Photos of Anchors Setting

[Jim Cate]

G'Day all,
Wanna see how a real expert anchors??? Here we are in Baie Pede, Island of Mare in the Loyalty Group of New Caledonia. Incredibly clear water, coral with sand patches, around 25 feet depth, good protection from the trade winds, and one of the most beautiful spots we've found yet!

So, maneuver over a big sand patch (not great light conditions) drop the hook, see a puff of sand, back down gently, then at full 2200 rpm for over a minute. Watch a good range, didn't move a bit, drove the bow down when the catenary came out. Home and hosed, right???

Have a look at this, seen the next day in good light:

I seem to have totally missed the big sand patch (now to the left of the anchor). The anchor has not penetrated the bottom at all, lying docilely upon its side, kinda wedged between a big chunk of coral and some smaller ones, with the chain wrapped about 60 degrees around the big one. Not so brilliant, but it held well, and we don't expect any significant wind shifts for days... so, I let it go. Been here three days now and it hasn't moved. Hope that it will come up when we leave soon, likely to be very early dawn and again, poor light for seeing what is going on below.

A bit embarrassing to post this, but I gotta be honest and show the ugly along with the good.

Jim

[kas_1611]

Jim,

Good to know I am not the only anchorholic to set his anchor upside down Thank you for sharing and making me feel better about myself.

Cheers and beers

Keiron

[noelex 77]

Thanks, Jim and Keiron.
The Vulcan is especially interesting. There is very little objective information about this anchor on the internet, so it is great to see some real results, both the good and the bad.

The next anchor is a CQR.

It is still on its side and does not look great at this stage, but it does show some promise.

Look at the setting mark. It is very shallow until just before the finish, when it becomes much deeper. This indicates the anchor has started to dig in better towards the end. Also, although the anchor is still on its side, it is starting the process of rotating upright. The setting distance of the articulated convex plow anchors is quite long and this anchor has not yet traveled a long way by CQR standards.

With the high list it does not look great at the moment, but my verdict would be that with a bit more force it would likely do much better. The sand looks very soft and the CQR can do quite well in this sort of substrate.

Note the wear on the pivot. The hole that the pin passes through has been enlarged and the faces have worn, especially on one side. The wear is often worse on one side when anchor is being tied the same way on the bow roller. Some CQRs are getting to stage where they should be replaced for this reason alone.

[noelex 77]

This was another convex plow anchor. I think this is an Anchorlift Shark. It was dropped by a charter yacht in 6m @ 3:1.

The convex plow anchors need quite a lot of scope to work well. In moderate anchoring depths they usually need 4:1 + to start to function. So this anchor was at a disadvantage, although at this stage little or no force had been put on the anchor and in the light wind the chain near the anchor was always on the ground.

Of concern was that once again this anchor was sitting with its toe well above the substrate. In this sort of position it has no hope of digging in. Would it have flopped over so that the toe was pointing down had it had been given more force?

When an anchor can balance in a stable way in this position it does illustrate, even if it subsequently tips over and adopts the correct toe down position, how little downwards force is present. The Shark has a heavy/tall shank and it will make this sort of behaviour more likely in my view. Reducing the weight in the shank is a big help, which is one reason why the Kobra is one of the better convex plow anchors. Unfortunately, with most convex plow designs there is not a lot tip pressure to cut into hard/weedy substrates, even when the shank is made as light as is feasible.

The skipper of the charter yacht swum over while I was looking at the anchor and asked if I could fix the anchor. I tipped it over into its correct setting position and also suggested he let out some more scope.

More photos and thoughts on this anchor in the next post.

[Jim Cate]

Nolex, that shark anchor appears to have a large ballast chamber in its tip. In theory, it should have been enough to force the tip downward... so I wonder if perhaps the anchor had been regalvanized and the lead not replaced?

Or perhaps is is a really bad design!

Jim

[sanibel sailor]

looking at the second pic, there is a mark from the sweep of the shank. I see a reverse landing and an anchor that has rotated ~110 degrees but is not yet lined up with the rode. Just hasn't been yanked on yet enough to flip and initiate setting.

