Stern Anchor Setup on a Double Ender?

[salty.senorita]

Originally Posted by richardhunter

This may or may not answer your question but I have a procedure that we used when anchoring our charter dive boat in CA. I have used it on my 50-ft power boat (pardon me, sailors) to good effect. It's a bit cumbersome but it works well. It goes in steps, as follows:
1. drop the bow anchor as normal and pay out about double your normal rode.
2. back down, bow into the wind until the bow anchor is set
3. tie off the bitter end of the stern anchor on a stern cleat, making sure the rode is clear of rails and obstructions
4. attach a float near the bitter end far enough out that it will float free when the anchor is deployed
5. toss the anchor and all its rode overboard
6. winch forward on the bow anchor until both rode are taut but leaving adequate slack

To retrieve:
1. let loose the stern anchor and retrieve the bow anchor normally.
2. approach the float for the stern anchor and retrieve the float and rode with a boat hook.
3. pull the stern anchor with the windlass/capstan

This is quite cumbersome and highly labor-intensive, but it's guaranteed to work.

This all seems pretty doable, especially because I have storage space up at the bow for the stern anchor/rode. Thank you!

[Don C L]

Not to flog a dead horse, and not to be too critical, but I think Richard’s technique needs a bit of clarification. When you back down on the bow anchor it is advisable to let out double what you need because when you drop the stern anchor and then take up on the bow, you need to have good scope on the stern, just as you do on the bow. Once you have taken up on the bow and it has, say 100’ out, then you have 100’ out on the stern too. At this point you can winch or pull the two anchors against each other and if they are both set you can either leave the two rodes cleated off at the bow (allowing the boat to swing as needed) or you can walk the stern anchor’s rode back to a stern cleat. I think the biggest problem you will find is with the chance of the stern line leaning on the self-steering gear... which one do you have? Was it monitor?

[oldbilbo]

Originally Posted by salty.senorita

People seem to do it successfully all the time, which is why I was curious about the setups out there. I've not been to an anchorage which required this.

There are plenty of such places, away from the hordes in the 'horizon-to-horizon' marinas. Here's a pic from Google Images showing a typical Mediterranean Moor...





...and a link to a YouTube vid in Swedish-English to give you another idea...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FualbbnIvlA

I hope this helps you see some more of the many possibilities.