How many anchors do you carry?

[svmariane]

On our boat? Three actuals plus a makeshift.

An anchor sitting in the chandlers somewhere ashore doesn't help when things go pear-shaped while you're out on the water. If you need to cut your rode & run you'll want a backup for the next anchorage / anchor manuaver.

Kind of like insurance policies - you don't PLAN to use it, but you PLAN to have it available just in case.

[newhaul]

Originally Posted by Don C L

I have a 20H Danforth on my bow (anchoring bow/stern regularly) and with my 65' of chain and some 300 odd feet of nylon (I don't deploy it all!) I can never get my 29 foot, 4 ton boat to get that thing more than halfway buried even pulling both anchors against each other or a 35 knot blow (biggest I've had so far with this boat.) I think that if the anchor is too big, some boats just may not have the umph to get them to set deeply. I don't know but perhaps that is why Rocna doesn't recommend up-sizing.

throw about 27 ft of 3/8 chain on the anchor with the rode and with 60knot winds it will bury deep. My 24 took the tide to pull it out ofthe the mud. Even half the chain was buried

[Don C L]

Originally Posted by newhaul

throw about 27 ft of 3/8 chain on the anchor with the rode and with 60knot winds it will bury deep. My 24 took the tide to pull it out ofthe the mud. Even half the chain was buried

with a 20H? ah in mud, yeah, I can see that.

[newhaul]

Originally Posted by Don C L

with a 20H? ah in mud, yeah, I can see that.

tell ya I slept soundly while most of the others on the hook were dragging or towed into the marina by the water cops.

[Mike OReilly]

Originally Posted by wingssail

Yes, Rocna's sizing recommendations make sense to me also. It's just that every year we see a hundred or so boats come down the coast to Mexico. I walk the docks and I cannot believe the sizes of the anchors on these boats; they're huge! And nobody takes off the old one, it stays too.

Maybe it's that people who are new to cruising, and with a surplus of money, think that if any size anchor is good, more is better.

When queried I always get the same answer, "Yeah but I sleep at night." Well I do too, with a much smaller anchor.

OK, this season I'll photograph some of them.

Maybe there’s some funny Bahaha requirement at work here?

I’d love to see that. Like I say, I’ve never seen such an oversized anchor on a 45’ boat, but my experience is limited. I can tell you no one carries such relative sizes where I am in Newfoundland right now, and there is some challenging anchoring situations up here.

Originally Posted by Don C L

I have a 20H Danforth on my bow (anchoring bow/stern regularly) and with my 65' of chain and some 300 odd feet of nylon (I don't deploy it all!) I can never get my 29 foot, 4 ton boat to get that thing more than halfway buried even pulling both anchors against each other or a 35 knot blow (biggest I've had so far with this boat.) I think that if the anchor is too big, some boats just may not have the umph to get them to set deeply. I don't know but perhaps that is why Rocna doesn't recommend up-sizing.

Also, with the Rocna, it may be that if you don't make sure it is setting, it is my understanding (I have not witnessed it) that it may ride along for a while upside down on its roll bar. If it is too big, you may not get it to dive and set properly. That is just conjecture on my part though.. maybe noelex or panope can inform me on that one.

I agree(d). I do think it’s possible to go too big. Anchors generally have to be properly set, and at least begun to be dug in for them to work properly. This is part of the “reasonableness” calculation. But if your boat and crew can properly manage a larger anchor, I see no downside (other than cost).

And of course a Danforth has the highest holding force of any anchor. The downside of these anchors are they work well in a more narrow strata of substrate, and they don’t reset as well.

The issue with the roll bars is landing in soft mud where they might not roll over.

For the record, my 37-foot, 15 ton boat has a 55# Rocna as its bower. This is perhaps slightly oversized, but only just (my boat is odd … she’s short but heavy ). I have never dragged once set, and I anchor a lot in sometimes challenging conditions. But when I replace this anchor I’d still go one more size larger.

[scherzoja]

Six anchors
Pearson 367

Working Anchors:
55 lb Spade, primary bow, 250' 5/16 chain, 100' 5/8" nylon 8 plait, ready to deploy immediately
44 lb Mantus, secondary bow, 200' 5/16 chain, 100' 5/8" nylon 8 plait, ready to deploy immediately
FX 23, Stern, 100' 5/16" chain, 200' nylon 8 plait, ready to deploy immediately
FX 11, Kedge, 10' 5/16" chain, 200' 1/2" dacron double braid, ready to deploy immediately

FX 85, hurricane (stored disassembled in bilge)
44 lb, hurricane (stored disassembled in bilge)

Anchor rodes for each working anchor (2 bow, 1 stern, 1 kedge) are in their own dedicated locker with the bow rodes under the V berth instead of the standard chain locker in the bow.

Hurricane Anchors
For hurricane setup, I have 5 dedicated rodes (100' 3 strand nylon with 30' 5/16" chain). This gives me 7:1 scope in 15' of water. If I need more line to achieve 7:1, I can shackle additional line or use rodes from the working anchors.

