Two anchors fit under the bowsprit....lets talk second anchor

[ttex]

Howdy y'all!

Your resident ignorant Texas wannabe sailor here.

I have room for two anchors under the bowsprit on my Baba 35. I have decided I am going to go with a Rocna Vulcan 55lb for my main anchor. This being based on theory and not practice, of course.

As there is room up front to have a second anchor I was wondering what y'all would suggest I have there? Right now it has what looks like a fortress style anchor. Just keep it as the secondary?

I saw a Baba 35 with two Vulcans up there. What could be the benefit of having two identical anchors up front?

[billknny]

Tex,

We have been cruising full time for 5 years, and spend about 300 days a year at anchor. The number of times we set two anchors off the bow has been... one. That was a Bahamian moor in (surprise!) the Bahamas where we were anchored in a very narrow channel with a reversing tidal current.

We have also set two anchors bow and stern when we tied down for a direct hit from Dorian. I have great confidence in my Mantus that is my primary anchor, but as a secondary anchor I have a Fortress. I don't keep it rigged on the bow, but I probably would if I could.

[Cheechako]

A Fortress would keep some weight off the bow. A Fortress saved my 47 footer in a sudden blow. That type of anchor doesn't usually store on a roller well with another anchor though. I made a holder on the pulpit to have it ready .
I avoid using two anchors at once like the plague. It's been trouble every time.

[wrwakefield]

Hi Tex,

We also prefer keeping two anchors on the bow ready to deploy.

We like having a second anchor ready to go in case we lose use of the first one for any reason. [e.g., Having to abandone the first anchor and go anchor elsewhere. This scenario could be an emergency situation, or the first anchor is stuck and not retrievable from the boat, etc. These examples are from past experience.]

We also choose to have two different types of anchors on the bow [out of 6 total onboard] each of which have proven strengths in the different bottom types we are likely to encounter in our cruising areas, and either one could be used as our main bower.

We do not have two bow anchors so we can deploy both simultaneously, however... but that is a personal choice. [I did that once in a storm on a different boat ~30 years ago... It worked, but is a real pain, and avoidable with the right ground tackle and setting techniques...]

If you are interested, there are many more details on our Groundtackle Inventory page...

Cheers! Bill

[HankOnthewater]

Hi Texas sailor, like Wakefield above, I keep 2 anchors on the bow ready to deploy. I did all that for the same reasons.
One is concave, other one convex, on purpose. Both will hold my boat on their own... sofar Never used 2 anchors from the bow at the same time.
Edit, eh only once I used these anchors sequentially, because one was dragging, took that back and dropped then 2nd (slightly larger) anchor, and.... all was good. yes, that second anchor is the one I use since.
Wakefield and Billkenny trump me in the number of anchors though. Must go on online and see what other types are available

[Paul L]

In my opinion you are far better off to put the extra weight into your main anchor than to weigh your bow down with iron that you won't use. Have a fortress setup for a stern anchor. It can be used in the rare cases you add a stern anchor and as kedge that can easily be run out in a dinghy.
Weight in tn3e bow does nothing good for an offshore boat.

[ranger58sb]

Originally Posted by ttex

I have room for two anchors under the bowsprit on my Baba 35. I have decided I am going to go with a Rocna Vulcan 55lb for my main anchor. This being based on theory and not practice, of course.

As there is room up front to have a second anchor I was wondering what y'all would suggest I have there? Right now it has what looks like a fortress style anchor. Just keep it as the secondary?

I saw a Baba 35 with two Vulcans up there. What could be the benefit of having two identical anchors up front?

Wish I had a setup that allowed two anchors always ready on the bow.

We've had very good luck with Fortress anchors in the soft/slimy Chesapeake mud, and it's good in other substrate too. We keep ours dismantled now (no room on the pulpit) and we can use it as a kedge if necessary (err... again).

Identical anchors at the bow at least gives you some redundancy, but...

Were it me, I'd want different anchors at the bow. Given the Fortress can work so well as a kedge/stern anchor, and it stows so well, I think I'd look for something that works in areas where the Vulcan might not. The main anchor we use now is an adjustable SuperMAX, which also works very well in the Chesapeake soup... and in most any other substrate we've encountered.

-Chris

[rslifkin]

If you can fit the Fortress with the Vulcan, it would be a good pick for a secondary. Not too much extra weight and more importantly, it's a significantly different design. So if you're in a situation where the Vulcan proves sub-optimal, the next easy option is something very different that's likely to work.

For those who have concerns about a Fortress fitting with another anchor on a pulpit, I think the best way to do it is with the Fotress mounted through the pulpit (so it sits against the bottom with the shank sticking up at an angle). Then the other roller can go over the end of the pulpit, allowing the other anchor to deploy over the Fortress or the Fortress to drop out from under the other anchor. Just have to manage placement to avoid the tip of the top anchor from snagging the Fortress and to avoid the rode from the Fortress roller hitting the other anchor.

[SV__Grace]

As a full time cruiser who loves anchoring, this is my favorite topic! Every boat and skipper needs to find the setup that works best for their unique needs, and we are still tweaking ours for our 20 ton Nauticat 43 center cockpit cutter/ketch.

Currently we have a 33kg/75lb Vulcan on our primary bowsprit roller with 500 feet of 5/16 G43 HT chain for the deep anchorages here in PNW. This anchor has held us in gales up to 60 knots without moving an inch (in sticky mud bottoms of course). But, it's about to be replaced, more about that below.

