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Catalina/Capri 25/250 Sailor's Forums

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anchor retrieval method?

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britinusa
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Response Posted - 12/12/2013 : 11:22:09

I must be missing something here.

Our main anchor is a 18lb Danforth with 20' of chain and 100' of line.

With a scope of 7:1 that allows us to anchor in up to around 16' of water.

In 8 years, we have only caught the anchor on some rocks once which required that I get in the 5' of water and walk over to the anchor and pull it out backwards.

So for all of the hundreds of other times we have anchored, we get the engine running, leave it in neutral (unless the wind is so strong that I need a bit of an edge) and I just pull our way to the anchor feeding the line into the anchor locker as it comes aboard. Finally when straight up and down, I take the weight of the anchor, dunk it several times without lifting it from the water in order to clean off the bottom crud. Once clean, I pull up the last, about, 8 feet of chain and the anchor. Invert the anchor and secure it to the bow pulpit with a webbing strap and close the anchor locker. As I pull the anchor off the bottom, I call 'Anchor Aweigh' to the helm (Admiral Peggy!) at which point she turns the boat on course.

It's a bit of a grunt in higher wind speeds, but Peggy puts just enough way on the boat to allow me to catchup with the anchor.

So I'm not sure what the float and ring method achieves. Pulling the anchor that is hanging off a float at 4+ knots is going to be a lot of hassle: Steering, Risk of hull chafing, and a lot harder to pull in than the method we use right now.

As I said, maybe I'm missing something!

Paul

Edited by - britinusa on 12/12/2013 11:23:51

Sloop Smitten
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Response Posted - 12/12/2013 : 14:33:17

As I understand it the float & ring method limits the weight to be lifted to approximately your anchor weight. If you have an 18 lbs. danforth and 20' of chain you are lifting close to 40 lbs. With the float the most weight you have to lift is the anchor and maybe a few feet of chain, so say 22 lbs. If you are only in 16' of water, probably not much to consider. When I anchor at Catlina it is not unusual to be in over 50' of water with every bit of rode extended. Hauling 40 lbs. +200' is a sizable task. It is just another option. Now if someone had an idea how to raise the 40 lbs. of anchor and chain with another 40 lbs. of kelp attached I would be real interested!

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Stinkpotter
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Djibouti
9081 Posts

Response Posted - 12/12/2013 : 14:41:38

Paul, the technique is probably mostly for somewhat different circumstances. Think 20'+ of water, 20# of anchor, 20#+ of chain... The objective of the technique is to avoid having to pull 40#+ of muddy chain and anchor 20' up off the bottom to the boat. The motion of the boat combined with the drag and buoyancy of the float get the anchor to the surface, where the weight if the chain holds it while you gather in the rode, chain, and finally the anchor. Obviously some folks have found it helpful--other folks in other circumstances might not.

Edited by - Stinkpotter on 12/12/2013 14:46:43

Chief RA
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Response Posted - 12/12/2013 : 18:34:45

Dave has it exactly! It may not suit all options but is another method. It works like Joe points out in deeper stuff and probably not needed in shallow stuff. The reason Joe understands is he sails the Pacific and we get deep anchorages a lot plus lots of wind. This thing gets the anchor up when the wind is blowing like stink! Hey Dave! I'm even starting to enjoy reading all the different interpretations of how this works! ha Chief

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Chief RA
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Response Posted - 12/12/2013 : 18:41:29

Joe, if you have kelp and your float is sinking, tie on some more fenders until it floats the whole mess up. Hows that? Do I get at least one "Atta Boy"? While thinking about it, it occurred to me that all that weight would make the anchor slide back off the float when you stopped. The answer would be to maintain a couple knots while pulling it in. That would be a piece of cake compared to hauling that sucker up off the bottom tangled in seaweed! Right? Chief

Edited by - Chief RA on 12/12/2013 19:17:02

redeye
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Response Posted - 12/13/2013 : 05:29:40

<< anchor slide back off the float >>

you run till it pulls all the chain and shank through the ring. The anchor then hangs on the ring. It works really well, you run upwind, kill the motor, and retrieve everything as you drift back.

