Anchor poll

[gareth harris]

I think it would be useful to have a database of anchors Ericson owners have used, and how successful they have been.

Beyond the poll itself, useful information to post would be the type of bottom in your area, if you use a different anchor for different bottoms, the size anchor you use for normal conditions, the size you use for heavy conditions, how well it works in shifting winds and currents, the type and length of rode, and whether you use a special technique in a crowded anchorage. Also, if you use a riding sail, information on how you hoist it and its size.

In Pensacola Bay, the bottom is all sand. I never had a problem with a 25lb galvanised steel Danforth, although I carried a an aluminium Fortress FX-23 as a back up. It was shallow, and uncrowded, so I would use around a 7:1 scope, and although the current would shift with every tide running parallel to the shore, the winds were fairly steady, and the boat never swung more than ninety degrees. I would often anchor off the stern, which was both easier, especially when single handing, and gave better airflow through the cabin on the hot summer nights.

Gareth
Freyja E35 #241 1972

 

[Rocinante33]

I use a 33# Bruce in our SoCal sand & rocks, with a lot of kelp.

 

[Mike.Gritten]

We use a 33# Bruce as our bower anchor and have a Fortress FX16 as a backup. We have 50 ft of 5/16 chain and 250 ft of 5/8" 3-strand nylon on the main anchor; 20 ft of 5/16 chain and 200 ft of 1/2" nylon double braid on the Fortress. Up here in the PNW we almost always swing on the single anchor but have set the second one 60 degrees off if the weather looks iffy. Because of the relatively small anchorages in some areas we often tie the stern of the boat to shore (pre-installed iron rings or rocks, trees, etc.) after setting the bow anchor. We have a few moorings balls around but they are few and far between. I've never had any problem with anchors dragging, but to be honest, I can only remember a few nights where we had more than 20 knots of wind to contend with. It sets right now and every time. No problems at all! We have a lofrans Panther electric windlass to haul the buggar up so lots of rode is not a problem for us old geezers.

Anchor Watch Update:
I am really anal about my anchoring and making sure that the anchor is truly "set" is the most important part of our anchor watch strategy. We pay close attention to our charts and especially the forecast for the period we will be on the hook. We always go overboard (pun intended) as far as scope is concerned and rarely anchor with less than 7:1. We mark our anchor position with a small orange buouy on a length of line appropriate to the depth at high water (this also gives us a retrieval line in case the anchor gets jammed somehow). Once set, I give the anchor a good test at full throttle astern for several seconds and a minute or so at about 900 rpm to ensure we are NOT moving! I have never used a GPS "anchor watch" waypoint. In my mind's eye I carefully plot the position of the boats around us in the anchorage and continually check this against the current situation until we go to bed. I too, use the "any excuse to get out of bed and check the anchorage" method. On lumpy nights it seems I get up and check everything every time I roll over! I have never set an alarm to wake me to check the boat. If we go ashore leaving the boat swinging, I am always trying to see her on the water, no matter if we are in a pub or just doing the laundry. Touch wood, we have never had a problem in this regard and hope to continue that "good luck"!

 

[Chris Miller]

We use a 35# CQR on our 38 in the Chesapeake bay which is mostly mud. It holds really well and is often used as the anchor for our cruising rafts (usually 7 or 8 boats total). 30 ft of chain + 3 braid rode.
Chris

 

[Loren Beach]

In a river estuary, our anchoring areas are sand and sand/mud mixed, so a Danforth design works well.
Our boat has the anchor well molded specifically for a 13S or 12H, and one of each came with the boat.
The boat came with only 15 feet of chain, and I replaced that right away with a 30 foot piece. 250 feet of three-strand line.
We just got back recently from a cruise down to Astoria, near the mouth of the Columbia and spend a delightful night on the hook.

For going further away, where rocky bottoms would be, I know that some sort of Delta design would be better... but have formulated no plan for storing one absent keeping it separate in a rear lazerette or something.

http://www.ericsonyachts.org/infoexchange/showthread.php?t=3951&referrerid=28
Here's a picture of our setup.
Tidy, but very limiting in what kind and size of anchor you can store there!

