Anchor observations

[noelex 77]

Thanks for the photo Ram
Taking a photo for me at 6am in 40 knots of wind is beyond the call of duty. Thanks
John

[Therapy]

Originally Posted by Ram

Noelex77 , btw my name is Ram
its 6am here in Ketheria, Greece and ive been stuck here waiting on wind to change a bit its been blowing 35=40 knots for days , in the wrong direction and im off on a 800 mile passage to Algeria when day breaks, so , im up took this picture of the Grapel type anchor that is very common in the Med, , this works better in weeds/rocks than anything I have so far and is by far the cheapest,less than $100 My cat is 38 feet and it has held well in 40-50 knot blows
, I think the Mason Subprime is built very strong and I think the chain would fail or something eles would break before it did, I had to enlarge the hole in the hull where the primary anchor lay for it to fit right, it may not fit in all boat designs

I think that would be a great second anchor.

Will it do anything in sand?

[Ancora Latina]

Originally Posted by noelex 77

I have been cruising the Med for the last year and it is an ideal laboratory for studying anchors......

I believe the Med is one of the most difficult ground to anchor in.. An anchor which perform well elsewhere, could be just useless in the Med, and thus for two reasons:
- first, most anchorages are over sand, very fine sand hard packed like concrete, and some anchors simply don’t penetrate.
- most anchorages are covered by weed, and your anchor has to penetrate deeply to reach the solid bottom under the weed.

If the Spade anchor is not that common, it is because it’s one of the most expensive one. Price justified by the difficulties of manufacturing. The Spade has been developed in the Med, for the difficult conditions of the Med and it’s the one which has the best penetrating characteristics, right penetrating angle and the most heavy tip.. But as the tip is heavily ballasted, its ratio “surface area / weight” is lower than the one of other “New generation” anchors.

Bugel anchor, very simple construction, the tip is very sharp but the weight repartition is one of the worse, due to the massive back part of the Fluke, and of the useless weight of the BSH also located on the back part.

Delta anchor, a good “general use” anchor, but usually less performing than the “New Generation” anchor.

Other “old school designs” : fully agree with your conclusions !..

[Ram]

[quote]Ancora Latina says

The Spade has been developed in the Med, for the difficult conditions of the Med and it’s the one which has the best penetrating characteristics, right penetrating angle and the most heavy tip.. But as the tip is heavily ballasted, its ratio “surface area / weight” is lower than the one of other “New generation” anchors.

I have a different experence with the Spade , it seems it does not peneatrate well in hard sand/weeds because of the size of the ballast hanging on the bottom of the anchor, - I will sell you mine for $400 off ($500usd)of the new price if you would like to have a second one ? I have the a140 its good for a 50 ft boat, its 3 years old and cost about $900 new anyone want it?

[Boomp]

Nice post. Doubt I'll get to the med but its probably similar to New England. We have it all. Mud, sand, rocks. Last year I used a 35#CQR and dragged like crazy on a silty mud bottom. [Boats a 30' Morgan OI, 9,500lbs] I went for the Rocna 15 and never dragged a foot. I do like that grapnel set up though. But I wonder if its even in our area.