I can run 5 lines ashore and 5 anchors away from shore. Each anchor and each shore line has its own 12" cleat on the toe rail. I have 14 twelve inch cleats along the toe rail. Each side: 3 at the bow, two amidship, two on the stern/quarters.

Two dedicated hurricane anchors and I repurpose the spade, mantus, and FX 23 if needed

The 5 shorelines are made of the following components

1. 5/8" 8 plait (95', 95', 110', 130', 140')
2. Each shore line has a 22' chain loop that wraps around the bush or tree and a chain leader (15', 22', 22', 30', 45') that leads into the water, where it is shackled to the nylon shore line. This ensures that the line does not chafe on anything ashore. Each shoreline terminates to a dedicated 12" cleat on the toe rail (no chock, no chafe).

All six anchors can be disassemble and bolted to dedicated mounts in the bilge.
All hurricane rodes are stored in dedicated storage compartments (chain in bilge, line in bow (way up forward/high in the bow).

For most of the time, this is way overkill, but as SVMariane aus Wien stated earlier, "you don't PLAN to use it, but you PLAN to have it available just in case."

[jrau18]

Originally Posted by sailorchic34

I have Three and its the perfect number. Anchor enough and you will loose one anchor to a snag. Then you anchor on the backup and have a spare if that one is lost. Anchors are critical for cruisers. Less so for the day sailor or racer.

Day sailors and racers absolutely should have an accessible anchor as well. Even if you never use it normally, it is your last resort if you lose steering (lost rudder, etc) and are being blown towards any hazard.

[markpierce]

Seems like a lot of sailors like to collect anchors. Makes little sense having more anchors than rodes.

[markpierce]

Originally Posted by jrau18

Day sailors and racers absolutely should have an accessible anchor as well. Even if you never use it normally, it is your last resort if you lose steering (lost rudder, etc) and are being blown towards any hazard.

Racing through Raccoon Strait, a competitor quickly pulled ahead. Soon realized he was anchored and we quickly followed: tidal current exceeded speed through the water.

[newhaul]

Originally Posted by markpierce

Seems like a lot of sailors like to collect anchors. Makes little sense having more anchors than rodes.

differing bottom conditions may need different anchors and chain and rode are easily detached and reattached to other anchors.

[Adelie]

Originally Posted by vonchris7

Hi,



I have a 36' sailboat and currently carry 3 anchors. Is this overkill? My primary is a badass Rocna and I have a couple of fluke anchors as a backup. Do I need all 3 onboard? Thank you!

I have 2 currently and intend to acquire 2 more.

Contrary to marketing assertions no specific anchor is best in all conditions. Best all around yes, best always, no.

Soft mud or very loose sand Fortress.
Best for straight line pull vs weight, Fortress or Danforth.
Rocks and cobble bottom: Luke/fisherman/Herrshoff/Northill
Heavy weeds and kelp: Luke/....

Best all around: I used to think Manta but watching S/V Panope’s videos changed my mind to Spade. Manta is 2nd or 3rd on his list.

Currently I have a 15lb Bruce on 100’ of 3/16” chain plus 100’ or so of 3-strand nylon and an FX-11 Fortess on 25’+100’.

I want to get an oversized Spade to replace the Bruce as primary and a 15-20lb Luke or similar.

[Fortytwo]

I’m reviving this thread purely for the survey of what boat, LOA and displacement, and type of anchor and rode. Nuts and bolts…

[Kettlewell]

Three for the big boat, a Finnsailer 38, displacement around 20,000lbs. Main anchor currently a 45lb Mantus M1, plus two secondary Fortress FX-23s. I also previously used a 45lb. Bulwagga for about 7 years of cruising down to South America and back. Have deployed two anchors many times, and occasionally all three in a star pattern when leaving the boat for long periods at anchor. The main reason to carry three is in case I lose one of them I would still have two, which I consider the absolute minimum.

[lifeofreilly57]

Depends on where you're going.
While cruising on our 47" CC mono I carried 350' of chain, a 65# forged bruce, a huge fluke which disassembled for storage, and an anchor for hard bottoms and rocky anchorages.
I'm looking for a used 100# Mantus for a storm anchor, they disassemble and can be stored flat for use when you need it, they also do well with resetting in the case of a major wind direction shift.
The Bruce has held fast in 50+ knots sustained with a 9 to 1 chain ratio. Ours never budged while a number of boats dragged by, had to get in the dinghy several times to help different cruisers re anchor i that one. Only ran the motor to steer clear of two dragging boats.

[kayakerChuck]

O'Day 30 on the Great Lakes

Bower is a 15kg Rocna with 30' of chain and 200' of 8 plait

Lunch hook is a 5 kg Rocna with 6' of chain and 150' of 3 strand

back up is a 25 lb Danforth Standard, no rode attached

Spare rodes of 150' and 200', spare 30' of chain

We've not dragged either Rocna. The primary up to 50 or 60 knots of wind, the lunch hook up to about 30. (Ooops, but it was a no risk situation.)