Do You Recommend A Stern Anchor System?

by John December 1, 2005

Question: We’re preparing our boat for cruising in the North. Do you advise a dedicated stern-anchor system? Lots of Scandinavians sail around with one. Danforth, CQR or SPADE? Right now our main bower is a 60lb CQR on 100 meters of 12mm chain. Our spares are a 60lb CQR and a 30lb Danforth on board. [...]

How Did You Construct Your Bow Rollers?

by John December 1, 2006
A 125-lb SPADE and a 75-lb SPADE on the dual anchor rollers on the bow of aluminum sailboat Morgan's Cloud.

Question: I just read your anchoring article in Offshore magazine—a subject really close to our hearts, and went to your website hoping to see how you constructed/designed your bow roller. We have a pretty similar collection of large/heavy anchors, though we do still have a CQR as a secondary (soon to be replaced by a [...]

What Size Anchor Should We Buy?

by John February 1, 2007

Question: My wife and I have recently sold our 40ft Cambria and purchased an Able Apogee 50 for extended cruising. We were very happy with our 20kg SPADE anchor on our 40 footer and would like to purchase a SPADE for the new boat. At 50 feet and with an unloaded weight of 35,000lbs, we [...]

Rocna Versus SPADE

by John March 1, 2007
A SPADE anchor.

Question: Do you have any opinion on the Rocna anchor versus the SPADE?

Should I Get A Steel Or Aluminum Anchor?

by John May 1, 2007
Morgan’s Cloud anchored on a tranquil evening at Maidens Arm, Hare Bay, Great Northern Peninsula, Newfoundland

Question: I have a Hinckley Sou’wester 50 yawl (a heavy boat) and cruise Downeast Maine, Grand Manan, Nova Scotia and Newfoundland. As with most Hinckleys, I have a 60lb CQR that I have blindly trusted until I read your comments. I’ve since looked into SPADE anchors and found that they come in steel and aluminum. [...]

Breaking Load Of Anchor Chain

by John May 1, 2007

Question: Do you have views on breaking load of main anchor chain compared to weight of boat? Our new boat is 40’ long and weighs something like 12 metric tons (26,000lbs) and a ‘standard’ 10mm (about 3/8”) galvanized chain has a breaking load of approximately 6 tons.

Where Can I Get Crosby Shackles?

by John June 1, 2007

Question: Where do you purchase Crosby shackles? The link you posted doesn’t have any contact or dealer info that I can find.

Do You Use Link Shackles?

by John June 1, 2007

Question: What sort of link shackles do you use between chain shots?

Where Can I Find Safe Working Load (SWL) Numbers?

by John July 1, 2007

Question: Where did you find Safe Working Load numbers for chain?

Which Anchor Shackles Do You Use?

by John September 1, 2007
Two Crosby 209A shackles attach high tensile chain to the shank of the SPADE anchor on aluminum sailboat Morgan's Cloud.

Question: I read with interest your discussion of anchor chain and shackles on your site. Are you referring to Crosby G209 shackles or G209A? We are using 3/8” HT chain and a S S140 on a Cambria 44.

Should I Buy A Fortress Anchor?

by John October 1, 2007
A Fortress anchor.

Question: I see that the aluminum Fortress anchor did really well in SAIL Magazine anchor tests. I’m thinking of buying one, what do you advise?

Shorefasts And Line Reels

by John October 1, 2009
An Easyroll line reel with Dyneema rope.

Question: A few months ago we published a photo essay about Polaris, the custom Hutting 54 especially designed and built for cruising remote places, owned by our friends Michael and Martina. Since then several people have asked about the line reels shown in the photographs. I passed these questions on to Michael and got the [...]

Shorefast Systems

by John June 27, 2010
Aluminum Expedition Sailboat Polaris Tied Into Her Winter Home In West Greenland

Question: We’re about to build a shoreline system. We have two reels from Easyroll that can take about 150 m of 12 mm line each. I’ve seen the system used by Polaris, and it looks very solid, but my concern is, obviously, the cost of using Dyneema [Spectra]. As far as I can see the [...]

Q&A Handling Hybrid Rope & Chain Anchor Rodes

by John September 7, 2010
windlass_thumb.jpg

Question: [edited for brevity] We have a horizontal windlass with a chain wildcat on one side and a rope drum on the other. How can we handle our hybrid secondary anchor rode made up of 50 meters of chain and 40 meters of rope with this set up?

Q&A, Anchor Trip Line

by John January 28, 2011
JHH5_4350_thumb.jpg

Question: I am looking for suggestions on how to best rig an anchor trip line?