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Chief RA
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Response Posted - 12/13/2013 : 06:10:32

Redeye: Yes, you are right. I was developing a compensation concept in order to offset excess seaweed on an anchor with to much extra weight for the counter balance of the chain to hold in place. Chief

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redeye
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Response Posted - 12/13/2013 : 06:26:49

Lake Seminole in north Florida has a huge thick mass of weeds on the bottom. It you drop a danforth you might not be able to get it back up. The common local anchors are window counter weights.

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Chief RA
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Response Posted - 12/13/2013 : 06:50:00

redeye: do you think sharpening the Danforth blades would work? Maybe use the float concept as well?
Guys, notice that redeye indicates with a complete pull not only will the chain feed through the ring, so does your anchor SHANK! I had forgotten about that but it is a major factor.

Chief

Edited by - Chief RA on 12/13/2013 07:01:29

Stinkpotter
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Djibouti
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Response Posted - 12/13/2013 : 08:07:15

<blockquote id="quote">quote:<hr height="1" noshade id="quote">Originally posted by Chief RA
 ...with a complete pull not only will the chain feed through the ring, so does your anchor SHANK!<hr height="1" noshade id="quote"></blockquote id="quote">...unless it's accompanied by 50 lbs. of weeds.

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redeye
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Response Posted - 12/17/2013 : 05:51:07

Well .. anyhoo...

SO the Lake I'm on now, Lake Lanier, has a bottom in many places of wide open spaces of hard red clay, with occasional stumps that have exposed root systems radiating out from the stump. This extends out from the bank to something like 30 feet deep and then in many places you get a mucky muck on the bottom. ( I don't know much deeper than 60 feet cause it gets too cold to scuba dive. ) The danforth skips along the bottom till it gets caught up in some roots.

All day long the local West Marine sells danforth anchors and most people I know complain about loosing 3 anchors in their time. Personally I've lost 2 till I changed anchor designs. Most of my anchoring is done in 20 feet or less in a cove. About the only time the anchor does not work is when it rolls down the hill, when the bottom is so steep, but that same angle helps you if you are blown towards the shore. The shore has elevation above the water level so you are protected from the wind by the land and trees.

The beach and Bays in the Gulf coast ( much of it ) have a flat sandy bottom, so the danforth is the preferred anchor. The big bend area has some rock outcroppings that are famous for breaking off the foot on outboard engines at low tide. Farther down the west coast of Florida is an eelgrass bottom for a while, and then back to sand I think. They talk about having to set the anchor it the areas with eelgrass, making sure it grabs the bottom. Either way they normally anchor in 20 feet or less.

Where do you anchor and what kind of depth, what kind of bottom?

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Steve Milby
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Response Posted - 12/17/2013 : 06:22:00

It sounds like you have a wide range of different types of bottom conditions to cope with, Ray. What kind of anchor are you using now, and is it working better for you in most conditions?

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redeye
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Response Posted - 12/17/2013 : 07:31:45

Inland Lake Anchoring for me.

I keep a big danforth with chain and 150 feet of rode under the starboard main cabin bunk, where the water tank usta be. The backup anchor if I am out in heavy weather... which is not likely, and this far inland the winds nor do the conditions get very bad.

The anchor locker holds 2 - 18lb modified river anchors with chain and 75 feet of line each. I kill the engine pointing across the wind, run to the front and drop one, and let it pay out as the boat continues moving, and drop the second anchor as the bitter end approaches the first. Drop the second anchor and pull rode back in from the first, letting line out from the second anchor.

Stowed, the line coils, one on each side in the aft of the locker and the two anchors sit side by side in the front. The bitter ends are secured to a ubolt mounted in the bulkhead in the aft of the locker.

Bahama rig anchoring in protected water in 10-20 feet. Holds in conditions I would expect. Most probably Would Not Hold in winds above 30, especially if I had a hard clay bottom... unless they grab a Stump root...

Edited by - redeye on 12/17/2013 07:35:34

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