Anchors are a Drag... Waking Up On a Beach in Our Boat

[ontherocks83]

Originally Posted by monte

Swim with it Maybe?

That's what I was trying to avoid. Sometimes the water is too cold or for various other reasons it may not be an option to go swimming.

[monte]

Flippa could do it. Dunno now wifi works underwater..

[IdoraKeeper]

No matter what you do, dragging will happen if you anchor enough. I thought I would drag during a frontal passage and 40 KT blow this week, luckily it didn't happen in this case. If its a given that sooner or later you will drag. The question becomes not what ground tackle you use but what warning you get and how you react. Particularly if your boat sails on the anchor like mine does.
I use my Nexus 7 tablet and Anchor Watch Pro. The battery life is good for better than 24 hours. The GPS accuracy varies between 13 and 19 feet at my latitude. So the limits must be set to account for this to avoid nuisance alarms. Otherwise its reliable and user friendly. A great sleep aid.
Normally, I will stand anchor watch if it blows too hard and fire up the furnace and the plotter to reposition if the anchor let's go on a dark and stormy night. I a!so have an infrared night scope to verify my position relative to hazards floating and fixed. To me its worth the loss of sleep to be able to respond quickly. Though the fatigue then must be managed.
I am glad the OP was lucky. There but for pure fortune go I.

[Kenomac]

Originally Posted by ontherocks83

Anyone have any ideas using a GOPRO camera. They make housings that are good to 60' deep and I think you can get remote viewing through a smart phone or tablet. I just can't think of how to get it to the anchor. Thoughts?

I use a Gopro Hero+ for my underwater shots. You have to swim with it. I have a long 12ft poll, but the wifi connection to an iPhone won't transmit from underwater. The salesman said it would... But it won't. We tried. As soon as you dunk the camera, the connection is cut.

[ontherocks83]

Originally Posted by Kenomac

I use a Gopro Hero+ for my underwater shots. You have to swim with it. I have a long 12ft poll, but the wifi connection to an iPhone won't transmit from underwater. The salesman said it would... But it won't. We tried. As soon as you dunk the camera, the connection is cut.

Thanks for the info. That is right along what I was thinking. Too bad it won't work like that.

[Exile]

Originally Posted by Kenomac

I use a Gopro Hero+ for my underwater shots. You have to swim with it. I have a long 12ft poll, but the wifi connection to an iPhone won't transmit from underwater. The salesman said it would... But it won't. We tried. As soon as you dunk the camera, the connection is cut.

Thanks for an informative & useful thread, Kenomac. Like you, I also appreciate the promising anchor apps it has led to.

I was curious if you or anyone else subscribed to the technique of allowing wind/current to set your anchor (more slowly, obviously) vs. backing down with the engine. Can't imagine it would be applicable to the situation you encountered (what would?!), but I've read positive endorsements from what appear to be credible sources on other threads. The thinking I recall is a slower anchor set makes for potentially more reliable holding as the anchor will set deeper. Not sure how or why, and never tried it personally, so just curious . . . .

On your GoPro, when I first looked at them awhile back they had just introduced their wifi and it didn't seem reliable based on the reviews. Has it worked reliably for you? On deck that is, not underwater. My thoughts are more towards using it as a cam or watchkeeping device when I'm below than for recording vids. I think it could also be useful on a pole to check things out underneath the boat. Can it be plugged into the boat's battery power when on deck or are you limited to recharging/replacing its own batts?

Thanks,
Dan

[Kenomac]

Dan,

I think the Gopro will work fine for your application. If it doesn't, I believe gopro offers a 30 day return policy, no questions asked.

Regarding a slow anchor set... It doesn't seem to work well around here. Our anchor digs in deeper if the drop is a somewhat violent release of the windlass clutch allowing the anchor to fall and bust up the bottom, then we reverse at idle for a minute or two, then slowly increase the revs over a five to ten minute period all the way up to full throttle. In Southern California mud or in known sand, a slow method of allowing the anchor to dig in on it's own seems to work fine.

