Anchoring in the Great Lakes

[sailingharry]

Originally Posted by rslifkin

I haven't tried it in kelp, but I haven't had trouble getting my Vulcan to cut through weed salad into a better bottom below. Generally a bigger, sharper anchor will do better in those bottoms.

Realistically, the roll bar might be the issue. If that starts to pack up with weeds, the anchor won't be able to dig any deeper. Which comes back to the easiest fix being to anchor in deeper, less weedy places. On Lake Ontario usually 15-20 feet is the limit for weeds, sometimes less.

The roll bar comes up with a god-awful mess on it! I have thought that might be the problem. The next time I see a boat with the right size Spade, I'll swap anchors with him!

I do like the suggestion to anchor in 20 ft or deeper. Having cruised in Maine with more tide than that, we have no problems anchoring in depths to 50 ft.

[winddrifter]

Most of that area has a table rock bottom. No anchor holds. The Canadian side has the most but some of the near shore on the US side has it also. Look for dirt/sand bank shoreline; stay away from the rocky shoreline. Main Duck Island bay is mostly rocky. If you arrive early you can grab a spot on the short dock.

[Mike OReilly]

Originally Posted by sailingharry

I have been quite nervous about backing down to set it. The first time I drug was while moderately backing down. It held for a couple minutes and then let go with no remaining resistance. While we spent half an hour clearing the weeds off, the local Yacht Club hailed us and offered us a mooring. Much better answer!

This is a sure sign you're hooked on weeds, not the bottom. As I say, there's nothing wrong with the anchor (although I'm sure Bruce would work as well).

It is quite possible to anchor all over the Islands. We did. You just gotta watch where you're dropping, and if in doubt, let the anchor settle in before backing down. But you gotta back down, otherwise you'll never know if you're just hanging off a pile of weeds.

[StoneCrab]

I have had very similar experiences with the weeds in the Great Lakes.

A large Danforth seems to be the one to hold when others drag. I've often wondered about wether a traditional fisherman anchor would do better.

As for the weeds that come up with the anchor, I don't think there is a way to avoid that. It is a mess.

[Paul Howard]

Above advice is valid, though one more tip.
Do not be in a hurry to set your anchor.
When in weedy areas, as in Prince Edward County and Thousand islands and other weedy areas:
Look for patches with less weed and if possible, deeper water.
Stop the boat in the desired drop spot and lower the anchor to the bottom.
Let the wind slowly blow the boat away from the anchor while you play out the rode.
Do not try to reverse and put pressure on the anchor until you have plenty of rode out, full scope.
Allow the wind to bring the boat head to wind before you reverse to set the anchor.
I have used a Bruce, and now a Mantus on my boats and an old style fisherman's kedge. The fisherman works best in thick weed with heavy root structure and shallow water when no deeper water is available.
I now like the Mantus.
Many of the boats I see drag in these weedy anchorages have dropped the anchor and immediately reverse with too much throttle so the anchor begins to drag through the weeds before enough scope is out and before the anchor point has had time to settle to the bottom through the weed and begin to bury in the mud.
If done correctly, the firmly stuck anchor will come up with little weed on it.
If your anchor comes up with a ball of weed, you probably have rushed the process.

[Howler]

We have the same anchor and generally have good luck. However, it's spotty. There are well known weed areas, like Presqu'Ile Bay at the western exit of the Murray Canal or if you go too far into Meadow Cove in Little Sodus Bay.

Our technique is to seek out local knowledge. It seems everybody knows where the weeds are so ask as many other boaters as possible, when possible.

[sailingharry]

So we went back to Clayton, where we had our midnight drag. Followed most of the advice in these replies, primarily anchoring in 20 feet of water instead of 10, and the next morning came up with a clean anchor with no weeds. I think that was a success.

We have another 2 to 3 weeks before we hit salt water, so we'll see how these lessons play out!

[Nobody]

check out SV Panope on You Tube

he does a lot of anchor testing

[Floaton]

We spend summer 2019 in the great lakes. Just leave yourself some room to drag and set the anchor alarm. You will get used to the situation up there. It goes from grass to gravel(dragging on both) to the time you will catch a big rock and have to pray you will be able to raise your anchor! ( Beneteau 373- now with a bent plow from off Kelly's Island!)
Michigan has the best municipal marina's situated every 30 miles or so and cheap. They are worth the stays!!

[Tetepare]

Originally Posted by Floaton

Just leave yourself some room to drag and set the anchor alarm.

So many make it sound like GL are some special horror story. It's bottom. No coral. Just mud, rock, shale, or weeds.

I've dragged once, when on a beautiful day I dropped the delta like a lead sinker (didn't set it) on sand and another boat tied up. A 75mph microburst popped up and hit us. The delta dragged about 15' and set itself.

For fun this past weekend, I took the old fortress out. It worked in sand. So I took it to an area heavy with eel grass. I threw it as far as I could (for optics) and then let it settle, payed out 50' and set it.

A properly set plow anchor in GL mud will have to be powered out.

Don't anchor over shale on a lee shore. I don't trust rocks in a big blow, so if weather is coming I anchor elsewhere. There's plenty of mud in GL, go find some.

[valhalla360]

If you power set the anchor and come up with a ball of weeds, that means power setting worked well...in the sense that you didn't find out in the middle of the night. It certainly wouldn't be a reason to skip it.

While not in that specific area, we've spent most of our cruising time on the Great Lakes and its not significantly different from most other areas. Check the charts for bottom type, if the waters clear, you can often see the weeds, or as suggested, try for deeper waters.

[Emouchet]

This is one of the drawback of the Rocna anchor. When anchoring into sticky mud and or grass, the scoop of the anchor fills with the grass and mud.

The roll-bar prevent the mud to clear out by itself, and this prevent the anchor to eventually reset properly during a wind or current shift. This is to me a big design failure, unfortunately poorly documented by Rocna users.

This happened to me numerous time until I get tired of this. I replaced the Rocna by a Spade and no longer have that problem.

You can get good value selling the Rocna used. People are getting crazy about Rocna, not knowing about that weakness.

[sailingharry]

Just a little bit more follow-up. We have now anchored at least a half dozen times since these thoughts and comments have come in. We have a 100% success rate. The anchor has stuck, has held while backing, and has come up covered in mud with minimal weeds. The most significant change I have made is anchoring in at least 20 ft of water.

Of course, in The Thousand Islands, water comes in two depths - 50 ft and up, and 5 ft and less. But I'm finding the sweet spot in between.

Thanks everyone for their thoughts.i

[BobMc]

When we did the Great Loop including Canada/Georgian Bay/North Channel/Trent-Severn, we discovered that anchoring in weeds was a good thing as long as you didn't mind taking the time to clean out all the tangles from the weeds when you raised anchor. The granite shield bottom at depths over 20 feet or so (beyond weed growth) was smooth with little sediment and the anchor (SuperMax) wouldn't "catch" unless it happened to grab a crevice or large rock. Anchoring in the weeds and thin mud bottom always held with plenty of scope.

[merrydolphin]

Anchors with the “hoop” can have this problem. I switched to a Spade anchor and have not had this happen in this type of bottom. Very happy with it.