Anchors- catamarans

[Lignator]

Hello- I am just completing my selfbuild(TIKI 31 Catamaran) in retirement (haha), and would much appreciate advice on

1) anchors/chains
2) preferred ways of attaching to a swinging mooring

Many thanks, trying to get back to sailing now after building (almost forgotten sailing): Ian

[belizesailor]

Oh boy, another anchor thread...this should be fun!

Just so you know this is a subject area much like religion and politics. You will likey get very many spirited responses...and few of them will agree.

[Snowpetrel]

Watch all of Panope's excellent Videos of anchors setting, and noelix' photos of anchors setting and then you will have attained a diploma in anchor setting (theory):thumbup:

Heres my idea of the ultinate setup for your light simple tiki 31

1x fortress fx16 for a stern anchor

1x fortress fx 24 as a storm anchor

1x 35lb next gen anchor, ideally a sarca excel, spade or mantus.as a main anchor.

Id go 40 meters of 6mm g70 chain and 100 meters of 14mm 8 plait nylon or polyester on the main warp and 50 meters of the same for the stern/storm anchor setup plus about 2 meters of 6mm g70 for the stern anchor.

For a storm anchor setup i'd use 16mm x 50m rope and 5 meters of 8mm g70

The storm anchor is optional, and should not be needed but it makes a cheap insurance policy in some situations.

This is based on you being able to play to your boats strengths of shallow draft. In deep water this setup isn't ideal but should work with care. Weight is a huge issue with the tiki's and this setup is light enough not to need a windlass if you have a chain pawl on the bow roller.

Oh, and nice choice of boat. Love those tiki's

[captnandy]

Congratulations on finishing your Tiki! To answer question 2) we used to keep our Pahi 42 on a mooring. We used a short bridle with a swivel joint at the apex and a big clip that could be easily fixed to the buoy from the front beam. The bridle lines were led to cleats on deck so they could be adjusted as necessary. For anchoring, it depends a lot on your sailing area, but I'd suggest you don't want to load up with a lot of chain as the Tiki is a light boat, although of course you need to have some for each anchor. We use a CQR as main anchor, a Delta on the stern, and a fisherman's as a reserve.
Happy sailing!

[Lignator]

Thanks for your helpful information, a swinging mooring is a new experience for me with a multihull. I'm hoping she doesn't move about too much out of step with the other boats but technically there is supposed to be room. I guess I will find out soon enough!

I have been on a Pahi 42 about 20 years ago. I'm a bit of a moaner about the endless epoxy in a Tiki 31 but the 42 is seriously huge, what a project to build. The owners of the Pahi I was on had a problem with interstitial condensation from the way she had been insulated (foam, open cell I think) and had to strip it all out. What a job.

As I have gone on with the 31 I have had a paranoia about adding weight, as you are right (as Snowpetrel above) she is a light boat and I don't require much inside beyond a decent bunk, a chart table and a kettle.

[Lignator]

Thanks Snowpetrel for your kind and comprehensive advice, looks sensible to me.

I have had a look at the videos- excellent.

[captnandy]

As we're based in the Baltic we tend not to anchor so often - from the bow, but are usually mooring bow-to rocks, with the stern anchor out. So it's horses for courses!
One thing to think about and a place for experiment is where you locate your anchor stowage and roller. I'ev always used the main anchor from the front beam, but many Wharrams have them positioned just in front of the mast or deck pod. Some say the boat behaves better moored from a more central point, but I have not had any problem from the font beam position. ALso when using an anchor, use a bridle to the anchor line with a similar setup to if it was your mooring buoy.
We didn't build our Pahi ourselves, bought her about 10 years ago and are steadily making improvements and repairs. I removed all the insulation from the interior as I wanted to get back to the wood and see the condition. Found no problems, but yes, it is a job sanding all that old glue away!

[Snowpetrel]

Some extra thoughts and some of my reasoning...

Originally Posted by Snowpetrel

Heres my idea of the ultinate setup for your light simple tiki 31

1x fortress fx16 for a stern anchor

Lightweight and effective, if you need to save money a guardian anchor might work as well. This would be an easy anchor to take ashore if you are beaching the boat. Its big enough to hold the 7 tonne 33 foot panope so it should work for you. Though I say stern anchor it should also be able to be deployed from the bow, and can be used as a big dinghy anchor.

