Adding a weight on anchor chain

[beirutsailor]

Originally Posted by Popeye2

A new one delivered would be too expensive for me. No chance for a used one near. Whats the best anchor for mud?

I am amazed by the number of respondents suggesting a bigger anchor, Bruce, Danforth, etc. There is now overwhelming evidence for the vastly superior performance of the new generation spade anchors, where size no longer matters much. A Plastimo Kobra performs almost as well as a Rocna, and cost's $ 200. You will also need to replace half your chain with an elastic rode, even if you use an old engine block to tie it down. Of course, a second anchor (deployed!) is obligatory.

[TrentePieds]

You need to have about 60 metres (= approximately 200 feet) of rode out. 300 feet would be better. I doubt that the 35lb Bruce will cut it on its own. You obviously have to have room to swing commensurate with the scope. As Kristjan suggested an old engine block for a kellet will help. So will any lump of anything weighing about 300 lbs that you can shackle to the rode at about the halfway point. At this point the rode needs to be chain lest it chafe.


In the past I've used a "slug" of concrete cast in an old plastic garbage can. New ones will do as well :-) Cured concrete weights 150 lbs a cubic foot. So now you can do your own math. My garbage cans are cone stubs 2.5 feet high and 1.5 feet in diameter at mid-height. Casting in a piece of chain is a piece of cake.


Even with this set-up, I would go aboard and be prepared to go out into deep water when the wind begins to blow. You are on a lee shore when that happens, are you not?


TrentePieds

[boatman1]

Several previous posters have it right: what you need is a mooring. With wind and tidal flow changing the situation frequently and your need for the boat to stay pretty much in the same place, a heavy something in the mud with a stout swivel to which you attach a rode only long enough to allow for the highest of high tides is what's required.

[noelex 77]

Originally Posted by Popeye2

There is now overwhelming evidence for the vastly superior performance of the new generation spade anchors

You will not have too many disagreeing with the above, but I also don’t think you will have many takers that would put the Kobra in the “new generation spade anchors” category.

[newhaul]

Originally Posted by Popeye2

A new one delivered would be too expensive for me. No chance for a used one near. Whats the best anchor for mud?

for mud IMO it would be a danforth or fortress due to their specific design . I have never had an issue with either . But as others have stated when it starts to blow you need scope.
The alternative to swing room would be double anchor . One bow on a 5:1 at extreme high tide . And the same on a similar sized stern anchor . Pointing you into the prevailing winds.

[Popeye2]

Originally Posted by beirutsailor

I am amazed by the number of respondents suggesting a bigger anchor, Bruce, Danforth, etc. There is now overwhelming evidence for the vastly superior performance of the new generation spade anchors, where size no longer matters much. A Plastimo Kobra performs almost as well as a Rocna, and cost's $ 200. You will also need to replace half your chain with an elastic rode, even if you use an old engine block to tie it down. Of course, a second anchor (deployed!) is obligatory.

Wow.. That is cheap. Thanks.

[Don C L]

It sounds like you are determined to, or must, leave your boat there. You say it is an estuary. Do large swells come in with the storms and/or 50 kt gusts? Can you lay out anchors bow and stern? Any way to get more than 25m? Any diagram or photos? Are there other boats in there already on moorings?

[Popeye2]

Originally Posted by Don C L

It sounds like you are determined to, or must, leave your boat there. You say it is an estuary. Do large swells come in with the storms and/or 50 kt gusts? Can you lay out anchors bow and stern? Any way to get more than 25m? Any diagram or photos? Are there other boats in there already on moorings?

I am told that some years storms bring an extra meter or two in. Have been known to move even boats on moorings. No photo. Google. ALVOR. in Portugal. The long river section between sea entrance and town. .
No chance for long chain. All moorings are being removed. They will be replaced after 3 months with new government ones. Meanwhile we are told to bugger off or anchor. Marina costs are very high in Portugal.

[Don C L]

Is the 25m the limit you have of the circle to swing in?

