Index

Questions About Anchors

Questions About Anchor Chain

Questions About Anchors

Mooring By The Stern (02/2008)

Question: The Jordan Series Drogue website is fascinating and leads to an interesting question. Faced with anchoring/mooring Morgan’s Cloud for a hurricane, would you be inclined to go stern-to? Jordan makes a fairly compelling argument... although I imagine Morgan’s Cloud is relatively stable as compared to the latest cruiser/racer hull forms.

Answer: I think Jordan makes sense with his mooring stern-to theory. However, for many boats there will be practicality issues like strong enough cleats and chafe when mooring from the stern. Would I try it when expecting a hurricane? Not sure, but I would give it serious consideration.

By the way, I'm not sure hull form has that much to do with stability at anchor; I think it may be more a function of how the windage of the rig and other deck stuff is distributed along the hull. For example, the addition of a hard bimini top over the cockpit has made Morgan's Cloud much more stable at anchor despite the fact that its actual windage, since it is a horizontal surface, is quite small.

Some friends of ours wintered their boat in a manmade harbour in Arctic Norway, protected from the waves by a breakwater, but subject to the full wind of winter storms blasting in from the Barents Sea. At first they thought they were going to lose their boat due to the dramatic shearing she was doing, to the point that she was putting first one toerail and then the other underwater. (I know how scary this shearing is having had the same experience on my old boat on a mooring during Hurricane Emily when it hit Bermuda some years ago.) Our friends then hoisted a small riding sail on the backstay and found the change miraculous with no shearing and much less load on the mooring despite the increased drag of the sail.

It’s all worth thinking about and just goes to show that very often accepted wisdom, like mooring your boat from the bow, might not be the best solution.

Fortress Anchor (10/2007)

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?

Answer: If you had asked this question when we were still using a CQR as our bower anchor, I would have encouraged you to buy a Fortress since the CQR is very poor in sand and firm clay bottoms where Danforth-types like the Fortress excel. Also, the Fortress exhibits much higher holding pound-for-pound than any other traditional anchor, making it a good choice as a storm anchor, particularly since its disassemble capability and light weight allow even a small boat with limited storage to carry a relatively large Fortress.

However, since we switched to an oversize SPADE bower some eight years ago our Fortress has never been off the chocks on the aft cabin roof where it lives. So now we would recommend that you look at one of the new anchors like the SPADE or the Rocna, at least as your best bower (primary anchor). These anchors perform as well as the Fortress in sand and firm clay and in addition are much better all-round anchors. They are also easier to stow on a bow roller and, when made in steel, are stronger. We have bent a Fortress ourselves and have seen several other damaged ones on other boats’ bows. Despite some truly horrendous abuse, we have never damaged our steel SPADE. (See the question below for our thoughts on aluminum anchors.)

There is one other big disadvantage with the Fortress you should be aware of: It does not set as well on an all chain rode as it does with rope and a short chain leader. The reason is that, unlike most anchors, to set easily it needs the shank to be lifted off the bottom slightly and this is difficult or impossible to do with a chain rode.

Having said all of that, we would not get rid of our Fortress because it is so easy to handle due to its light weight. This feature has saved my bacon on two occasions: once in the eastern Caribbean when our CQR dragged (now you know one of the many reasons why I don’t like CQRs) and once when we dragged a borrowed mooring in Maine (more on moorings). On both occasions we fouled another boat’s rode between our rudder and keel, right next to the prop, so the engine was not going to get us out of the yoghurt; however, I was able to quickly row out and set the big light Fortress and then use it to winch us clear.
 

Steel Versus Aluminum Anchors (05/2007)

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 Hinckley's, I have a 60 lb 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. One dealer recommends a steel S100 (20kg) for boats under 54' LOA (but displacing 26,400lbs) while the next size up is the S140 (30 kg) for LOA 65' and 44000lb. From your comments I'd assume that the best choice would be the S140.

I note that the aluminum SPADEs are much lighter (of course) and the A140 SPADE for 65'/44000lbs weighs only 33lbs! Since I singlehand quite a bit (and never really 'trust' any gear, including electric windlasses), this option seems very attractive. But is it too good to be true?

Answer: Interesting question. I don’t really know since I have never used an aluminum SPADE anchor. However, I can tell you that when we bought our SPADE anchors I asked the same question and Alain, the designer of the anchor, recommended steel over aluminum after hearing that we spend a lot of time in the high latitudes.

It seems to me that there are two issues here: the tensile strength of the anchor and the beneficial effect, if any, that weight will have in making the anchor set better and faster. Once the anchor is set, holding becomes a function of design and fluke surface area, so the material should not make any difference.