1x fortress fx 24 as a storm anchor

really big anchor stored below disassembled. For when a hurricane is forcast..A g37 might also be an option but you need to watch weight and the fortress is probably the lightest anchor for its holding power, and the 45 deg setting near doubles its soft mud ability. Having three anchors means you can moor your boat up in a shallow inlet securely with anchors set all around the boat. Its still light enough to easily manhandle. It also would make a bombproof beaching anchor to drop off the stern, and then be used to winch her back off with.

1x 35lb next gen anchor, ideally a sarca excel, spade or mantus.as a main anchor.

Not to big or you will be wanting a windlass. I can manage 45 lb and 10mm chain, but its a struggle. You could probably upsize to 40 or 45 lb with the light chain if you wanted to really oversize it.

Id go 40 meters of 6mm g70 chain and 100 meters of 14mm 8 plait nylon or polyester on the main warp

If you can find the g70 maggi stuff it sounds good. I havent run the numbers but I would have thought 6mm g70 would be strong enough. Otherwise 8mm g30 or 40 would work fine. 6mm will save a huge amount of weight over 8mm, and will stow in half the space.

40 meters of chain will see you right up to about 10 meters of water, more than that you will need to add a rope tail. No big hardship if you are not routinely anchoring in deep places. Your shallow draft and easy drying means you should be able to sneak into shallow spots often.

Having only 40 meters saves weight and cost. You could provably cut it down to 30m if you live where you normally anchor in under 5meters or up it to 50m if its more like 15 meters. Being on all chain gives lots of peice of mind. And you can have two long bridles to extend it out to the depth of the water before the rope can touch the bottom and chafe. So in 10 meters of water you can easily add 9 meters of rope to the top before it touches to seabed, giving 49m total for scope considerations. The extra 100m of rope enables really deep anchoring or long scope anchoring if needed. You could probably cut it down to 50m and use your stern anchor rope, or storm anchor rope setup if needed for deeper stuff.

8 braid stuff is so much nicer than 3 strand and stows much better than doublebraid but it is expensive. Polyester is an option as well rather than nylon. Even heavy, 18mm 3 strand polyoleifin can work well but beware it floats, and is bulky. Spectra is another option.

I chose 14mm but 12mm might well do it if you really want to save weight and money. The 14 will last much longer and give extra security. 16mm is probably overkill, but for a storm anchor the extra size might be worthwhile.

50 meters of the same for the stern/storm anchor setup plus about 2 meters of 6mm g70 for the stern anchor.

50 meters will do ok for shallow stuff, say under 8m otherwise you will need to get creative.

For a storm anchor setup i'd use 16mm x 50m rope and 5 meters of 8mm g70

Much stronger so you dont ever need to worry about it even thoughbthe normal stuff should be able to cope with anything for a while the extra gives peice of mind. A long length of heavy stuff can also be used for towing, drogue or berthlines.

Another option for this warp is heavy dynema. Very light and chafe resistant. You would need to add a nylon bridle to give it some stretch. A 10m wire leader is an option as well, to deal with chafe.

[Lignator]

Thanks for your replies capnandy and Snowpetrel.

Snowpetrel: I've spent some time "weighing up" the anchors and gear mentioned by you and thinking about your propositions. Ref your latest reply I am going to have to take some notes from that and look at it in detail before I can reply, there's a lot there. Thanks for taking time out to give me your thoughts based on much more sailing experience than I have myself.

capnandy: I would love to take my boat to the Baltic as my mother was from there and I will sail there if I can. One foot nine draught has to be good!
Re the front beam: my front beam is where the mainmast is located, ie not at the stem of the boat. If I have a beam there later on it will be a light one just for a netting beam.

I am just finishing the outboard sled, thinking backwards again, having managed to purchase a Tohatsu with a 27" transome height secondhand, don't think they make them now. I have uprated the tube pivot from the Wharram spec and the sled is sheathed with carbon. The Tohatsu looks like new, (I checked that it wasn't nicked) hope it works that way. It's 20 hp which is a bit much maybe but the motor weighs the same a many smaller ones, 52 kg I think. (Got rained off today, @ 5 degrees C or so still sleet on the covers).

I have been thinking backwards for the anchor roller + chainplate from the anchor/chain, so haven't fitted one yet, will make one up if I can't buy one.

Many thanks again for your very useful thoughts