Photos of Anchors Setting

[noelex 77]

This was a Delta giving a typical Delta performance.

A reasonably long setting distance, some heaping up, and a lot of the underside of the fluke exposed, although to be fair even the better anchors have shown some heaping up in this anchorage.

[noelex 77]

This was a Bugel "copy".

It is doing well, and considering the substrate this could be classed as very well. It has set rapidly, especially when the final setting direction was almost at right angles to the initial pull.

It is very level, with the fluke and almost the rollbar buried, although some of this is due to heaping up of the sand rather than pure diving deeper to the firmer substrate.

Still a great result:

[noelex 77]

This was a Delta dropped in moderate weed.

It was not given any reverse and was just sitting in the weed with no penetration.

However, this is not a fault of the anchor. In the light, 10-15 knot breeze, the weeds grip on the chain was enough to keep the boat stationary despite the fact that a largish cat was on the other end.

[Uncle Bob]

Originally Posted by noelex 77

This was a Bugel "copy".

It is doing well, and considering the substrate this could be classed as very well. It has set rapidly, especially when the final setting direction was almost at right angles to the initial pull.

It is very level, with the fluke and almost the rollbar buried, although some of this is due to heaping up of the sand rather than pure diving deeper to the firmer substrate.

Still a great result:

Noelex if there is only one thing that I take away from this thread it is how much I am impresed with mermaids (nah just joking) it is how little a good anchor needs to dig in to provide a substantial hold.
Great work and once again thanks.

[hoppy]

Originally Posted by noelex 77

Mermaids are normally au naturel. I have enough trouble getting her to wear anything when swimming .

Stop that, it's not a nice thing for a solo sailor to read.
😱










What part of Greece are you in now? 😉


Sent from my iPhone using Cruisers Sailing Forum

[noelex 77]

This was the Mantus at the end of our stay at the anchorage.

You can see it levelled out and dug in a little bit more. It is not quite as good a set as would be achieved normally, but still very secure.

Despite the daily 180° wind shifts, the anchor only rotated about 20° and did not otherwise move. Most of the time the sea breeze was very light and while the boats changed position the anchors did not. There was one day of moderate seabreeze (low 20s), and with some wave action it was enough to rotate the two Rocnas around. The Mantus did not rotate much because the chain was caught around a rock close to the anchor. However, the better set and slightly bigger anchor relative to the boat size means it takes a little more wind to rotate our anchor round compared to most others.

[noelex 77]

Sorry, I am a bit behind in these photos.

This is a new anchorage. The Mantus has set very rapidly within a couple of feet. It is well buried with minimal heaping up, although it has set with a moderate list.

If you look at the setting mark you can see it was initially facing 90° to the final set direction, but has simply pivoted and dug in:

[monte]

No problem noëlex, keep up the good work. Understandable you're running a bit behind, it seems your mermaid has swam the coop. http://www.cruisersforum.com/forums/....php?p=1870906

[Hobie_ind]

Interesting thread, so I thought I'd contribute.

Here's my 75# Bugel set in the SE corner of Bora Bora today. Anchor is in quite hard sand (surprisingly 'clayey' feeling) in about 15' on around 6:1 scope with 10 mm chain.

Anchor set harder than normal with about 2.5:1 out then payed out the remainder while slowly reversing. Backed down on it with about 2000 rpm. Was actually a bit surprised it hadn't buried as deep as it normally does.

Photos were taken about an hour later.

The Bugel has served us quite well in the Caribbean, Central America and South Pacific, but we're likely going to replace it in NZ as it's starting to show its age (I think it's original to the boat in 1994), plus the tip got a bit beat up when we got it wedged under a coral head in the Tuamotus. I'll touch up the tip, repaint it and put it in a locker as a backup anchor (to replace the 75# stainless CQR that's taking up space currently!). Still debating between a bit larger Mantus or Spade.

Regards,
Mark
Amel Super Maramu
Currently cruising: South Pacific with our 15 yr old son and 13 yr old daughter

[Hobie_ind]

2nd photo. Can't seem to get it to post multiple photos for some reason from the iPad.

[Hobie_ind]

Finally.....photo of a neighbour's Rocna 25. Watched him set it quite well and backed down on it very hard. I thought, like mine, that it would have buried deeper.

Mark

[noelex 77]

Thanks for the photos Mark. Hopefully we can get a large database of photos of different anchors working in the real world.

Using the iPad you can only load one photo at a time. I don't see this is a problem. Multiple posts with a single photo in each is fine. Don't let this restrict the number of photos you post.

If you host the photos on an external site such as Photobucket, you can attach multiple photos using the iPad via a link to Photobucket. If anyone is struggling with this, send me a PM and will guide you through it.

The other alternative is using the "App". I believe using this interface it is possible to attach multiple photos using the iPad, but I don't like the App much so I have not used it.

[noelex 77]

This is a Bugel "copy".

It was dropped quite close to our boat, but you can see it was in a very rocky substrate. No anchor can penetrate rock, although if the fluke can find a crevice the holding can be very good. The problem is that with a slight change in the direction of pull, the grip can drop down to zero.

This sort of substrate is also very good at jamming anchors or chain, making retrieval difficult or impossible. In my experience, chain actually gets caught as often as the anchor, especially in light wind. If the chain forms a loop, when the loop is tightened it jams around the base of the rock. Normal anchor recovery techniques
like a trip line don't work when the chain is caught like this.

The final problem is this sort of substrate is very good at bending the tips of anchors. Having a sharp fine tip on the anchor is a good way of improving a model's performance in hard and weedy substrates. Overall, I think a sharp tip is a good feature. I would rather trade some durability for better performance, especially when the manufacturer offers a guarantee against the anchor bending. Fortunately, the Bugel has a very tough tip.

For all these reasons, rock is the only substrate I will not anchor in if I can identify it as such. However, even in this clear water the substrate where this Bugel was dropped is very hard to pick from sand. It is much the same colour. A thin layer of sand over rock is impossible to pick.










This was the chain. Does this put you off rope rode?

[thinwater]

Ever fool with tandems on a rocky bottom? While an in-line tandem is a bad choice on sand (the secondary will always make the primary roll out when there is a shift, pinning it on its side or back), in the testing I've been doing they seem to work well in rocks. At least where I have been testing, it seems like every time a shift dislodges one, the other catches before the boat can gain speed. Frequently the chain bend around rock (no place for rope). I've even found myself anchored by the roll bar!

I also observed that plow and Delta types are lame for this; when they drag on their sides, they often glide over rocks the edge of a Manson or Rocna would grab.

While bending and anchor is certainly possible, a good long snubber should reduce the loads below that point in most cases.

I still hate anchoring on rock, but sometimes it's all you've got.

[noelex 77]

Originally Posted by thinwater

Ever fool with tandems on a rocky bottom?

I never have, but what you say makes a lot of sense. This sort of rocky boulder type substrate is the one time you can forget BIB (Bigger Is Better). Small anchors are superior. The smaller fluke has greater chance of gripping small crevices.

The ideal anchors are those with narrow, and preferably several flukes. It helps if they are cheap as well .

Multiple small anchors certainly make sense (ignoring the nuisance of losing multiple anchors).

If you can dive, one option worth considering is to slip a loop of chain around a large boulder. This is very secure. Keep in mind rocks weigh much less underwater and it needs to be a much larger rock than you might imagine if strong wind is anticipated.

Note the above comments are for a rocky substrate with boulders. A much more common "rocky" substrate is a thin layer of sand over smooth rock. Here an anchor needs to be able to grip on thin layer of sand. An anchor with as large a fluke area (hence a big anchor) will be best.