We have two other anchors on deck at all times. During storm season or whenever a big blow is forecast we have a Fortress FX37 on the secondary rode and second bow roller as an emergency backup (the stock sticks up, but that's OK).

Once set, our Vulcan has never dragged, but getting it set can be a problem in hairy conditions, and my experience with the Fortress is that it bites and holds immediately when deployed and has saved our bacon a number of times. I wouldn't want it for my primary anchor but it's a great storm and special purpose anchor.

If the Fortress is on the bow, we have a delta that gets put on the stern, and vice versa. I like the delta primarily as a stern anchor (which we rarely need) and for use in a Hammerlock Moor on the bow when the current and wind are causing too much sailing around. I learned the hard way to pull it up when the current changes, otherwise it can get tangled in the primary rode. No way would I want a delta as a primary or storm anchor.

There are two huge issues with the Vulcan that is causing me to finally get rid of it-

1. It's finicky to set. Requires careful technique, minimum 5:1 scope, and won't set reliably if dragged before the scope is deployed (discovered this the hard way after 6 tries in a familiar anchorage with sticky mud bottom, then finally looked up the manufacturers guidelines for setting this anchor which clearly state the above).

2. Recent tests by sources I trust show that it can pull out and resist resetting because it's scoop gets clogged with mud. Seems more likely to do this with strong 180 degree shifts. While my Vulcan has always stayed in place and pivoted, it does not provide me peace of mind to know this weakness.

So what will be my replacement for the Vulcan? Today, actually, I'm accepting delivery of a Sarca Excel and I'm excited.

Why the Excel? I wrote it off some time ago as a Delta copy, but Chris at groundtackle.com convinced me to look more closely and what I found was a combination 70/30 convex/concave design that appears to be the best of both worlds. Ever since the original Rocna changed my anchoring life forever, I've been a fan of scoop anchors and never liked plow anchors, especially CQR (my Delta is a special purpose anchor).

Tests and user reviews show the Excel sets fast, digs deep, holds super strong, and resets reliably. I haven't seen any criticism or complaint and can't wait to test it for myself.

One final comment that guided my decision about which anchor to purchase is the recommendation by Morgan's Cloud (if you're a cruiser, I recommend a subscription) for cruisers to size your primary bower as your storm anchor. This makes a lot of sense to me, as storms can come up quickly and you won't always have time to switch rodes or fetch a storm anchor out of the bilge. I want my primary bower to hold me in the most severe conditions I will possibly encounter, which guided my purchase of Sarca Excel #8 instead of #6 or #7.

[Bluwater49]

Why is everyone calling danforth anchors fortress anchors? Maybe i'm just old.

[rslifkin]

Originally Posted by Bluwater49

Why is everyone calling danforth anchors fortress anchors? Maybe i'm just old.

Fortress is a company that makes an anchor that's basically a lighter weight aluminum Danforth with a couple of improvements (on their higher end lineup). And unlike a standard Danforth, the Fortress can be disassembled for storage, so they're common to keep aboard for use as a kedge or in large sizes, as a worst-case "oh crap" anchor, being that they can be stored easily, aren't overly heavy (which makes them easier to hand launch or row out in a dinghy), but have a lot of holding power in the conditions where they work well.

[SV__Grace]

Originally Posted by Bluwater49

Why is everyone calling danforth anchors fortress anchors? Maybe i'm just old.

"Everyone?" I'm old too, but when I use the term "Fortress" I mean it. In my post above I specified "Fortress FX37" to be as clear and specific as possible for those who care about the details.

I know what a danforth is and use that term as appropriate.

[LarryDW]

My boat had a 45 lb Mantus when I bought her. I then added 250’ of chain, so added a fair amount of weight up front. Before departing Maine in 2018 I added a 44 lb Bruce as a secondary anchor up front. After cruising south to Florida, spending 4 months in the Bahamas, then back in Charleston I decided to sell it. Never used it after thousands of miles. I figured if I needed a secondary anchor I’d use the Fortress I store below, and she’s much happier getting rid of that extra weight up front.

[ttex]

I love all the info folks, thanks.

I am trying to soak up all this boat stuff like a sponge as best as I can before I have to do it for real once my boat is ready.

[Greg K]

Have had twin anchors on the bowsprit on 2 boats. The present boat, a Shannon 28, sports a 35 lbs CQR primary on mostly chain and is pulled up by a windlass. The secondary is a Rocna 10Kg with about 10 ft. of chain and the rest rope so I can pull it up by hand or deploy it from the dinghy. In the Balearics, where we mostly cruise these days, we frequently use both anchors because of limited swinging room in tight anchorages. We also had two anchors on the bowsprit of our former Cape Dory 36: a 45lb CQR primary with all chain rode pulled up by a windlass and a 15Kg Bruce secondary which I pulled up by hand.


As you can imagine from my post thus far, I am a strong proponent of dual anchors on the bow. In selecting a secondary anchor, I would suggest a somewhat smaller hook than your primary, with only a bit of chain so you can pull it up by hand or row it out in the dinghy, especially when you go aground and need to kedge off before the tide falls. The secondary anchor on the bow has gotten us out of trouble almost as many times as our stern anchor.


A good selection of anchors always ready to immediately deploy is essential for cruisers who, like ourselves, carry only 3rd party liability insurance.