No Windlass - Largest Anchor ?

[Cheechako]

all chain and a 35 lb anchor are going to be quite a lot of work in anything but shallow water. a danforth has the best straight pull holding by far of all... however, the big issue is wind direction changes. A danforth or delta dont do well in that. Bruces tangle readily. you're probably best with one of the newer designs if people have some positive experience in wind shifts... go down to west marine and try to lift a 5 gal bucket of chain..

[Sailmonkey]

Originally Posted by Paul L

Yikes, did you read the directions for this contraption? Run past your anchor at 6 to 8 kts. Hope you have some very solid deck gear.

I don't think I could get our boat up to 6 knots within the length of all of my rhode!!!!

[gjordan]

As I have said before. More boats are lost to poor anchoring skills than poor sailing skills. Go big and long.____Grant.

[sailorchic34]

Higher winds is why I kept my mixed rope/ chain rode, and no windlass. I take it back the the jib wench and use that and the engine helm controls to get the rode in when the winds blowing. I only have 20' of chain, but a 44# bruce on my little 6 ton boat. Haul it in with the winch till vertical and use the engine to break free. Then haul another 5-10'... first 10 feet of chain. Then set autopilot and go forward and use body english to get the last 10 feet and anchor up. Not too hard, but at the upper end of what I can do without a windlass.

All chain and a electric windlass would be lovely, but so not in my budget.

[Jim Cate]

SAilorchic,

Just curious: do you live at anchor full time? If so, with only 20 feet of chain you are tempting fate IMO. So many ways that the rode can come in contact with something that will chafe it. I couldn't do that, nor advise someone else to do so.

However, your technique for dealing with it sounds good. One can, of course, use a long line and chainhook lead back to the cockpit winches (I don't have a cockpit wench... Ann put her foot down when I wanted one!) even with all chain, but it becomes a bit of a chore to do every time you weigh anchor.

Cheers,

Jim

[justwaiting]

Originally Posted by Jim Cate

SAilorchic,

(I don't have a cockpit wench... Ann put her foot down when I wanted one!)
Cheers,

Jim

why am i suprised, lol

[sailorchic34]

Well I anchor maybe 80 % of the time at the moment. Got to get a hot shower once in a while. But I'm mostly in mud and some sand. Not alot of rock, etc. around here (least where I drop the hook anyway. Plus hauling by hand I get to see every foot of rode. Which I do check every time too.

Judging by the mud on the chain, the last 10 feet of chain gets buried a good bit of the time. Plus NO way can I lift more chain by hand. I do have another hook always ready plus a third too.

I've been pondering using a chain hook and line with all chain (and a chain stopper). I am strongly considering that for when I head south.

[Azul]

Thanks to everyone for the great replies! This is important to me as I have a dozen projects going on and still moving stuff onto the boat and don't want to lose all my gear and my new home to a storm that will no doubt come the first week I'm out the protection of the slip if I'm not prepared, I'm eyeing a Lofrans manual windlass for the future. I've always been a power boater and fisherman (well at least since I was eighteen months old) and my boats have always been on a trailer, tied to a dock or been in a dry stack and been heavily insured. I've got lots of experience anchoring to bottom fish and dive in 60 to 110 feet of water but little experience anchoring out to sleep/protect the boat and always in good weather. It's sandy all the way out to 35 miles offshore here (except at the rock ledges where we bottom fish.) On the rocks we use a grapple, if you put anything else out you often need to dive to get it unstuck.

Anchor balls? When bottom fishing it is not unusual to pull up the anchor every hour (or more) to try new locations, this gets tedious so anchor retrieval balls are used. The hard part is to get the (very buoyant) ball to go underwater down the rode. After clipping the ball on the rode you launch at a 30 degree angle to the scope and hope the ball goes down, when it does the anchor ends up floating on the surface behind the boat, if it doesn't the boat just makes a slow turn around the rode in deep water. Pretty slick, although once I did puncture the ball when the anchor came snug. There isn't much pull on the deck hardware as the ball disengages the anchor very effectively, most of the time you don't even feel it come off. I forgot I can only make 6.5 knots with 27 HP, might not happen...

