What size Northill?

[dkall]

Can't find any recommendations on sizing a Northill? Any links or references would be a great help, along with real world Northill experiences.

42' boat with bowsprit, 32k lbs displacement, dodger. and a variable rode, one chain and one chain and anchor.

Thanks for your time.

[Pblais]

What little I could find doing some quick Google searches seems to indicate:

1. you need more scope with a Northill (USCG Boat Handling text) so if you got one I think that is a fair assumption. Not sure how much more they mean though.

2. I also saw a post from a circumnavigator that had a 40 ft boat and used a 25 kg Northill as the main anchor at first but found it tangled in it's own rode easily when the boat did 360's and then switched to a Bruce. He didn't like it.

My own bias would think the Northill is not an easy anchor to work with and the reports I did find where people liked them were old very large anchors. A person on latitude 38 loved his 75 lb Northill.

Perhaps a poll of the forum might yield a few anchor preferences but I'm not sure a Northill would be near the top. Modern technology I think produces anchors that set faster and easier.

You could also do a Google search as I did and read some of the hits. I didn't find many that sounded positive.