I think that the additional strength of steel will only matter if the anchor becomes fouled in rocks or debris, but since you cruise Newfoundland—where we on Morgan’s Cloud have had to do some really brutal things on several occasions to free our anchor—I think steel has an advantage. Also, I bent an aluminum Fortress retrieving it at St. Paul Island in Cabot Strait some years ago.

On the setting benefit of weight, my guess would be that steel would have some advantage in hard or kelp covered sea floors. I base this on the fact that one of the reasons that new style anchors like the SPADE and Rocna set so much better than say a CQR (love to beat up on that anchor), is that these newer anchors are designed to bring a lot more of their weight to bear on the tip. So extrapolating from that, I’m guessing that more weight will translate into faster and better setting in difficult sea floor conditions. (This is pure guesswork and I would be very interested in hearing if anyone has any good engineering to prove or disprove this theory. Alain, are you out there?)

I don’t want to leave you with the impression that I’m down on aluminum anchors, far from it. They have the advantage of being much easier and safer to set from a dinghy than a big steel anchor. We carry an aluminum Fortress assembled and ready to go on the aft cabin top and it has saved my bacon on two occasions: once in the eastern Caribbean when our CQR dragged (now you know one of the many reasons why I don’t like CQRs) and once when we dragged a borrowed mooring in Maine (more on moorings). By coincidence, on both occasions we fouled another boat’s rode between our rudder and keel, right next to the prop. I was able to quickly row out and set the big light Fortress and then use it to winch us out of the mess.

In summary, and keeping in mind where you sail, I would recommend that your best bower be a steel Rocna or SPADE of at least 65lb (30kg), 55kg would be even better. I’m a great believer in having a minimum of three anchors (we carry four) and so one of the spares could be aluminum with the advantages outlined above and could be used if your windless bites it.
 

Rocna Versus SPADE (2007)

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

Answer: I have no personal experience with a Rocna to compare against our SPADE, which we have used literally hundreds of times from the Bahamas to Greenland and a lot of places in between (see www.spade-anchor.com and our Stuff that works page). In all of that time the SPADE has never dragged once set, and has only refused to set twice and that in very difficult bottom conditions. It appears that the Rocna's basic fluke design is very similar to the SPADE and I would expect it to be as good.

Both anchors are designs from cruisers with engineering knowledge who were sick of the reliability problems of old style anchors—nothing like a few dragging scares to inspire a person!

As far as first hand endorsements go, Steve Dashew, of Deerfoot/Sundeer/Beowulf fame, (see www.setsail.com) fitted a Rocna on his new motor boat Windhorse and he informs me that he is very happy with it.
 

In fact, because SPADE does not make an anchor big enough, I specified a 110kg Rocna for the 88’ Jongert that I advised on preparation for a trip to Greenland and sailed on in 2006. (As it transpired, we never used the Rocna because her standard anchor, an 85kg Bruce, proved adequate in the benign weather we had.)

The SPADE does have the advantage of disassembling into two pieces. But all in all, I don’t think there is much in it. Both anchors will serve you well so it probably comes down to price, availability and which will fit your bow roller better.

Rocna have some interesting film of various anchors showing the dramatic improvement in setting and holding of the new types over the old. See www.rocna.com. What makes this clip interesting is that it takes place above water so you can see how different designs perform. Anyone who is still using a Bruce or CQR should see this.
 

Anchor Size (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 feel like the 30kg SPADE would be on the light side but the 55kg anchor would be overkill. Having used both sizes on your boat, we would greatly appreciate your advice. Despite having a hefty windlass, we are concerned that the 55kg model will be too difficult to manage.

Answer: You have great taste in boats. The Cambria and Apogee are two of my all time favorite designs.

I would go with the 55kg model SPADE. My thinking is as follows:

1. I’m really not sure why a 55kg SPADE would be harder to handle than a 30kg, given that it will stow on a bow roller. If there is any problem with stowing the anchor in all conditions on the bow roller, that should be fixed with modifications to the roller and/or the addition of a chain tensioning device, whatever size anchor you have. I am not in favor of taking anchors off and stowing them below at sea, or not the best bower anyway.

2. I am convinced that there is a non-linear benefit to bigger anchors once they get over 100lb. In other words, a 55kg anchor holds and sets way more than 1.8 times better than a 30kg anchor.