[Mike Banks]

Yes you are. A kellet should be added to the chain wherever possible if there is any chance of bad weather, and can be any substantial weight but I like mine to be as heavy as I can lift easily aboard. I use kettle weights. Cheapo, cast iron and ideal for the job, no sharp points and easily handled. I paint them white so I can see the kellet in the deck lights, and as soon as its linking chain comes aboard I can lift it aboard and unclip it, then secure it before retrieving the rest of the chain rode and anchor. If the vessel is pitching, one does not need a heavy weight roiling about on deck. A box tied to a stanchion will serve as a temporary home.


It might seem obvious, but the kellet must never be closer to the anchor than twice the depth of water at high tide. (you have to be able to remove the kellet while the anchor is still on the bottom) Further away is better, up to half of the total amount of chain out is ideal, with a scope of at least five to one or better.

[JD-Odyssey]

Originally Posted by Don C L

Unfortunately the kellet doesn't give what an anchor needs, more scope. It may be of use in dampening the shock loads, but for holding power, once the anchor rode is pulled taut, if things get that bad, the scope is what will determine if the anchor will continue to hold, given that it is big enough in the first place.
Sinking a Myth – The Anchor Kellet
I would concede that it makes it harder for the rode to be pulled taut though.

I tend to agree. I had used a 15 kg kellet years ago thinking it would help dampen the fish-tailing our boat did at anchor. In heavy winds, the rode goes taught, the kellet rises and you lose the catenary angle you had at the anchor. It often became a pain I the a** as the line to the kellet would often get tangled with the rode (we have a rope rode with 25 ft of chain). So, I rarely if ever use it anymore. Where I have used it effectively is in a tight anchorage on relatively calm days where I want to reduce our swing because everyone else around me appears to have all chain rode. (I use either a bridle or a stabilizing sail to stop fishtailing now.)

[philiosophy]

I understand the dilema. I am at anchor in Bundaberg Australia near the city. There is swirling winds, currents from all directions and it is an especially boistrus year according to locals. Here I suspect the mud is not too deep and it is on top of hard clay. My 25 kilo Rochna with 140’ of 8mm chain holding a 12 ton gross boat in a tidal range of 12-20’ is only good most of the time. You could try putting a secondary anchor on say 40’ of chain ahead of your Bruce except you probably do not have the proper attachment point like the Rochna. Then there is the problem of making. sure you could get it all up by yourself in a reasonable amount of time.
Have a good look around you and explore the options for more chain out etc. If your budget is so tight you may not be able to afford this cruising life. It is at times somewhat expensive.

[newhaul]

A Kellet is not an alternative to scope in a blow.
One other thing nobody has mentioned is the need for a proper rode bridle and chain hook.to absorb shock loading.
Here is a picture of my diy unit .
Adjust the bridle length as appropriate for your vessel

[beirutsailor]

Originally Posted by noelex 77

You will not have too many disagreeing with the above, but I also don’t think you will have many takers that would put the Kobra in the “new generation spade anchors” category.

"Looking at the results we have a group of anchors — call them “old generation,” the CQR, Delta, and Bruce — that might have a holding capacity of 750kg for a 15kg anchor set properly in a good holding seabed. We have another group of anchors, the “new generation,” Fortress, Spade, Super SARCA, SARCA Excel, Manson Supreme and Kobra — that have a holding capacity of 1500kg for the same weighted 15kg anchor." from
http://www.mysailing.com.au/news/testing-the-new-generation-of-anchors

[Mike Banks]

A kellet gives the same effect as having more scope., That is the whole idea!!

And--I have no idea under what circumstances someone found they were in any way unsuitable. A kellet does not make an inadequate anchor or inadequate scope adequate, but it will certainly help.

I have always used them and will continue to do so because my experiences, and those of my friends, are that they gave the same effect as a far greater scope, and sometimes there are just too many other vessels to have as much unassisted scope (and therefore swing) as one desires.

A kellet is a HUGE advantage, in spite of their having to have a box in which to live when not in use.. Do not let anyone put you off using them whenever you can. They will not be suffering any loss should your vessel slam back hard on its chain, break free and go ashore, or worse, sink another vessel.

It is surfing a wave backwards that jerks a chain so hard it can tear out a deck cleat or dislodge even a well set anchor. A kellet will soften this effect by providing some give as it lifts from the bottom, and will keep the angle of chain to the anchor as low as possible in the circumstance. That has to be an excellent thing.