Loren in Portland, OR

 

[andy beach]

We also use a 33# Bruce anchor. I've tried a number of differnt anchors on charter boats here in the N.W. and by far and away the Bruce usually sets the first try and seems to work very good with short scope in crowded anchorages.

 

[erobitaille]

I know this is over kill but it is what came on the boat from the PO. I have a 60lb plow with 250' of 5/8" chain with a 30 lb spde on 150' of 3/4" nylon as back up.
S.F. Bay is mostly black gooey mud.

At Kaboom this year the wind was blowing 30-35 kts she swung 180 degrees but the plow and chain held like a rock.

 

[rwthomas1]

Primary is a 35lb genuine CQR with 60ft of 3/8ths 3B chain and 210ft of 5/8ths 3strand nylon. I had a 22lb Danforth with 25ft of 3/8ths and 150ft of 5/8ths 3 strand but I just lost that. I know where I "lost" it, I just have to go back and get it I believe in chain, as much as possible, all chain if you can. Heavy chain is better. Catenary effect, keeps the boat from swinging around so much. Long chain helps the anchor dig in and stay there.

Generally the sea floor here is mud, sand a combination or eel grass. The CQR with all that chain has never moved. Spent one night on the outside of Cuttyhunk with 25-30kt winds. 120ft of scope in 15ft water. Didn't budge an inch. I like a minimum of 7-1 scope and usually go for 10-1 regardless. Set that anchor well and then you don't have to worry if it gets nasty.

I would like to go to a very large Fortress/chain/rode package for the "oh crap" setup when funds allow. Easier to store the Fortress....

Lastly, my windlass is Armstrong so as much as I like the security of a long piece of chain I do hate pulling the damned thing!

RT

 

[rwthomas1]

I know this is over kill but it is what came on the boat from the PO. I have a 60lb plow with 250' of 5/8" chain with a 30 lb spde on 150' of 3/4" nylon as back up.
S.F. Bay is mostly black gooey mud.

At Kaboom this year the wind was blowing 30-35 kts she swung 180 degrees but the plow and chain held like a rock.

Holy smokes! Where o where do you put a 60lb plow and 250ft of 5/8ths chain on a E38! I am making the assumption that you have a windlass!?!?! Doesn't that make the E38 just a bit bow heavy? Mine rides a bit bow-down with the water tanks full, I'd hate to see it with that ground tackle! That setup would make a great hurricane hook though. Wow. RT

 

[Mike.Gritten]

This is fun...what an excellent thread!!

 

[boatboy]

anchors

44 lb. Delta, 150' chain and a whole bunch of nylon line which very rarely sees the light of day. We also have a Danforth at the stern and a 44lb. Bruce as a back-up if needed. The Delta has been a fantastic anchor for us - never having dragged even once after being properly set.

 

[Captron]

Anchors

We cruise Florida, Bahamas and East Coast of the US mainly.

If you cruise these waters for more than a weekend, the boat's primary ground tackle should be a plow type (Bruce, CQR, Spade or similar) of about a pound of anchor per foot of boat length and a minimum of 100ft of chain backed by at least 100ft of nylon. All appropriately sized and matched according to either working load or breaking strength. Secondary anchors should be of a different type (Danforth, Fortress, Luke, whatever) and a third anchor should be of yet another type.

On Kismet we have a 33lb Bruce on the bow roller with 100ft of 5/16 G4 chain and 200ft of 5/8 nylon. We use this anchor almost exclusively and find that it sets quickly, does not pull out and is still light enough to pull by hand without a windlass. The only time we have trouble setting the Bruce is in dense grass. Any other bottom we have encountered, it sets and holds.

Our secondary anchor is a Fortress FX-37 on 75ft of 3/8 chain and 150ft of 5/8 nylon. We lash this anchor to the bow pulpit and the rode stows in the bow locker. We consider this to be our 'storm' anchor. Kismet rode out hurricane Francis a couple of years ago in Clearwater Bay on this anchor alone (on the primary rode). She survived max winds of 80k and sustained 50k plus winds for more than 48 hours and never moved. The bottom there is sandy, dense mud.

