What Anchor?

[Brian]

Advice please.
What anchor (type and size) should I have for my boat.
I will anchor in reasonable shallow water although the sea-bed will vary enormously.
The boat will weigh about 3.5 tons and is 9.5m long.
Should I have two anchors?
The boat is not likely to be moored at anchor in adverse weather conditions.

[PeterL]

have a look at Spade anchors.
www.spade-anchor.co.uk

They are expensive, but if you have a 30K boat, why risk it with a £20 anchor?

Has anyone else any experience of this product.

[Louise]

Originally posted by PeterL
a 30K boat

Cough, cough, splutter, splutter! If you can get hold of a boat likes Brian's for £30k you'll find you suddenly make a lot of friends on this forum - me included. (That, or you'll get a visit from the boys in blue!)

You're making a good point though.

[simmons0]

Magazines are consistantly saying CQR anchors are the best of the lot.

[wavelength]

the books always say that the fisherman anchor is poor but when we were fishing all the time at anchor in strong tides that was the type we used cos it would dig thru weed,hook round rocks and dig into sand. However they do not stow that well. we have a bruce type anchor on one of our boats which is a one piece no moving parts anchor and is excellent. Not keen on CQR anchors as the have a moving part that can trap your (or more importantly "my") fingers. Dont like danforths for the same reason plus they tend to "kite" away as you pull 'em in.

[Brian]

Hmmm. Maybe you get what you pay for.
The Spade aluminium 7.0kg is £219 Excl. Vat.
The Bruce galvanised 7.5kg is £30.08 Incl. Vat

[Garygee]

Hi folks

Umm, a 7.5kg anchor on a 3.5 tone boat sounds light to me, unless its alloy.

I use a 10Kg Bruce on a 7.8M which weights maybe 1.5-2.0 ton

The other big thing to consider is the length & weight if chain.

A smaller anchor with lots of heavy long chain will perfom better then a heavy anchor with little light chain.

If it was me I would go for somthing around 15Kg with about 10M min of 3/8 chain. and the rest on 16 or 18mm rope.

As for two anchors YES, but maybe the second could be smaller, maybe 7.5Kg

My main is a 10kG bruce, 10M 5/16 chain +30M 14mm octoplat.
Second is 5Kg Bruce, 10M 1/4 chain +30M 12mm nylon.

The last thing about anchors is think of the tubes. Their are a few nice good peforming anchors out their which have some sharp points, Fortress, Brittany, Delta etc for example.

I like the ones with big round edges like the Bruce, CQR and other ones that bounce of tubes and not into them

Regards Gary

[Alan]

Sound advice from Gary. Brian you want as much chain to go with your anchor as you can practicably carry - at least 10m of chain.

[Brian]

Alan
Its good advice from all who replied.
I know what to do now.
Thanks everyone (what a useful and valuable website this is).

[Daniel]

I'm just rekitting three rescue boats for my sailing club and am unsure what anchor gear to buy. Bear in mind the job of the anchor is quite different to what we might expect of it (ie unlikely to be used), but must preform in an emergency never-the-less.

Space (and weight) are of a real premium, these boats are 16-18ft and have 30-40hp engines.

The operating area is not very deep, so i was thinking 15m rope (10mm) + 5m chain. Not sure of the anchor type - i like the danforth 'coz it folds well!

Any comments?

I'm also replacing the tow bridals and lines. Here are my thoughts:

Bridal - lenght tailored to boat, stainless caribner type arrangment each end with eyesplice onto rope. 10mm octoplat.

Tow-line - 6m of 10mm octoplet, unsure what to have on the ends. Although quick release is a nice idea the weight of a stainless fitting on the bridal is underisable i think. Equally a cariber on the bitter end would be nice but i don't think it's ideal for throwing to a casulity sailing boat (they hurt!).

Again any suggestions invited.

[Richard B]

Originally posted by Daniel
i like the danforth 'coz it folds well!

Any comments?

Daniel, bear in mind that the Danforth is a sand anchor, and if used in muddy areas it can become very well stuck. I know this to my cost - almost! I had to abandon a 12kg stainless danforth once... and went back to recover it at the next low water at 7am, to find a couple of local wide-boys attempting a "salvage claim" on it and the chain.

I think that if you're equiping rescue boats for use in a limited operating area then a survey (just use a chart!) of the sea bed in the local area together with the maximum depth will give you the answer - for example, if the sea bed is mostly sand then either danforth or a general purpose anchor like a bruce may the one to go for. Or perhaps a small "Brittany". Having used a danforth, I agree with Dave M's comments about trapped fingers! Then do the multiplication factor for depth to give the chain & warp length (4x if I remember correctly).

Order your octoplait from http://cgi6.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI...=3&since=-1 or clive@douglas01.freeserve.co.uk 'cos his prices are excellent. Dont use octuplets, you'll have the NSPCC on to you! And I reckon that throwing lines would be a great bit of kit to keep on the reccue RIBs.

Brian - are you aware that our friend in the Channel Islands uses a 7.5kg bruce on similar RIB to yours? These are rated for sailing yachts up to 9m which of course have more windage and probably weigh more than Cyanide.

