Temporary mooring

[Brig o' Logi]

I'm looking for a bit of advice about how heavy a weight to use for a "temporary mooring".

I keep my rib in a boatyard at my caravan site and drag her down to the launch area when I'm there for the weekend/week.

Rather than recover her after every use, I am looking to make my life a little bit easier by mooring her in the shallows when not in use.

The shallows being about 2 to 3 feet of freshwater loch with a sandy/silty bottom.

I have been thinking about using a steel weight (a kettlebell or a flat weightlifting plate) with about 1 metre of chain and a short piece of rope to a small pick-up buoy.

But my dilema is how heavy a weight?

The boat is a Brig Eagle 380 and has a 50hp Honda o/b - together they weigh just over 300kg.

I've read that "mushroom anchors" can hold about 10 times their weight and have therefore been thinking about a 30kg kettlebell.

However, my 4kg folding grapnel anchor seems to hold her quite well in calm to breezy conditions (albeit when she is not out of my sight) so is 30kg a bit over the top?

I realise it may not be the weight of the grapnel but what it is digging into.

Any advice on any aspect of this is most welcome.

Many thanks.

[Pikey Dave]

How about dropping your anchor over the stern & taking a line from the bow to the shore & tying off to something solid on shore

ee lad, tha can't educate pork

[BogMonster]

Presumably if it is only 2 or 3 feet of water then you have the option of digging a hole and burying your 30kg anchor weight into the silt before use, in which case I'd think it would be highly unlikely to move anywhere.

Otherwise I'd go along with PD's idea except buy a big cheap secondhand Danforth or similar, several sizes bigger than the boat needs, and use that. I nearly bought an oversize Fortress with the same idea in mind recently, but never got around to it.

Nothing better than overkill to ensure peace of mind

[jambo]

Hi Bof L
I am just up the loch from you at Tayvallich for my tender I use a 5kg graple anchor as a point and have a slip line ashore. This has held my 3m sib for years there is not much 'windage' on a rib or sib. You'll be fine.
maybe catch up sometime on the water, I was down at Kilmory last week lovely day nearly poped over to Jura but put into Elian Mhor instead for picnic.

J