We also carry a 22lb Danforth on its own rode in the bow locker that we use as our 'Bahamian Moor' anchor but rarely. I'm of the school that thinks deploying two anchors is more trouble than it's worth but there are circumstances where it makes sense. (technique is a separate subject). I'd rather have a third type (maybe a Luke) ... but it's what was on the boat ... compromises.

A lot of folks think that 100 feet of chain is excessive but we don't drag and we have much exposure to boats with less chain dragging nearby (closer than I care for).

Last year in Georgetown (a fairly benign anchoring situation) a catamaran broke loose from its mooring at night with nobody aboard and drifted across the bay and nearly onto some rocks before she was rescued. The owner blamed the problem on a dinghy outboard cutting his anchor line. I doubt that. Even a big outboard would probably stall before it cut through 1/2 inch nylon. More than likely his rode caught on some coral and sawed through. A decent length of chain would have kept his nylon at a steeper angle, and closer to his bow such that boat props would not have caught it. Plus, it's important in these southern areas to keep your nylon off the bottom where it can be abraded by coral, rocks or even shells and broken glass.

Also keep in mind that many author's anchoring ideas are based on experience with trawlers or other power boats not sailboats. There is a difference. I know because we've had many trawlers anchor near us and it seems they seldom have adequate anchors (by my judgment) and often drag.

 

[Mindscape]

Anchor

We have a 33# Lewmar Claw (Bruce style) on our anchor roller and have a Fortress FX16 as a backup. 50ft of f/16ths chain and 250' of yale brait (easy to store) on the claw and 30ft of chain and 150' ft of line for the back up fortress. We've had good luck with the claw around Lake Michagan. I"ve liked having the fortress as back up as it is supposed to set well in the mud and is easy to store, but as of yet have not had to use it over the claw. The claw is nice as it fits easily on the roller on our 32-3. I'm going to swap the three strand road on the back up for brait just for the ease of storage and space savings.

 

[HGSail]

I use a 24lb Danforth w/40' 5/16bbb chain, Eventualy I will switch to a Bruce when I get my new bow roller. As of this point I have never dragged at any of the Channel Islands.

Pat
E29
'73
#224
Holy Guacamole

 

[u079721]

33 lb Bruce on E38

We used a 33 lb Bruce on our E38, with 20 ft of 3/8" chain, and 300 ft of 5/8" line. In choppy water I used a 25 lb sentinal (rode rider), and always used a combination anchor buoy and trip line as well. I would prefer all chain but not having a windlass I made do with mostly line. In our case I felt this was safe since the boat was never really anchored unattended.

At first I was a bit concerned about this being enough, since Bruce anchors never seem to do that well on comparative anchor tests. But in over 300 nights at anchor in the North Channel of Lake Huron we never once dragged, and the anchor set on the first try in everything but weeds. Always anchored to a single hook unless the wind in the anchorage got over 35 kts, at which point I would use a Fortress as back up.

If I had ever lost the anchor I was going to replace it with a Spade based on the experience of a few friends, but I never had to. And for the Great Lakes an ideal set up seems to be about 90 ft of chain, with another 200 ft of line. That allows you to anchor to all chain most of the time.

 

[Steve Swann]

Horizon Claw: Looks good, stores well.

I use a 16# Horizon Claw because it looks cool on the bow and stows tucked in really well in my custom made chock/roller bow assembly I built. Plus, no sharp edges and toe stubbing is minimal. Don't laugh; we spend a lot of time up on the bow doing other things other than sailing - like stowing and unstowing the mast for trailering. A 16# with 30' of HT chain, it might be overkill for a lake-sailing, trailerable 25, but then again, is there such a thing? It seems to set well in about everything I've tried, mostly sandy or pebbly bottoms. It also hooks around a pine tree really well with no chafe or jammed rope rode when we tie up to shore. I carry a Danforth as a second anchor stored down below and use it as a second anchor if we need extra security.

