dual anchor setup

[tney88]

I'm trying to design a dual anchor arrangement so that I can carry two different types of anchors. I have seen these but am unclear on how you can use both of them with a windlass, as it seems at least one of them would be quite a ways out of alignment with the gypsy, causing the chain to not feed properly. Does anybody have a setup that resolves this?

Terry Ney
ComPac 27 ""SV Paradiso"

[Triumphant]

See attached photos, One anchor is in front of the other allowing the windlass to work on either one

This arrangement was on the boat when we bought it and works well, we have deployed one or the other anchor and sometime had used both when a norther comes through

[Spade Anchor]

Originally Posted by Triumphant

See attached photos, One anchor is in front of the other allowing the windlass to work on either one

This arrangement was on the boat when we bought it and works well, we have deployed one or the other anchor and sometime had used both when a norther comes through

That shank on your Spade looks like it has quite a swerve. Contact me so I can fix this for you!

[a64pilot]

Mine sit side by side, and the second anchor is primarily line, so I can use the Capstan on my vertical windlass.
I have not had to do it yet, but the idea is if I have to use the anchor to kedge myself off of a grounding, that would of course have the anchor off to the side and I would have to use the windlass with line to use the Capstan.
I don't like the idea of using two anchors for bad weather, lots of potential problems with that

[UNCIVILIZED]

Originally Posted by Triumphant

See attached photos, One anchor is in front of the other allowing the windlass to work on either one

This arrangement was on the boat when we bought it and works well, we have deployed one or the other anchor and sometime had used both when a norther comes through

That last Spade anchor pictured sure looks fugly. How did you bend it so severely?

Originally Posted by tney88

I'm trying to design a dual anchor arrangement so that I can carry two different types of anchors. I have seen these but am unclear on how you can use both of them with a windlass, as it seems at least one of them would be quite a ways out of alignment with the gypsy, causing the chain to not feed properly. Does anybody have a setup that resolves this?

Terry Ney
ComPac 27 ""SV Paradiso"

You want to use a vertical windlass, such as a Maxwell, which has a capstan above it's gypsy, & features an adjustable clutch that lets you use each independently of the other. So that you can work on each rode seperately. Even to adjust both at the same time, if by some bizare twist, you absolutely must do so. And you have that much dexterity.

Mount the windlass as far aft as possible so that the angle from each roller to is is less out of alignment. Though since it's working bits are vertical, it's not nearly so finicky about the angle at which chain or line is led to it.
And my preference is to mount them just aft of the actual anchor locker, so that the motor & electrical bits don't live in that perpetually damp space. With the rodes then led through a hawse which is seperate from the windlass.

Maxwell makes a few windlass's which are designed to work with such a configuration. And if you do a search here on CF on this topic, including using my user name, you'll find a bunch of posts with pics, wherein I show how such a setup works. Meaning having your windlass mounted aft of the chain locker itself.

The other thing which makes this hardware & design setup work, is that usually the 2ndary rode is a mixed one, & not all chain. So that at times you can have one locked into the gypsy, & still use the windlass to pull on the other rode.

[Triumphant]

Originally Posted by Spade Anchor

That shank on your Spade looks like it has quite a swerve. Contact me so I can fix this for you!

We did contact you about the anchor in January 2016. As I purchased the anchor in the UK in 2004, I contacted the UK agent at the time of the incident and this was the reply I received

“Thank you for your e-mail and I am very sorry to hear about your anchor. The manufacturers changed hands in 2006 and as is fairly normal in these situations they created a new company and so are not liable for warranty issues prior to 2006. They no longer recommend aluminium anchors as main anchors because of a problem with bending shanks particularly when using all chain rodes. All I can do is forward your e-mail to the new owners and see whether they want to replace your anchor”.

After contact with the new Owners, the UK agent came back to me with the following

“If you wish they can send you a new shank which you will have to drill and cut off yourself. (If they have any of the old ones left). The don’t recommend aluminium anchors as a main anchor at all now.

The final alternative is that they offer you a very special price on a steel anchor.”

We took the special price on the steel anchor option and have sent the wife to weight lifting classes as the new anchor is double the weight.

Originally Posted by UNCIVILIZED

That last Spade anchor pictured sure looks fugly. How did you bend it so severely?

We anchored for the night anchored in 20 foot of water under the lee of the land on the Caribbean side of Guatemala, (Estero Legarto or Tres Puntas). We anchored just in shore of the drop off where it goes down to 60 feet very quickly. The anchor used was an aluminium 140-A, one size bigger than recommended for my boat

However, the following morning, the wind had changed to the W so we were now on a lee shore with 25+ knots of wind and 4 foot + seas with water breaking over the bow at anchor!!!! Retrieving the anchor WAS NOT FUN!!

It is not unusual to find the wind coming out of the W in the morning in this area but this is the first time I have seen it this strong. I think the waves were probably caused by being near the drop off because there is only a 10 mile fetch to the mainland at Livingston

When we retrieved the anchor we found it was bent. I think we must have motored over it just before it broke out and combined with the wave action the shaft bent.

Moral of this incident
We were not in danger or in a hurry, it was just very uncomfortable, we should have sat it out until the wind dropped, which it did a few hours later