But here in Sardinia, the bottom is hard even when it's sand, or it's covered with vegetation, so we need to be a little more aggressive.

Ken

[Scot McPherson]

The problem with "dropping" the anchor is the chain can get fouled in the anchor. That can have pretty unpredictable results.

[Kenomac]

Originally Posted by Scot McPherson

The problem with "dropping" the anchor is the chain can get fouled in the anchor. That can have pretty unpredictable results.

I just let 30ft drop. When we're finished anchoring and backing down, I go for a swim with mask and fins.... Dive down and have a look. With our Ultra anchor, it always drops with the point down because of the weighted point and air buoyancy built into the shank. Since there's no roll bar or extensions, even if some anchor chain gets dropped on top of it, the chain just slides off without getting snagged on the anchor. I've haven't yet seen that happen, except for one time the anchor landed on a large flat rock, and the chain snagged the rock.

But I can certainly see what you suggest happening with other anchor designs.

[noelex 77]

Originally Posted by Scot McPherson

The problem with "dropping" the anchor is the chain can get fouled in the anchor. That can have pretty unpredictable results.

I have usually been allowing the anchor to free fall down for quite a while now. Initially with the Rocna and for the last 4 months with the Mantus.

I have not noticed any problems. If the chain catches under or around the anchor it simply pulls free as the chain tightens. The anchor will not set and bury until the chain is tight.

The theory is that the rapid drop breaks up harder ground when the anchor lands. I am not sure this is necessarily true, but it does no harm and lands with a very satisfying splat and explosion of sand .

The only real drawback is that it much harder to hit a small target. If I want the anchor to land in a very specific spot (for example, a small patch of sand in amongst some weed) then the best way is to lower the anchor almost to bottom and drop it the last little bit when directly over the desired spot. The Mantus in particular tends to "fly" rather than drop straight down,

It is important when using the free fall method to control the windlass clutch carefully to avoid the chain landing in just one big pile.

[cagney]

Nolex

The Mantus in particular tends to "fly" rather than drop straight down

How reliable is this "flight"? Is the direction predictable?

I have use the very predictable flight pattern of the original Bruce, to avoid chain pileup on top of the anchor. Bruce "flies" in the direction of the shank, claw forward. If I should guess anything, this goes back some time, I would say it moves about 3 - 4 m forward in 7 - 9 m of depth, free fall, rapid drop.

Thomas

[noelex 77]

Originally Posted by cagney

Nolex
How reliable is this "flight"? Is the direction predictable?

It always just straight ahead, but it is a bit unpredictable how far ahead it lands. It tends to fly forward, stalls, then flys forward again.

One advantage is that it always seems to land upright so it starts setting from the same position.

Note: The behaviour may be different with different chain. My G7 chain is reasonably lightweight for the anchor size.

[Exile]

Ken -- Thanks for your reply on the GoPro & the slow anchor set. I'd worry about clogging my engine seawater strainer when backing down for as long as you described. But I'm usually in shallower water with either mud or sand, and it's generally not necessary to back down for very long. Where you are it doesn't sound like there's much on the bottom to churn up, and that of course is the problem!

One note of caution on going to a larger anchor. When I went about upgrading the 45lb. CQR that came with my boat, I contacted my windlass mfg. and they cautioned going beyond 60-70 lbs. based on my windlass model capacity. So I went with a 60 lb. Manson Supreme with 200' of 3/8" chain & 150' of rope rode. The next size up is an 80 lb.

Dan

[Jim Cate]

One note of caution on going to a larger anchor. When I went about upgrading the 45lb. CQR that came with my boat, I contacted my windlass mfg. and they cautioned going beyond 60-70 lbs. based on my windlass model capacity. So I went with a 60 lb. Manson Supreme with 200' of 3/8" chain & 150' of rope rode. The next size up is an 80 lb.

Would you mind sharing make and model of windlass with us, please?

Thanks,

Jim

[Terra Nova]

The Pardey's did all their anchoring with no motor at all.