Can you anchor in 10ft of water?

[sailorboy1]

And when you can not find 10' or less?

And when you can not find the right bottom?

And when than puts you spitting distance to the rocks and the weather changes?

Everyone thinks that a new mousetrap is needed, but I wish you luck I guess.

[tbodine88]

Originally Posted by nimblemotors

How limited in locations to visit and anchor would you be if 10ft was the maximum depth of water you could anchor in?
Asked another way, can you find 10ft of water to anchor in if you had to?

I have a West Wight Potter and I have anchored in 6" of water. But then I sometimes even pull it up on the beach. Plus I can get out and push it off with out much trouble.

With a 38 foot Cat I might not do this. As others have said 10' isn't a problem, but be sure if the wind changes and you swing around. You don't end up aground or stern on to the beach, with the prop in the mud. Two anchors, one astern, probably would help this. I often deploy such a system on the beach.

[nimblemotors]

Originally Posted by Don L

And when you can not find 10' or less?
And when you can not find the right bottom?
And when than puts you spitting distance to the rocks and the weather changes?

Everyone thinks that a new mousetrap is needed, but I wish you luck I guess.

With a setup like I'm contemplating, if I can't find 10ft of water, or the auger won't go in, I would have to relocate. I'm not allergic to marinas.
I don't see this as a lot different that with a traditional anchor, what do you do if your anchor won't set???

It seems to me an auger anchor has advantages, you KNOW if it has set properly or not, no guessing. There is very little scope, when the wind/tide changes it has little impact, the anchor is not effected.
One can be spitting distance to rocks, and no worries, dragging isn't possible.
With an 18in draft, I can get close to shore and stay there.
From all the reading I've done here, worry about an anchor holding is one
of the top concerns of a cruiser, and I can understand why.

There is always some new mousetrap anchor being marketed at huge markups, but from what I can see, it is a minor tweak on ancient technology.
Someone who thinks they can do better is seen as either arrogant or idiot, at least until they put out videos and get testimonials and charge huge markups and have big advertising campaign, THEN it isn't arrogant or idiot, but genius.

[sailorboy1]

Hope your auger anchor and boat are going to like rocks, as I think they are going t see a lot of them.

Your mind seems pretty made up so I wonder why you asked for any input.

If your super duper auger anchor is so great why don't your provide details?

[nimblemotors]

Originally Posted by Don L

Hope your auger anchor and boat are going to like rocks, as I think they are going t see a lot of them.

Your mind seems pretty made up so I wonder why you asked for any input.

If your super duper auger anchor is so great why don't your provide details?

Not sure why you are so hostile.
Who's "mind is made up", that anything but a traditional anchor will work?

If 10ft of water isn't reasonable, there is no point of a system which requires 10ft of water. THAT was my question.
I don't have details, because I haven't got them.

I refer you to the other post, one gentlemen uses them very effectively.
http://www.cruisersforum.com/forums/...ml#post1163754

[zeehag]

lol what ids a traditional anchor--danforth?? fishermans/yachtsmans?? cqr?
lol
and as for bottoms--west coast usa, mexico and canada is rocky with some sand and mud.

gulf of mexico has a lot of silt over shale, some mud, some sandy stuff over hardpan...

so.......

i have anchored in less than 10 ft--in sand in glorietta bay, sd , dangnear on the beach,,is a lil bowl there i used to hook into.

[sailorboy1]

Originally Posted by nimblemotors

Not sure why you are so hostile.
Who's "mind is made up", that anything but a traditional anchor will work?

If 10ft of water isn't reasonable, there is no point of a system which requires 10ft of water. THAT was my question.
I don't have details, because I haven't got them.

I refer you to the other post, one gentlemen uses them very effectively.
http://www.cruisersforum.com/forums/...ml#post1163754

I'm not being hostile, I'm being questionable and doubting.

That thread was like 3 posts long, not much to go on. Hope you have more to go on and I'm still waiting for you to share it as this was what I think the thread was about.

[Hudson Force]

[QUOTE=nimblemotors;1172699]With a setup like I'm contemplating, if I can't find 10ft of water, or the auger won't go in, I would have to relocate. I'm not allergic to marinas.
I don't see this as a lot different that with a traditional anchor, what do you do if your anchor won't set??? ............................[QUOTE]

If my anchor doesn't set I make a second or third attempt; try a different nearby location; or try a different anchor. Maybe someone with your draft could mange to have such an auger style anchor among their choices. I would be skeptical of my ability to find the leverage on my deck to insert such an anchor. I guess I could envision some means to power my boat in a circle to turn the auger into the substrate. The action of inserting an auger or storing such a device seems complex and cumbersome to me. I would also find it difficult to accept that there could be "no dragging" with an auger. I've seen numerous anchors fail and result in dragging while they continued to hold to a chunk of the earth that pulled loose as a large "plug". I could also imagine that an auger could pull out of soft mud. I certainly think that this plan is more feasible with a draft of 18", as you describe, and with a low freeboard along with good deck space to operate some large T-handle for leverage. As you said, once such a plan is demonstrated as functional, effective, and with repeated success by many it would be "genius". Until then, the skepticism is a natural and healthy attitude.

