anchor placement offshore

[RDW]

I have a Ronca 33 and a 35# bruce on my 46 foot boat. I did the Caribbean 1500 Nov 2011 and they slapped around a lot when The bow would dip down enough for the water to hit the bottom of one or both anchors. Made terrible noise and the potential for eventual damage.
What do others do to prevent this.
RDW

[zeehag]

stow anchors inboard on deck closer to mast.

tie anchors to pulpit so thy dont fall off or entangle in anything.

a 33 POUND bruce?? not big enough for a 46 ft boat. get a larger one. if it is 35KG then is good, but borderline.

[RDW]

The Ronca 33 is 33 kg which is correct size. The 33 bruce is lunch anchor
rdw

[SV Liberty]

We carry a Rocna 25 kg and a Bruce 20 kg on the bow of our Morgan 41. Offshore both are tied back tight to cleats, but left in the bow roller. On the rare occurrence that we find ourselves pounding into seas (after several years of cruising, its an extremely rare occurrence, and we're likely to fall off enough for comfort), the occasional wave will slap the anchors around, but they are tight enough into the bow rollers that its not bad and I don't worry about damage. (On the other hand, leaving the anchor hanging to wash off sand/mud - say, when coming out of Marsh Harbour a few years ago - CAN cause damage to the bow if one forgets its hanging when one turns the corner into wind and waves!). I've considered removing the Bruce to an on-deck storage spot, but I would always want at least one hook in place - even well offshore - in case it had to be dropped fast in an emergency. I recall hearing the following advice to a damaged vessel being blown towards the reefs in Exuma Sound in an early-arriving cold front we were also battling: "if you get into 50 feet of water before we arrive to tow you in, put down your anchor with all of your rode, tied very securely to the bow." Plus, I would not want to go through the trouble of removing/replacing seizing wire every time we went offshore. But, I do want to get the extra 44 lbs of the secondary hook more aft and centerline. I can count on one hand the number of times I have put down a Bahamian moor in the last few years and 25k miles.

[RDW]

Thanks for the information from S/V Liberty. I have always heard that the anchor is a safty device that you want to have in place and ready to use. Do you do anything special to get the anchor very tight into the bow roller?
RDW

[sy_gilana]

When we do a crossing, or go offshore we always remove the anchor and stow it in the fwd locker lashed to the stairs. We then drop the chain down the spurling pipe with a lanyard attached. The Lanyard is looped around the windlass drum. A short section of "Pool Noodle" is stuffed into the spurling pipe hole. Upon arrival the chain is pulled out, led through the roller and back on deck, Anchor is shackled on, and dumped over the side directly to the bottom for setting. Sometimes, we will put the anchor back on when we are a day or two away from land. The same method is used for connecting, except a line is led to the trip line hole on the anchor and it is lowered into the roller. It is a 66 Lb Bruce, just about my limit for one hand and leaning over the rail.
In a downwind run its not necessary, but you never know if you have to beat, and for how long. 22 days of that clunk clunk would drive me (more) nutz.

[barnakiel]

Ours rides on the bow roller (we have a short bowsprit). I tie the anchor snug to the bowsprit for offshore. No movement, no noises.

b.

[speakeasy]

Perfectly timed thread for me. Just thinking of bringing one of my two bruce 44's back on deck or into the bilge, after hobby horsing into a norther a while back. Thinking one below and one belayed on deck. Now if I just had room below for my two outboards. Good info and confirmation by Liberty and a few good ideas from gilana. cheers

[Jim Cate]

G'Day all,

We've never felt the need to remove an anchor from the bow for passages on any of our yachts. If simply tensioning the chain isn't enough to keep the anchor from banging about, then adding a lashing has always sufficed to still it.

As to the weight distribution issue, I find it silly to think that 40-80 lbs of anchor left on the roller will have a noticeable effect on performance in typical cruising vessels. For those who doubt this I propose (yet again) that they do a simple experiment: Fill a 20 litre jug with water (44 lbs). Sail to windward in a decent chop. Then lash the jug to the bow pulpit and repeat the sail. See if there is a perceptible difference in ride, performance or whatever. If not, then removing the anchor will have little benefit for your boat.

Finally, I too believe that having an anchor ready to deploy at all times is a basic requirement of prudent seamanship. Further, having to lug that lump of iron up on deck and shackle it onto the chain, then mouse the shackle and wrestle the anchor in the roller, all while the boat might well be thrashing through near-shore waves, in the dark and with rain pissing down... wheee. what fun!

Cheers,

Jim

[bobconnie]

Ive always deck mounted my anchors at sea ! As far as safety is concerned, I also have always carried a Danforth rail mounted ready to go astern !! Maybe you would like a better anchor then that ! but it's been the anchor of choice for stern anchors for years !! always sticks somewhere!! and will stop ya dead and quick if ya need it !! Just my 2 cents

[SV Liberty]

RDW - sorry for the late reply. To secure the hooks (both of them) offshore, for each one I use a 3' or so length of line, with a bowline through the shackle and then run aft to a cleat. I have two bow cleats and a centerline cleat just aft of my deck-mounted (manual) windlass, and I just pull the line taut and cleat off to one of them. I tie them off like this almost anytime we are underway, even short hops or trips between islands. Then, if I need to deploy an anchor quickly, its a simple matter of loosening the line from the cleat. If necessary, I can just send the line down with the hook (its too short to foul on anything in a material way), or if I have time I untie the bowline and remove the line.

Re: "if I need to deploy an anchor quickly", what I'm always thinking of is the time we arrived in Riding Rock Marina in San Salvador on December 9th, after 6 nights at sea on passage from Beaufort NC, and a very vigourous last 24 hours. We sailed to within 1/4 mile of the marina where we had to go to clear in, turned on the engine, slowly motored up to the channel entrance, made contact with the marina staff who could guide us in between the sandbar and the breakwater, then motored through the narrow cut into the basin, all with the wind still blowing 25-30 kts. Once inside, and figuring out how to lay alongside the(upwind) concrete bulkhead that was to be our berth, the engine suddenly died and we were quickly blowing down on the docks on the downwind side of the marina. What to do? "Hey Gary (my brother and crew with us on that passage), drop a hook NOW!" Once securely anchored in the basin, we got the engine running and eventually to our spot on the wall. Could we have done it with a stern anchor? Yes, but not that quickly, certainly not before crashing down on one of the sportfishers on the downwind docks, because my stern anchor and its rode is even more securely and cumbersomely lashed into place.

Bottom line for me - always a bow hook in place, lashed in tight but quickly unlashable. More importantly - try hard, very hard, not to be beating to weather at sea.