[jongleur]

[/QUOTE]

Yet another swivel put directly on the shaft,
and it's getting tweaked with the angle of
pull in the picture.

[Jim Cate]

Originally Posted by jongleur

Yet another swivel put directly on the shaft,
and it's getting tweaked with the angle of
pull in the picture.[/QUOTE]

Agreed, but if that anchor does not ever dig in any better, it will never hurt the swivel!

Jim

[chasfgr]

peen the end of the bolt over in a "belt and braces" approach. An alternative would be to add some Loctite as well, although this may effect how the nyloc part functions.

I can assure you that cyano-acrylic thread lock works equally well in plastic as it does with steel to steel contact.

[noelex 77]

Originally Posted by Jim Cate

Nolex, that shark anchor appears to have a large ballast chamber in its tip. In theory, it should have been enough to force the tip downward... so I wonder if perhaps the anchor had been regalvanized and the lead not replaced?

Or perhaps is is a really bad design!

Jim

I think it we need to consider if these anchors could have been modified (or are non genuine).

Lead ballast is more expensive, and makes the anchor very difficult to regalvanise, so it is not used very frequently in steel anchors. Lead has the advantage that it keeps the ballast chamber much smaller (or allows for more ballast in the same sized chamber). A less bulky tip (or more weight) helps penetration into hard substrates.

Manufacturers often neglect to mention their ballast material. I suspect because steel ballast sounds cheap. All the Simpson Lawrence genuine CQR anchors use steel ballast for example, when most people believe it is lead.

There are exceptions. Spade is the obvious example of using lead ballast, but there are other surprising models such as the Quickset QSR which is otherwise an ordinary convex plow anchor.

Anchorlift don't specify a ballast material for the Shark, which probably means it is steel.

Increasing the tip weight would help eliminate the balance problem and importantly would also give this sort of design of anchor more chance of penetrating a hard or weedy substrate. Unfortunately, adding weight to the tip means the fluke area must be reduced (for a given weight of anchor) and the tip becomes bulkier. The fluke area of the convex plow anchors is not high to begin with.

Although resting in this "toe up" attitude is unusual for convex plow anchors, it is not unprecedented. See posts #1795 , #633 and #1746.

From post #1795 another Shark:




From post #633 a Delta that was dragging with its toe in the "air":




From post #1746 another Delta that with its toe in the "air":




For a convex plow anchor to rest in this position with no toe engagement and even worse stay in this position as it is pulled is rare, but it does indicate there is not a lot of downwards tip force even when the anchor is resting in the correct setting position.

[noelex 77]

My second concern with this anchor was the corrosion on the underside. This looked to have penetrated through the thick sole plate in an anchor that was otherwise in good condition:




For most convex plow anchors (Delta, Kobra etc) the ballast is totally sealed so that there is no chance that salt water can penetrate. The galvanising protects the outside. The ballast is moulded with no internal air space, so re-galvanising is no problem.

Not a great photo, but this is a Delta with totally sealed ballast:





Most convex plow anchors are constructed like this, but some (this is not confined to the Shark) are constructed with this welded cover plate covering the ballast. Unfortunately, this creates an air space. Chambers like this cannot be galvanised without venting or they explode. If this sort of construction is used sometimes the cover plate is not continuously welded (to allow some venting), but the zinc coating tends to cover up the gaps when the anchor is new so look carefully. Sometimes an obvious vent hole is added, as on this Shark.





Anchors sit toe down on the bow roller so this is particuarly a concern for a ballast chamber like this. It is very hard for vent holes to allow drainage of this ballast chamber. If salt water sits in this chamber and the ballast is steel, particularly with minimal/no galvanising inside the plate, internal corrosion is likely to occur.

Corrosion from the inside out (like a steel boat) can look fine until just before perforation. It looks to me that the area of corrosion on this anchor has occurred from this mechanism, but judge for yourself. It is possible the corrosion has occurred from the outside.

