort of weed.

[noelex 77]

One presentation means little, but I hope that by viewing photos of every anchor we have seen over the last 18 months, members can judge for themselves the patterns that I have been observing for years.

Despite the multitude of different boats and skippers dropping these anchors, the results for the same design tend to be remarkably consistent in similar substrates.

This was another Delta. It is almost identical to a host of other Deltas I have photographed.

Unfortunately for the Delta, in this sort of substrate with hard underlying sand it means a long distance to set and most of the grip is produced by scraping the sand in front of the fluke.

Notice the owner of this Delta has welded a small tang on top of the fluke, I presume to help secure the anchor when it is on the bow roller.

[noelex 77]

This was a grapnel.

These could be called homemade, but they are sold like this in the chandleries.

This example used rebar for the flukes. This sort of anchor does not have much relevance to yachts, but shows what is popular with the local fishermen.

It does indicate what little fluke area under the substrate is needed to hold the boat in light/moderate winds. Interestingly the local fishermen that use these anchors seem to preferentially drop the anchor in weed or rock. They tend to avoid the sand patches. The exact opposite of how we select anchor spots. This suggests, as you might expect, the limited fluke area does struggle unless it can grip onto the weed roots or a rock crevice.

[Jim Cate]

G'Day all,

After months of just looking at all the neat photos, we've finally found water that is clear enough and warm enough that I ventured in with my brand new GoPro, and had a go at my own anchor. I haven't quite got the hang of aiming a tiny camera without any viewfinder, but I hope to get better with a bit of practice.

At any rate, this is our 60 lb Manson Supreme on 10 mm chain, 12 feet depth, approximately 5:1 scope, lightly set at around 1/3 throttle. Bottom is fairly soft coral sand with a few larger chunks of coral mixed in. It seems to have set more or less immediately upon being pulled upon, and has buried the flukes completely. Ideal conditions, and I'm happy with the result.

Jim

[TeddyDiver]

Originally Posted by noelex 77

It does indicate what little fluke area under the substrate is needed to hold the boat in light/moderate winds. Interestingly the local fishermen that use these anchors seem to preferentially drop the anchor in weed or rock. They tend to avoid the sand patches. The exact opposite of how we select anchor spots. This suggests, as you might expect, the limited fluke area does struggle unless it can grip onto the weed roots or a rock crevice.

Or the limited fluke area makes it much better to penetrate into weedy bottom or between the rocks, which is why I prefer to have one fisherman onboard.

[SailRedemption]

Nolex, have you tried anchoring the Mantus in a weed bed to see its performance there? I'd be interested in seeing this, as I'm sure others would too. Not that I condone the practice of messing with the plant life if you can help it..

Sent from my VS986 using Tapatalk

[Kenomac]

Originally Posted by Jim Cate

G'Day all,

After months of just looking at all the neat photos, we've finally found water that is clear enough and warm enough that I ventured in with my brand new GoPro, and had a go at my own anchor. I haven't quite got the hang of aiming a tiny camera without any viewfinder, but I hope to get better with a bit of practice.

At any rate, this is our 60 lb Manson Supreme on 10 mm chain, 12 feet depth, approximately 5:1 scope, lightly set at around 1/3 throttle. Bottom is fairly soft coral sand with a few larger chunks of coral mixed in. It seems to have set more or less immediately upon being pulled upon, and has buried the flukes completely. Ideal conditions, and I'm happy with the result.

Jim

Jim and Monte,

Get yourself a red filter for your Gopro, which will take out the green tones and color correct. Just make sure you get the right one for the housing you use. There are two different models.

[Garrettw]

Originally Posted by Jim Cate

G'Day all,

After months of just looking at all the neat photos, we've finally found water that is clear enough and warm enough that I ventured in with my brand new GoPro, and had a go at my own anchor. I haven't quite got the hang of aiming a tiny camera without any viewfinder, but I hope to get better with a bit of practice.

...

Jim

In the absence of a red filter, a little post processing can help. Here is your first picture with the red boosted and then green and a bit of blue removed.