There is the drawback of more weight on the bow. But there is a way around that too: If you go up to Acco Grade 70 chain, or possibly G40, you can safely go down to 3/8" and get a substantial weight saving that will more than compensate for the extra weight of the anchor. If your current chain is not G70 or G40 and is only BBB or Proof Coil and is only 3/8" or less it is, in my opinion, too light anyway.

Note that with G70, you will need to order the chain with custom oversized links each end so that you can get a strong enough shackle to attach. With G40 you can use Crosby alloy shackles without compromising the overall system strength. I would recommend at least 300' of chain. Of course this will probably let you in for a new windlass wildcat to fit the chain.

All of this could involve you in quite a lot of work and expense; however, I would still recommend it since there are few things that will contribute more to your cruising enjoyment and security than a really bomb proof anchoring system. That was certainly the case for us when we upgraded to the 55kg SPADE.

One other option would be to look at the Rocna line of anchors, which are very like the SPADE and seem to work as well. See www.rocna.com. If you just don't want to go to a 55kg SPADE, they have a 40kg model.

Bow Roller Construction (2006)

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 Rocna or SPADE). Our bow roller currently only accommodates one anchor, and we would prefer to have both our Fortress, which is our primary for NE US coastal cruising, and a plow type permanently ready to deploy.
 
 If you have any pictures or specs for what you did to accommodate your two anchors, I would very much appreciate seeing them. I have been wandering around boat yards for the past three years since we moved up to our current boat looking for inspiration.

Answer: Yes, it takes some engineering to get two anchors securely stowed on the bow. I looked out this picture of our set up which may help as you are designing yours.

Stern Anchors (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. We have a spare 150lb Fisherman at home.

Answer: No, we do not advise a dedicated stern-anchor. We do not like to moor the boat fore and aft, unless the anchorage is very small and sheltered, in which case we would use lines to the shore and a bow anchor. The reason is that fore and aft anchoring stops the boat swinging bow on to the wind and puts huge loads on the anchors when the wind blows on the side of the boat. When the anchorage is too small for swinging to one anchor, we prefer to use two anchors set at a ninety degree angle off the bow; this reduces the swing circle but does not have the problem mentioned above. Of course this method has the disadvantage that if the boat swings round in a circle the anchor rodes will become twisted, but this happens less often than you would think. Our secondary rode is rope and in two parts of 50 meters each shackled together and in two bags that are stowed on the fore deck and cabin top respectively. So when the two rodes get twisted it is comparatively simple to un-shackle half or all of the secondary rode and pass it around the chain primary rode.

One other thing, we do not recommend the CQR anchor in Norway, or anywhere in the North. We used to have one and found it a very poor anchor in hard sand or weed, both of which are common on the west coast of Norway and in the North. We changed to the SPADE, the biggest one they make, and have had no problems getting anchored in many places including Norway, Svalbard, Greenland and Newfoundland (see Stuff that works for more on the SPADE and Gear failures & fixes for more on the CQR).

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Questions About Anchor Chain

Which Anchor Shackles (09/2007)

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.

Answer: When using high tensile chain we recommend using the Crosby 209A (the 'A' stands for 'Alloy') shackle since, size for size, the plain 209 shackles are weaker than ACCO G40 high tensile chain. Looking at your case, ACCO 3/8” G40 chain has a safe working load (SWL) of 5400lb and the 209A 7/16” shackle matches well with a SWL of about 5800 lb. (We have found that you can go one size up in Crosby shackles from the chain size without fit problems, but beware since the sizes quoted in both chain and shackles are nominal, and actual dimensions vary from that; for example, the shackle pin is substantially thicker. You can check out all of this in minute detail at www.accochain.com and www.thecrosbygroup.com.)

Note that if you are going to use ACCO G70, with a SWL of 6600 lb in the 3/8” size, you will need an oversize link in each end to allow you to go up two sizes on the 209A shackle to get the same strength in the shackle as the chain.

By the way, be very careful about what really is, and more importantly, is not, HT chain. The words 'High Tensile' cover a multitude of sins in chain. We use ACCO G40 and G70 as our basis of comparison. As we have said before, the key rode safety is to make sure that the chain and shackle manufacturer are willing to provide a proof certificate at the advertised SWL.

Where to Get Anchor Shackles (2007)

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

Answer: We got ours from a fishery supply business in Portland, Maine. These kinds of businesses are often a lot cheaper than companies in the recreational marine business. A Google search on “crosby 209A shackles” will yield any number of companies selling these shackles. Here is an example.
 