A lot has been posted about bent shanks, but far more anchors are retired because of corrosion. Many good quality anchors are protected with a warranty that covers bending, but corrosion is generally not covered even if the anchor's construction is a factor in its vulnerability.

If the toe weight is steel, in my view the chamber should be totally sealed with no air gap (or completely open to allow a good zinc coating) if you want a good anchor life. A cover plate with small vent holes or discontinuous welding is not ideal.

The most important factor is anchor performance, but anchor life is something that should also be considered. The above is only my opinion and I am not expert in galvanising, so I would encourage you to take a look and judge for yourself how you feel an anchor will hold up in a salt water environment. Areas that can collect and hold salt water, especially with steel ballast that has not been fully galvanised (because it is behind a cover plate) concern me.

[wsmurdoch]

Originally Posted by noelex 77

For most convex plow anchors (Delta, Kobra etc) the ballast is totally sealed so that there is no chance that salt water can penetrate. The galvanising protects the outside. The ballast is moulded with no internal air space, so re-galvanising is no problem.

Not a great photo, but this is a Delta with totally sealed ballast:

I have a 35lb Simpson Lawrence Delta anchor. When I took it to be re-galvanized, I was told that it had a lead filled tip, but it could be re-galvanized if it were hung with the hole (which was at that time completely invisible) facing up when the anchor was submerged in the molten zinc bath (molten lead being more dense than molten zinc). When I got the anchor back, the hole was plainly visible, and some of the lead had splashed out. I heated the tip up with a torch and ran less than an ounce of lead solder into the hole to fill it.

[Spade Anchor]

Originally Posted by wsmurdoch

I have a 35lb Simpson Lawrence Delta anchor. When I took it to be re-galvanized, I was told that it had a lead filled tip, but it could be re-galvanized if it were hung with the hole (which was at that time completely invisible) facing up when the anchor was submerged in the molten zinc bath (molten lead being more dense than molten zinc). When I got the anchor back, the hole was plainly visible, and some of the lead had splashed out. I heated the tip up with a torch and ran less than an ounce of lead solder into the hole to fill it.

Can someone help? This picture looks like all of the lead is gone not just some that dripped out.
The beginning weight before re-galvanized needs to be checked against the "finished" weight, but I do not have the answer to that. Just wanted to see if anyone knew more about this anchors "lead filled tip".

[wsmurdoch]

Originally Posted by Spade Anchor

Can someone help? This picture looks like all of the lead is gone not just some that dripped out.
The beginning weight before re-galvanized needs to be checked against the "finished" weight, but I do not have the answer to that. Just wanted to see if anyone knew more about this anchors "lead filled tip".

I did weigh the anchor before and after its being re-galvanized. It actually gained a fraction of an ounce after I added the lead solder.

Here is another picture of the hole that appeared after the anchor was re-galvanized. With a little more light you can see the ragged splashed metal around the hole. The inside of the hole was similarly ragged.


I probed the inside of the hole with a piece of stiff wire and found the deepest spot. It felt like a well in a generally much smaller void. Here is a picture of a vernier measuring the depth of the well.
[

As I said in the original note, I heated the tip with a torch then ran about an ounce of lead solder from a plumber's bar of solder into the hole filling it completely.

The galvanizing shop (Bristol Galvanizing, now AZZ) was familiar with the anchor and its handling when being re-galvanized.

[noelex 77]

Thanks for the details WSMurdock. Intriguing.

Anchor manufacturers are very cagey about how their anchors are constructed. This is a pity. We should be able to assess the corrosion resistance and difficulty re-galvanising etc before buying the anchor.

I wonder if the galvanisers got it wrong and assumed the Delta had lead ballast behind a cover plate (as some convex plow anchors do). With lead or steel ballast behind a cover plate there is a danger of explosion when re-galvanising without adequate vent holes. Consequently before re-galvanising they drilled a "vent" hole into what they thought was the cover plate, but was actually solid steel.

The "vent" hole taking less than an ounce of lead (which is very little) also fits in with this theory. Rather than refilling gaps in the ballast chamber, the lead was simply refilling the drill hole.