Spade Anchor - bolt alignment concern

[ArmySailor]

Ahoy. Just got a nice new Spade anchor and have a question concerning bolt alignment. Is this a concern for bolts in general, and is it a concern for anchor assembling?

The shank slides into the fluke (correct term?) and is held in place by one horizontal bolt. Because the fluke/shank connection is "V"-Shaped, the bolt is inevitably not flat on both sides. See photos.

I've experimented with adding a crush washer to the nut side, to kind of alleviate the angle difference. But I'm hesitant to add something to a product that I have trust was tested extensively (and is holding up in the field)

Thoughts?

(as a sidenote, the shank/fluke assembly is tight, and because the fluke is curved, the bolt appears to not be required to bear large sheer forces. maybe. but I'm no engineer)

[Benz]

The bolt's only purpose is to hold the shank in while the anchor's not under load. Once loaded, the bolt isn't doing much. So the stopnut is simply to ensure the bolt doesn't fall out--you could use any sort of pin with cotters, if you wanted.

[Breaking Waves]

Originally Posted by Benz

the bolt isn't doing much.

Yea, what Ben says - the spade bolt is not 'suppose' to take any significant loading.

It probably is 'nice' to put some sort of soft washer under the head and nut to minimize them digging into the anchor galvanizing.

As to the general case question about angles surfaces on bolt heads/nuts - it depends. If the bolt is intended to take tensile loads or provide significant compression it is certainly not ideal. While if the head and nut are just there to prevent the bot from accidentally sliding out, it does not matter much.

[Nicholson58]

This bolt caries very little load. It could be replaced with a pin or shackle.

[ArmySailor]

Thanks for the feed back. I appreciate y'all taking the time to answer. I'll not worry about it.

Except maybe occasionally at anchor at 2am, under slept, when something goes "lurch" at night.

[Siberian Sea]

Yes, just like the others have said. This bolt has almost no load at all. I have a Spade #120 for my 40 sloop and I very very happy with it. I will admit when I first got in it came in the two parts and I wondered if I should assemble and then weld it permanently or at the least drill out the hole and use a bigger bolt, I’m not sure what grade bolt they supply maybe grade 4. However I just used the supplied bolt as I could see it would work fine. I would however remind folks with these anchors to think about you have a stainless bolt and an anchor galvanized steel together under salt water. Would be a shame to have a problem one day because there was unseen corrosion going on. Now a titanium replacement bolt might be nice but I’m no expert.