Painting the Anchor

[Captain Anthony]

Ahoy, I have looked through about 200 threads but couldn't find any information regarding cleaning and painting my anchor.

My vessel came with what looks like to be a 15 to 20 year old CQR 45lb anchor. I would like to clean, prime and paint the anchor, probably silver.
Can anyone offer any suggestions?
Thank you,
Capt. Anthony

[George_SD]

I've done that in the past with an old anchor that was kind of rusty. I've used a wire brush attachment for an angle grinder to take the rust off. Once I got that, I've covered it with Rustoleum Professional Enamel Gloss Aluminum Spray. Came out pretty good and is definitely helping to slowdown rusting.


Just be realistic about expectations - once the anchor goes down, scrapes on rocks, paint nicks and chips - water will get in and it will start to rust again. This is just a temporary solution to slow it down.

If you want to do it right - find a local place that has a galvanizing tank. They can dunk the anchor into it and restore rest fighting properties in a better way.

[Orion Jim]

Cold galvanizing compound comes in a rattle can from several manufacturers. Big box stores and auto parts stores stock them. It’s the next best thing to hot dipped galvanizing and is superior to “paint” for this application.

[Fore and Aft]

Captain Anthony make sure the pivot pin is not to worn before you spend any money. The plow should just pivot left to right and not nod up and down.
Cheers

[NevilleCat]

Also if you go down the route of getting it commercially re-galvanised be aware you may lose all the lead from the tip of a CQR. It happened to me and I had to find a scrap metal place and melt down some old diving weights and pour them into the tip.
Melting lead is not a big deal but wiuyd mcbvkjh rrrfy.

[BillKny]

Originally Posted by Captain Anthony

Ahoy, I have looked through about 200 threads but couldn't find any information regarding cleaning and painting my anchor.

My vessel came with what looks like to be a 15 to 20 year old CQR 45lb anchor. I would like to clean, prime and paint the anchor, probably silver.
Can anyone offer any suggestions?
Thank you,
Capt. Anthony

Is painting an anchor a good or useful idea? I guess it depends on how you are going to use it…

Are you ACTUALLY going to anchor? You know, drop it to the bottom of the ocean and have it dig into the sand and rock of the bottom? Painting would be worthless. It would wear off in days, if not hours.

Or maybe you are using your anchor as a bow ornament? To look pretty in the marina? Sure… go ahead. If you do a good enough job with the silver paint, from a distance it might even look like a $5,000 stainless steel anchor. As a side benefit, actual cruisers—who actually anchor—will find it a source of amusement.

[Don C L]

I paint mine white, and the chain too, but that is not for cosmetics; it's so that I have a better chance of seeing it setting, or not, from the bow, which for me in my area can be very helpful. And the paint stays on pretty well, especially if prepped/primed with a rust converting primer (if rust is the issue). It doesn't wipe off after the first few times you anchor. Yes, you'll need to keep touching it up if how it looks is important. If your anchor is not rusty I would recommend not painting it.

[Calif.Ted]

I wirebrushed the rusty parts like the pick (point) looks like galvanizing has worn off at the "wear" points. Then sprayed with Rustoleum cold galvanizing, says not to prime, it looked gorgeous, like new, for about 2 weeks. Then the rust started coming back at those wear points. If I get ambitious this winter I might try again only with rusty metal primer and gloss white. Couldn't be any worse and I've done rusty steel beams in waterfront locations with primer and gloss that last for years.

[psk125]

We painted our spare anchor to keep it from rusting in the locker it sits in, unused, for years at a time. Rustoleum worked well.

[chrisr]

going off on a small tangent (after all this is CF...it's what we do) : why would you bother wasting time on an old CQR ?

invest the money in a modern anchor that will actually hold your boat (ie SARCA or rocna or mantus or several others - there is a thousand threads here on which one is best and why)

you will sleep a lot easier if you do

if in doubt, look at some of the hours of testing video done by panope

cheers,

[HopCar]

Get a better anchor. Painting a CQR is like putting lipstick on a pig.

[Captain Anthony]

Thank you for all of your replies. Actually, I'm not a "cruiser" yet. I'm a day sailor in the Great South Bay here on the south shore of Long Island NY. I sail usually for 4 to 6 hours at a time. The anchor has not been dropped in all of the time that I have been in possession of the vessel. There is no rust on the anchor. My thought was to prime and paint the anchor to inhibit any rust from forming. What are thoughts on a product to prep the anchor before applying primer and paint?
Thank you again!

[rslifkin]

Originally Posted by Captain Anthony

Thank you for all of your replies. Actually, I'm not a "cruiser" yet. I'm a day sailor in the Great South Bay here on the south shore of Long Island NY. I sail usually foe 4 to six hours at a time, all weather dependent. The anchor has not been dropped in all of the time that I have been in possession of the vessel. There is no rust on the anchor. My thought was to prime and paint the anchor to inhibit any rust from forming. What are thoughts on a product to prep the anchor before applying primer and paint?
Thank you again!

If the galvanizing on it is still good and it's not rusting, just leave it as-is. The galvanizing is far more durable than most paints you could put over it.

[Calif.Ted]

Fire engines had steel diamond plate on the "tailboard" (think swimstep) which we painted silver every quarter to prevent rust. Got a new engine with shiny aluminum diamond plate, came in one morning and it had been painted silver.

[rwidman]

If you actually use an anchor, any paint will wear off pretty quickly.

That said, assuming that your anchor is galvanized, buy some "cold galvanizing" paint and use this if you want to touch up any rusty spots. Follow the directions on the paint can.