[HopCar]

Azul, I knew only a power boater would know about anchor balls!

[Mantus Anchors]

Originally Posted by Azul

For a 9500 pound boat that is self insured residing for now in an area prone to getting frequent "mullet blows" what is the largest anchor that a typical fit male can get on board without a windlass or a hernia? Would an anchor retrieval ball be a good idea for a largish anchor? Roughly what predicted wind strength should cause me to put the boat up "on the hard" instead of trying to ride out the storm?

Azul- first ,Congratulations on the new boat!
I think a 35 lbs anchor will serve you well, it will take some effort to get it up but is very doable. As you can see I represent an anchor manufacturer and promote our company on this forum. Having said that as another cruiser I do suggest that you check out Mantus Anchors and see the test videos on the website or youtube.
We are also running a 25% off special for Cruisers Forum members.

[motion30]

I am 54 and 175lbs I pull my 45lb manson up with 40' of 3/8'' chain A good workout but thats what I do drive up on it and pull

[Kettlewell]

Azul, as several have pointed out there are many aspects to this question, and the very first one to answer is where will you be anchoring, what is the bottom like, what are the depths, is there current, how much protection from the wind, etc. Know the Beaufort area pretty well I can guess that most places you might be keeping the boat will have a strong reversing current, which dramatically complicates the situation. For example, if you plan on anchoring in Taylor Creek off of downtown you will almost surely need two anchors out to both limit your swinging room and prevent tripping out your own anchor when the wind is against the current. I can also guess that it is unlikely you will be anchoring in depths much greater than 10 feet most of the time, so something like 50 feet of chain on your anchor may be plenty, backed up by nylon rode of course. I can physically haul in a 45-lb anchor on 5/16 chain in depths of up to 30-40 feet, but it is hard work, especially if the wind is blowing. I routinely try to haul in as much as possible by hand, only using the windlass for the final break out, just to keep in shape for doing so. I personally would not want to go much bigger than 45 pounds for manual hauling and instead would use two or more anchors for extra security. A good semi-permanent mooring set up can be made from two large Danforth anchors attached by chain to a central swivel from which your nylon mooring pennant leads. I would put the anchors at least 50 feet apart on the bottom, obviously pointing in opposite directions, with the chain as tight as you can get it, and the anchors buried by diving on them if you can. That rig if properly done is much more secure than most typical moorings made from mushroom anchors or weights.

[Azul]

Thanks Kettlewell, that is the best answer yet and exactly what I was looking for. I am thinking of Taylor's Creek which has nice access to downtown, or perhaps the area in front of Town Creek Marina which seems safer/more protected (and I can hang out with my friends at Discovery Diving easily,) but I would have to deal with the drawbridge. I'm going to have to see if it is deep enough though. It looks like a 45# anchor is what I will be looking for when I take the boat out, would love to get a Manson Supreme but the anchor would then be worth almost as much as my boat!

I guess the Danforth anchors (I can probably dive and find a few of these easily enough that fisherman couldn't get unstuck) should be oriented with the current.

[Kettlewell]

Yes, Town Creek has better shelter, but it is crowded back there. Also, I'm pretty sure Beaufort requires folks setting moorings or permanently anchoring to register those moorings and meet some criteria, or at least they were talking about doing so as so many people there were just hanging on any old piece of junk like an engine block or something. You may want to check that out first. I've found that the bottom in Town Creek is highly variable, with lots of ups and downs, and some places the holding isn't too good. Taylor Creek has the reversing current problem, so get in as far towards the beach as you dare to avoid some of the current. Holding isn't bad, but your main problem there will be all the transient boats anchoring on top of you, tripping out your anchor, fouling your rode, etc. Has happened to me while anchored there several times. As you probably know, the CG comes through once in awhile and tells everyone to move who is swinging into the marked channel.