[TAG]

Phil Davies is the expert on anchors! His Motto is "The Bigger the Better"

[Jelly]

Daniel
If you are re-equiping sailing club safety boats then in my mind octaplait for anything other than the anchor line is luxuray.

For the bridal use normal 3 strand nylon of a reasonable size, reason is as the carabina slides over the tow line it knicks and abrades. If you put carabinas on each end its very useful for other jobs like a foot step to get in when cliped to the lifelines and hence can disapear. I used to shackle one end to the transom to stop it walking, but then you must drill the users not to drop it - carabina & nice prop -
Also if you need to bin the tow in an emergency its the bridle that gets the knife.

Tow line - minimum of 10 to 15m last thing you want is the casuality surfing down one of your stern wave and into the engine cover - it gets expensive if its just the cover, really anoying if they get your spark plugs!!
A Carabina on one end of the tow line is useful, a so it can slide on the bridal ( opps wrong version got that stuff on brain) and b so if you are total inversion recovery or lee shore its a lot easier to reach under a clip onto shroud, fore stay etc than bugger around tieing knots.
I would also not use octiplait for this, though its idea for the shock loading. I 'm yet to meet a safety boat drive how has not a some time power winched the tow line ( collected the tow line round the prop) and then momentarly wondered why its gone quiet followed expletive delitive. The club I used to be at used soft ploy prop and hoped it lasted 2-3 seasons before some one destroyed it.
I would also recomend issuing 2 tow lines as if it bets hairy you might need ot bin one line or pass the tow line to another boat .
A couple of coastal clubs have put small hand buoys on the end, to float the end to people, ( also if your good it aids the trowing of the line to get some good acuracy - opps sorry was that your head!!)

For the anchor line put a hand bouy on the bitter end incase they have to leave the anchor some were in a hurry or get it snagged.

A good Idea I saw at one club was fitting samson posts on the safety boats even though they were 4.5m Tornados & Seariders. This made life alot safer not having to lean over the back of the boat to adjust the tow and you could work solo easily if needed.

When you are specing a safety boats anchor remember there can often be a load a dinghies hanging off you thus increasing your loading. But don't make it so big you fall over it and damage the crew when they are working. - Granny and Eggs I guess

Have fun
Jelly

[Mark Halliday]

Daniel.
I have made up a tow line with a 'monkeys fist' tied about 2ft from the end of the line and spliced a soft eye on the bitter end. The eye is just big enough to pass over the 'fist'. This gives a reasonable weight for throwing, but is non damaging (traditionally the 'monkeys fist' is loaded with lead but this is a bit OTT). To secure, pass the eye round a mast, thwart (sp?) or other fitting and push over the 'fist'. It will not let go under load but is easy to release when slack. Alternativly the eye can just be dropped over a cleat. Something like this was used to secure genoa sheets on a 34 foot racer I sailed many years ago. They very rarely flogged off and were easier than tying a bowline with cold wet hands.

I also intend to use a bridal beteen the 2 D rings on the transom. There will be a length of shock cord from the top of the A frame to a ring, which the brial will pass through. I hope that this will lift the bridal and my end of the tow line clear of the prop/engine when the load comes off or when not in use. I should also make the bridal/tow line easier to reach.

I hope that this makes sense.

[DGR]

The new (draft) MCA coding regs (probably a good guide?) for anchors recommends, for a 10m vessel:

Main anchor of 13kgs, with anchor cable with chain (short link)diameter of 8mm, and rope (nylon) diameter of 12mm.

Kedge of 6 kgs, with kedge cable with chain (short link) diameter of 6mm, and rope (nylon) diameter of 10mm.

Length of anchor cable should be 4 x overall length of the vessel or 30m, whichever is longer.

Note that it refers to 'High Holding Power' anchors, for Fisherman type anchors, you need to increase the weight by 75% (?!) but the cables are the same. And then it gets really confusing about Ali and Steel anchors - but doesn't explain it.


Dylan...

[Brian]

Interesting you got confused there DGR.

I scratched my head and couldn't work out why I need nearly double the weight of anchor (for a given boat) if I was going galvanised or stainless, as against half the weight if aluminium????????
Checkout the tables on any of the anchor company's websites.

Does a lighter anchor hold better???

Brian-Confused of Paignton

[Robert1]

Originally posted by Richard B
I had to abandon a 12kg stainless danforth once... and went back to recover it at the next low water at 7am, to find a couple of local wide-boys attempting a "salvage claim" on it and the chain.

Richard,

How did you deal with these two? Did you employ the use of some well chosen stern words or did you simply chase them off wielding your hook?!

Robert

[Richard B]

Didn't need to say a word... they knew they were on "thin ice" so when I drove along to the quayside and marched purposefully into the mud wearing waders and marigolds, they sussed that it was my gear!

[Headhunter]

Quote
Originally posted by Pete7
Later Louise, Richard is about

Wellies & Marigolds!!!

I thought it was S&M not W&M

[Richard B]

...and mud