On lakes, size and various conveniences seem to be the rule.

Steve Swann
E25 Seahorse

 

[footrope]

***** Greg Davids - Pacifica - welcome back to you and Melissa and Matey. Enjoyed your cruise log.

We have a 33# Bruce as our primary anchor with 58 feet of heavy chain and another 150 of nylon 3 strand rode. Our windlass is out of service, so we practice good hauling posture and we motor forward in strong winds to reduce those hauling forces. I like the chain for anti-chafe and for reducing the need to go to such high scope ratios. I watch the weather pretty closely and normally like to have 4:1 or 5:1 out, more if more wind is forecast.

I agree with Steve on the Bruce/claw test results - they seem disappointing to say the least. The bottom used for the last test printed in Sail magazine appeared to be predominantly sand, with some mud or clay. Except in the waves during storm or hurricane conditions I wonder if Ericsons would ever exert 5000# pull on an anchor? The anchor tests were not aimed at a particular type of boat, just at a certain force on the rode. That seems like a fair comparison technique.

Our secondary is a 25# steel Danforth with an all-rope rode. We have two spare all-rope rodes that are in the 150-200 foot range.

We have mainly found mud and mud-sand mixtures in our anchorages. Eel grass has resulted in setting problems but once set we've never dragged, at least not in the 20 knots of wind we've experienced so far. We reset once out in front of Port Townsend, but I think now that the vibration we were feeling was from the current. I do not miss an opportunity to try to spot our boat from shore when we're anchored, either.

Another interesting and related question is "How many times on a typical non-stormy night do you plan to wake up and check your position?" It would be nice if you would go back and edit your original post to add that information. Early in my formal sail training, our instructor impressed upon us that anchoring is not a routine operation and he sounded like he got up every hour all night long to check things out.

I have a simple philosophy about anchor watching. If I get up at night to use the head or for any other reason, I check our position and the position of nearby boats - usually that is once a night. I set the alarm clock to get me up at 3 am. for a routine check, but I skip it if the other wake-up(s) compensate and the conditions are as expected. Around full daylight I usually wake up naturally and check also.

Great thread.

 

[Ray Rhode]

We use a 35 lb Delta on our E35-III. We anchor mostly in sand and mud and it always sets on the first try and will hold us and a couple of others in a raft-up.

For hurricanes we add a Fotress FX-55 set in tandem with the Delta. Have never dragged. During Ivan we held two other boats until their ground tackle chaffed through and they headed for the beach.


Ray Rhode
S/V Journey
E35-III, #189

 

[kevin81]

I use a 33# Bruce with 30 ft of chain. The anchoring in the upper Texas coast is mud, mud and more mud! I never have had a problem with it holding.

Kevin
E34

 

[u079721]

***** Another interesting and related question is "How many times on a typical non-stormy night do you plan to wake up and check your position?" It would be nice if you would go back and edit your original post to add that information. Early in my formal sail training, our instructor impressed upon us that anchoring is not a routine operation and he sounded like he got up every hour all night long to check things out.

I have a simple philosophy about anchor watching. If I get up at night to use the head or for any other reason, I check our position and the position of nearby boats - usually that is once a night. I set the alarm clock to get me up at 3 am. for a routine check, but I skip it if the other wake-up(s) compensate and the conditions are as expected.QUOTE]



Very interesting point. Not sure whether I have excessive faith in my anchor abilities or am negligent in my duties as captain (or both...) but I have never once set my alarm to get up just to check the anchor. But during my nightly 3 AM "head call" I will always glance out the ports to see if anything has changed, and maybe check the boat's heading on my telltail compass to see whether we have swung during the night. 90 degrees, no problem as long as no boat is too near. 180 degrees may cause me to go on deck and give the rode a pull to see that the anchor has reset.

If a 40 kt squall line comes through I will of course hear it and probably wait it out before turning in. Only twice in twenty years has the wind stayed above 40 kts long enough for me to start the engine to be ready in case I should need to manuver. My biggest concern in those situations is novice skippers of nearby charter boats who may break free and drift down on me.