Bent anchor shank

[sluissa]

I have a danforth 15 pound galvanized steel anchor I use primarily on my boat. During a mishap, which I may or may not go into later, I bent the anchor shank, probably of my own fault. I managed to get it mostly straightened out through use of a sledgehammer and brute force with a vice. Today, my anchor dragged because of another mishap, as I was re anchoring I noticed that the shank had bent again, into almost exactly the same position. Repeated the process of unbending it, but I'm afraid it might happen again.

Is my anchor junk at this point?
Was it always junk?
Should I just go for a new one?
Would it possible to take this one to a metal working place, have them heat it and straighten it? If I did this would it be stronger than what I'm doing now?

[Pblais]

Is my anchor junk at this point?

As far as protecting your boat and your life - pretty much it's worthless. When they fail physically they should be destroyed so no one else tries to use it again.

You don't fix fatigued metal. You might go for something bigger next time. Seeing that you have been around here a while we would rather you not become lost.

[Ram]

seems to me its a cheap anchor and maybe its time for a new one? I only use an anchor I would bet my boat/life on

[David M]

What size boat do you have? Go get another anchor but go one up in size this time and stay away from the cheapies. It's worth the insurance and the peace of mind.

[Morgan Paul]

Hi sluissa your anchor is becoming "Work Hardened". Take a nail and bend it back and forth in the same place and eventually it will break. If I was you I would get a new anchor.

[Morgan Paul]

You don't fix fatigued metal.

Pblais has stated this also.

[GMac]

Yeap, the board seems to agree time to change. Even if it never bends again it will always be in your mind it might and that's not a nice place to be. And if it does bend again it might not be at a good time and/or be spotted .

There is a chance you could get it straightened and reinforced but these days the cost of that may not be that different from just getting a new one.

[sluissa]

it's a 20 foot boat. Really, the anchor was fine until I kind of screwed it up I think. Still, where's a good place to get an anchor? West Marine is the only place locally that I can think of. Are the ones there reliable? Should I order one from somewhere and just pay the , I assume, extreme shipping fees? I'd really like to keep it the same size so I don't have to redo the mount on the foredeck that the anchor slips into. I never had a problem with it dragging until I bent the shank and currently the boat stays at anchor 24/7.

Thanks for the quick replies.

[David M]

The anchors at West Marine are good enough. Given you had the 15 pound before, you may want to go up to the 22 pounder. Seems kinda big for a 22 foot boat but you did bend the 15 pounder. Be sure to put some chain on it. At least you will sleep at night.

West Marine: West Marine Traditional Anchors Product Display

[GMac]

All I'd suggest is trying to get a local made version. I'm guessing a US made would be far better quality and steel (less soft) than many of the imports.

Looking at you moniker thingy - Your boat is in the US and you're in the UK???? Must be a hell of a commute each day

[sluissa]

The company that made the boat was/is called Westfield UK. The boat is safely here just about a couple hundred yards/meters out the back door of my home in the US.

If you must know, I originally bent the shank trying to dislodge it after about 2 weeks of having it anchored. I didn't know the proper method of doing it at that time (I thought I did, but I was wrong) I ended up stupidly trying to use the inertia of a 2.5 ton boat to break it loose going forward at several knots. The bow dipped down a good 10 degrees as the boat jerked on the anchor. I'm not surprised it bent then. Yes it was stupid, but I had spent the better part of an hour trying to dislodge it every way I could think of. And even that didn't dislodge it all the way.

I really think the size is fine, as long as I don't do something stupid again.
And yes, I know the proper method now.

[GMac]

Ahh that makes more sense.

2.5 tonnes will do that, as you now know

Next time trying getting the boat straight over the anchor and loading the rode as much as you can without busting anything and cleat it, don't hang of the winch if you have one. Wait a short time and pop out she should come. A 'short time' may only be 10-15 seconds but can be a bit longer if well buried. Most anchors will struggle to hold much at all with zero scope.

[sluissa]

I guess I should mention that the anchor already has 100 feet of chain. No winch on this one, all done by hand, but with just a 15 pound anchor, it's not too much trouble, assuming it wants to come loose from the bottom.

Old anchor holding for the moment, no strong winds forecast for the next couple of days. I'll be sure to head over to West Marine this weekend, or monday and get a new anchor, as much as I hate to part with the money, better safe than sorry.

[Morgan Paul]

Try Craigslist. And keep the old one as a spare.

Hey GMac I like your anchor

[GMac]

Anchoring is one of things in with to use 'better to be safe than sorry'. Good call Sluissa.

Far better anchor when seen bigger. Just couldn't sort the resolution well, so changed.