Stern anchor mounting

[dissent]

Hi all,

I'm wondering what people do for stern anchor storage and deployment.

I want to use my secondary/backup anchor (Mantus/Rocna/Viking/Spade/etc., please don't make specific anchor recommendations in this thread ) as my stern anchor.

The idea is to avoid having to carry a third anchor (primary, secondary/backup, and stern). I'm struggling with how to store and deploy this anchor.

In the past I had rail mounts and a Fortress for this purpose, and it was easy to attach the rode and chuck the anchor over. No problem. I don't see a lot of options for other anchor designs.

Mantus makes one (https://www.mantusmarine.com/mantus-anchor-bracket/) which looks good (spendy but boat), but as far as I can tell you have to remove the anchor from the bracket, then attach the rode, and then deploy. Maybe I'm wrong, not a ton of info out there.

That seems like a major downside versus being able to attach the rode in the bracket and then just chuck the anchor overboard.

Does anyone else have a solution or do similar? I'm looking at options for modifying an off-the-shelf roller or having something fabricated.

The use case is long term cruising starting from the US West coast, and so far I have had (chosen?) to use a stern anchor in various situations in the Channel Islands. Perhaps this will not be a thing once we get moving farther afield.

[Dockhead]

Well, you should study Swedish sailing forums. Almost all Scandinavian boats have a stern anchor setup, because Scandi mooring is bows-first, so you need to deploy a stern anchor in many situations.



A lot of Scandi boats have a proper anchor roller off the stern rail, some even with electric windlasses there. That's one way to do it. You can order the hardware from one of the Swedish online chandlers.


If you don't want to go that far, a Fortress anchor in a bracket on the pushpit also works pretty well. You will want to detach the rode when you're not using it, but keep it handy in the laz and hook it up before throwing it overboard.


I cruise the Baltic and deploy a stern anchor pretty often. I keep the Fortress in the anchor locker and just bring it back when needed. I have roller fairleads at the quarter, so just bring the rope rode through that to a cockpit electric winch. Works fine.

[SailingHarmonie]

On the Mantus bracket there is plenty of room to leave the rode attached, either down from the top, or up from the bottom, as you see fit.

If you have any questions about it, give them a call, they are very helpful.

[dissent]

Great info, thank you both. I'll call Mantus and chat. From the deployment perspective this is more in line with what I was thinking as there's no need to pull it up and out. https://www.svb24.com/en/petersen-ho...rn-pulpit.html Had to add Sweden for google to find that in a search.



Cheers!

[Kettlewell]

I guess it depends on where you are going, but I haven't used a stern anchor much here on the east coast of North America down to South America. One exception is at LaBelle in the Okeechobee Waterway where they have a free dock you can tie either bow or stern to, like in the Med. I used one of my Fortress anchors stored in the bow locker with its mostly rope rode stored in a sailbag. Just carried it aft to the stern for deployment. Frankly, most cruising boats I see today carry so much junk on the stern that figuring out how to get around all that stuff will be the big problem for many. Despite you not wanting anchor recommendations I think a Fortress or Danforth are just about ideal for stern anchor use with the direction of pull needing to only be from one direction. You can use a lighter anchor meaning it is much easier to handle by hand, not needing a roller. I do occasionally launch a Fortress off the stern to set it in the traditional Bahamian moor fashion, but then I lead the line back to the bow once the anchor is in place. I have used a Bahamiam moor numerous times in the actual Bahamas, the creeks along the Intracoastal Waterway, and sometimes when limiting swing in crowded anchorages. Also useful if anticipating a major windshift and you don't want to swing 180 degrees the other way.

[bergius]

Like Dockhead mentioned, stern anchors are used a lot in the Baltic. Most local boats don’t even carry a bow anchor!

Ours is tied to the pushpit. The anchor is a 15kg Bruce that was the boat’s original bow anchor (we replaced it with a Vulcan). The anchor is connected to 5m chain (in the aluminium tube next to the anchor), followed by 45m of webbing line on the roller. Has worked really well for the last 6k or so nautical miles.

Really quick to deploy as well, just untie the line keeping the anchor on the pushpit and toss it overboard. The webbing roller keeps the anchor line tight enough to not risk anything ending up in the prop when motoring forwards.



We also have a Fortress stored in a cockpit locker that we’ve used as a kedge couple of times.

[Dockhead]

Originally Posted by bergius

Like Dockhead mentioned, stern anchors are used a lot in the Baltic. Most local boats don’t even carry a bow anchor!

Ours is tied to the pushpit. The anchor is a 15kg Bruce that was the boat’s original bow anchor (we replaced it with a Vulcan). The anchor is connected to 5m chain (in the aluminium tube next to the anchor), followed by 45m of webbing line on the roller. Has worked really well for the last 6k or so nautical miles.

Really quick to deploy as well, just untie the line keeping the anchor on the pushpit and toss it overboard. The webbing roller keeps the anchor line tight enough to not risk anything ending up in the prop when motoring forwards.

We also have a Fortress stored in a cockpit locker that we’ve used as a kedge couple of times.

One good point here is about webbing rode.


This is commonly used in the Baltic, on a reel, for stern anchors. It is mega easy to handle like this and extremely convenient, for a stern anchor.


I do agree however with whoever expressed concerned about too much clutter on the pushpit. That's one reason why I keep my kedge in the anchor locker at the bow, even though it's less convenient. The tradeoff here comes down probably to how often you use it. I don't anchor by the stern as often as most Baltic sailors. With a bigger boat you mostly just anchor out.