Link Shackles (2007)

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

Answer: We don’t use link shackles and would not trust them even if they were available for high tensile chain. Although chain in the sizes we are talking about here usually comes in 300-foot or 100-meter barrels, most good chain manufacturers will make and ship chain in any length you want on a special order basis. However, make sure you plan ahead as they may need weeks or even months to supply chain in custom lengths. While you are special ordering, get the manufacturer to add an oversized link in each end. Also, make sure you don’t forget to specify that you want the chain galvanized since plain is the standard in commercial applications.

Safe Working Load Numbers for Anchor Chain (2007)

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

Answer: We got them from the downloadable catalog at Acco Chain. Click on 'Chain Products Catalog' to open a PDF catalog with everything you always wanted to know about chain and probably a lot you didn’t.
 

Breaking Load of Anchor Chain (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.

Answer: Some thoughts that may help you choose chain:

1. There is a lot of very poor chain around, made in the Far East, that should be avoided. In the USA and Canada we always recommend that people buy chain from Acco only. See: www.accochain.com. I'm not sure if this chain is available in Europe but I'm sure that there must be a good chain made in Europe. The key thing is that the manufacturer should have proofed (tested) every link and be willing to put that in writing.

2. For a boat your size we would normally suggest 3/8" (just a tad smaller than 10mm) chain if BBB type with a safe working load of 2650lbs (1202kg).

3. We prefer to talk about safe working load (SWL), not breaking load, since chain repeatedly subjected to loads above its SWL will, in time, weaken and become unsafe. Generally, SWL is about 1/4 of breaking strength.

4. Although BBB chain used to be the standard for anchoring, on Morgan's Cloud we use, and are increasingly recommending, Acco G40 high tensile chain that is over twice as strong as BBB. For example, G40 3/8" has a SWL of 5400lbs (2449kg).

5. The challenge with using high tensile chain is that you must find high tensile shackles to get a strong enough shackle to match the chain. We use G209A from Crosby (www.thecrosbygroup.com).

6. There is an even stronger chain called G70, but here, to get the same strength in the shackles, you must order it with special oversized links at each end.

7. On your boat, by using the right high tensile chain, I think you could go down one size to 5/16" (8mm) and save a lot of weight that could then be put into a bigger anchor.

8. Many people will tell you that you need much heavier chain than the sizes we are talking about here, but we feel that is not correct and that weight is better put into a larger anchor or more chain length. For example, Steve Dashew tells me that one of his Sundeer 64 boats went through the big hurricane in Grenada anchored on 3/8" Acco G70 chain with winds of well over 100 knots and big seas. (See Steve’s excellent site at www.setsail.com for more of his thoughts on anchoring.)

9. Also, although it is purely anecdotal information, I have never heard of a yacht’s chain rode breaking though we have all heard of boats being lost due to a dragging anchor. Keeping that in mind, I know where I want to put the weight.

10. I do think it is important that a nylon snubber is used in extreme anchoring situations to relieve the chain and gear of shock loads.

11. I think that the idea that the catenary caused by heavy chain has benefit is wrong since on Morgan's Cloud in winds of gale force, even with all 100 meters of our 7/16" (about 11mm) chain out, it pulls out straight. So at the very time you need it most, there is no catenary.

12. When we next buy chain we will go down to 3/8" G70 chain to save weight and carry an extra 30 meters. Our thinking is that once you have a good type of heavy anchor (we like SPADE or Rocna), having plenty of rode length is the next biggest contributor to anchoring security. It also lets you get away from the bumper-cars games in some crowded anchorages, by allowing you to anchor in deeper water than most other boats can.

High Tensile Anchor Chain (2007)

Question: You obviously prefer high tensile chain, but are you aware that re-galvanizing high tensile chain substantially weakens it unless it is heat hardened again?
 

Answer: You are, as I understand it, right about the weakening effect of re-galvanizing high tensile chain. In fact I have heard it said, although I have no verification, that any chain can be substantially weakened by re-galvanizing.

I did get some chain re-galvanized some years ago, but I never really felt secure with it afterwards. Generally I would advise against re-galvanizing chain and would not go this route again for our boat. Also, I would not trust a galvanizing company to re-harden chain. I'm only willing to trust my boat to chain that was proofed by the original manufacturer.

My thinking is that chain, even high tensile, is 'cheap' when compared to the value of the boat it protects. For example, it looks as if we will get about 10 seasons from our Acco G40 chain even with our hard usage on rocky bottoms with more deployments than many, or perhaps most, boats. After five seasons, the first 100ft (30m) are showing a bit of surface rust but we will just end-for-end it this year. Assuming it lasts another five years, we won’t feel that the chain owes us anything and will buy new then.

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