[Kenomac]

Even on the pacific coast of the USA you'll need to be prepared to anchor in deeper water. For example, you arrive at Catalina Island; what do you do if you're only prepared to anchor in shallow water and the only anchorage available has the ocean floor 60ft below your boat? One needs to be prepared.

[nimblemotors]

Originally Posted by Don L

If your super duper auger anchor is so great...

Sounds hostile.. what super duper auger anchor? A Helix mooring isn't just my idea, it is a proven product that has all the advantages I describe.
It has a big problem: portability. Is there any disagreement about that??
Auger anchors for small boats are also proven and portable.

I think I've "made up my mind" that I could anchor in 10ft of water fairly easily, and thus pursuing the idea is worthwhile in my view.
You are welcome to disagree.

Next step would be to determine if the nature of the ground could take a screw anchor or something similar. That is really a different question, and a different thread, so I will leave this one alone, it was not me intention to discuss it.

Cheers,
JackB

[hellosailor]

jack, you know there are also those green metal fence posts, the ones commonly used for wire fences and also for traffic signs. No screwing needed, you just hammer them down into the ground and a "T" shaped cross bar pivots out when they go down. I'm not describing that very well but your local hardware/gaden store has them. They take a surprising amount of effort to pull out (you won't do it without mechanical assistance) and they are cheap. Pound 'em down flush to the bottom and abandon them afterwards, no need to stop the boat from rotating either.

[denverd0n]

If you were talking about the west coast of Florida, or the Chesapeake Bay, I would say you can find lots and lots of places to anchor where it will be shallower than 10 feet. But if you are talking about in the whole, wide world then a 10' limit on anchoring is going to be EXTREMELY restricting. In particular, since you appear to be in California, I would guess that you are going to find precious darned few places there to anchor with this system that you're envisioning.

[Stu Jackson]

Originally Posted by nimblemotors

Sounds hostile.. what super duper auger anchor? A Helix mooring isn't just my idea, it is a proven product that has all the advantages I describe.
It has a big problem: portability. Is there any disagreement about that??
Auger anchors for small boats are also proven and portable.

I think I've "made up my mind" that I could anchor in 10ft of water fairly easily, and thus pursuing the idea is worthwhile in my view.
You are welcome to disagree.

Next step would be to determine if the nature of the ground could take a screw anchor or something similar. That is really a different question, and a different thread, so I will leave this one alone, it was not me intention to discuss it.

Cheers,
JackB

Portability IS the "key." Even if you can get it set, getting it out seems to be an issue, a very serious one. When you simply HAVE to leave hurriedly, the auger doesn't seem to be an answer. Perhaps you should try it first before you depend on it. A little personal experience might advise you that your idea has less merit than you claim.

New generation anchors have proven themselves to be superior, if not far superior, to older styles. Those of us old enough to have experienced the improvements do testify to that. It's not all hype, promotion and advertising. Really...

[Hudson Force]

Originally Posted by hellosailor

jack, you know there are also those green metal fence posts, the ones commonly used for wire fences and also for traffic signs. No screwing needed, you just hammer them down into the ground and a "T" shaped cross bar pivots out when they go down. I'm not describing that very well but your local hardware/gaden store has them. They take a surprising amount of effort to pull out (you won't do it without mechanical assistance) and they are cheap. Pound 'em down flush to the bottom and abandon them afterwards, no need to stop the boat from rotating either.

This sounds scary! Imagine the risk to the hulls if the bottom of popular shallow anchorages were to be strewn with abandoned metal stakes. I hope no one starts this as a trend.

[hellosailor]

Aythya, as I said, pound 'em down flush. At that point that are no scarier than the auger stems, or common rocks on the bottom. Having seen the crap that is often on the bottom, including small boats, shopping carts, boulders...I don't care what's on bottom, I don't want to be anywhere near touching it anyhow.

And if you're anywhere near civilization, there are frequently ruins of some kind, pilings, wrecks...way more than coral heads to worry about in water that is nowhere near as easy to see through.