Boat Anchors for Winnipesaukee

[XCR-700]

Had a devil of a time getting a coated fluke anchor (maybe 12 Lb) to set a few week's back while at the Laconia sandbar.

So I dug out a plain galvinized anchor out of the shed (17 Lb) and did a bit better this weekend at the W. Alton sandbar, but had to reset once when the wind picked up.

The 17 Lb anchor seems like way overkill to me,,, ANd yes I have a multi foot chain attached.

Just wondering what others are using at the sandbars and how well they are doing (resets needed)???

Any tips are welcome.

Thanks!

GH

p.s. boat is 23' Cuddy ~3800 Lbs.

[NoBozo]

Now that Danforth has lost it's patent on what is now referred to as a "Fluke" anchor, there a lot of cheap clones out there. The one that is particulaly annoying to me is one that's made out of Aluminum.

For your boat a 12# (Real) Danforth should be fine for a lunch hook at the sand bar. Danforths are particularly suited to good holding in sand. Weeds can be a problem though. I like the Danforth Hi-Tensile because it is forged steel and very sharp at the tips and digs in more quickly than the regular stamped steel Danforth.

The only other anchor I've used and with great sucesss in salt water was a CQR Plow..(The Original plow.) My 32 foot 10,000# sailboat had three anchors aboard.

12# Danforth Hi-Tensile
22# Danforth Standard
25# CQR Plow.

Each had 20 feet of chain plus nylon. The CQR was my main (working) anchor housed in a roller chock at the bow with 100 feet of chain in the chain locker up forward with another 75 feet of nylon at the inboard end.

BTW: A really easy way to carry chain and nylon rode around the boat if you don't have a chain locker, is in one of those heavy duty canvas tote bags. Just feed the chain and rode into the bag starting with one end. When you get to the bitter end..shackle the end of the chain to the web handle on the bag so you won't lose the END. NB

PS: Except for the working anchor in roller chocks at the bow, the other two anchors (in wood chocks.. and un-attached to their bagged rodes,) were stored seperately back aft.

[ishoot308]

I have had great luck with a "digger anchor". No chain needed with a digger and it holds great in all bottom types. The digger 2 only requires a 2-1 slope! http://www.diggeranchor.com/

Dan

[jrc]

Looking at your photo, I would suspect you need more scope. You need at least three times the distance from your bow to the bottom. So if the water is 5' and your bow is 2' above the water, you need at least 21' of line out. Books say 5 to 7 times the distance but that's tough in a crowded sandbar and overkill for short term anchor.

The fluke anchors work pretty good but I've had better luck since I switched to a plow anchor. Mine is 22lbs on a 16,000 boat. Looks like this but a no-name brand. Also I have 25' of chain, it makes a huge difference.

[Dave R]

I have a 22 lb Delta plow style (same as jrc) on my 6000 lb boat; my regular anchor serves as a "storm" anchor. It holds very well. My stern anchor is 4.4 lb a Lewmar claw style with 4 feet of 3/16" chain. It also holds very well.

I have a spare 11 lb Lewmar claw anchor with 10 feet of 1/4" chain and maybe 100 feet of 1/2" nylon collecting dust in my boat port. PM if you want to try it.

I agree with jrc about your scope. You have no where near enough rode deployed in the picture. I suspect that with enough scope, your smaller anchor will work OK.

You need at least 10 feet of 1/4" chain in the rode on a 23 foot boat, IMO.

[Belmont Resident]

When I anchored at any of the sand bars I would always manually set both anchors.
Sand is tough to get a good hold on so standing on the anchor worked well.
I would also attach a small fender on a bungee to the anchor to mark its location so no one walked on it or parked their boat on top of it.

[NH_boater]

I use a Fortress with great results. 10 feet of chain provides great hold and is a wonderful shock absorber for the bonehead cruisers that tool by without regard for others. I use plenty of scope on the front tackle. It never budges even with 2 or 3 ft cruiser wakes. The chain lessens the scope required, obviously.

The hold of the fortress is impressive, especially with the light, aluminum construction. It holds much better than a much larger danforth, in my experience. The only drawback is that the fortress can bury itself pretty deep on a day with 20 mph winds and large waves. It takes some force to dislodge when it is time to pull.

I often see smaller boats pull their hold in the same winds/waves, usually without a chain and too little scope. They scratch their heads wondering why their Walmart anchor won't hold.

[jrc]

Since we are talking anchors, I always have trouble setting near Stonedam.

The cove near the little dock is pretty easy, I hook up every time, but the cove south of there is trouble. My anchor just skids along the bottom and never seems to grab, it very annoying.

Any hints? There's always a bunch of boats in there so someone is figuring it out.

This is the only place I consistently have trouble, other places, one or at most two tries and I locked in.

[Dave R]

You could try a kellet on the rode.

[Belmont Resident]

Originally Posted by jrc

Since we are talking anchors, I always have trouble setting near Stonedam.

The cove near the little dock is pretty easy, I hook up every time, but the cove south of there is trouble. My anchor just skids along the bottom and never seems to grab, it very annoying.

Any hints? There's always a bunch of boats in there so someone is figuring it out.

This is the only place I consistently have trouble, other places, one or at most two tries and I locked in.

We anchor at Stonedam quite a lot and it is pretty deep water, so what we usually do is drop anchor about 100ft out from where we want to be, then back up until the line is almost all the way out, about 100ft.
We then work of getting it to hook up and it usually works well. We then toss out the rear anchor in much shallower water then pull ourselves forward and tie them both off.
It is almost comical to watch some boater’s frustration with anchoring, especially in deep water. Many just don’t carry enough line and or no chain.
Good luck, hope this helps.

[XCR-700]

I really like the looks of that "Digger" anchor, but its a few pennies,,,

I have a generic plow in the shed so maybe I'll try that before dropping the boat fund on a Digger.

And I think you guys are all right about scope, thinking its so shallow at the sandbar and with minimal traffic I was thinking I could get away with keeping the line short, but it was probably a bit too short.

That said, when I was using the coated anchor it was worthless,,, Like all my anchors it was a freebee that came with a boat and I thought it would help the new boat from getting banged up while stored. Probably not the best reason to choose an anchor,,,

Many Thanks for all the tips!!!

George

[NoBozo]

I have long thought that a Slippery anchor would Slip IN eazy....AND Slip OUT easy. Hot Dip Galvanized steel has a kinda rough surface. Stainless and aluminum are both smooth. I like Galvanize. Just my 70 years I guess. NB

PS: Never Poo Poo an old fart..he might just know something.

[ishoot308]

Originally Posted by XCR-700

I really like the looks of that "Digger" anchor, but its a few pennies,,,

I have a generic plow in the shed so maybe I'll try that before dropping the boat fund on a Digger.

And I think you guys are all right about scope, thinking its so shallow at the sandbar and with minimal traffic I was thinking I could get away with keeping the line short, but it was probably a bit too short.

That said, when I was using the coated anchor it was worthless,,, Like all my anchors it was a freebee that came with a boat and I thought it would help the new boat from getting banged up while stored. Probably not the best reason to choose an anchor,,,

Many Thanks for all the tips!!!

George

Hi George;

The biggest advantage I have found with the digger besides it's holding power is the "no chain" recommended part of it. Nothing worse than dragging up 4' or more of chain over your freshly polished boat! I have a digger 1 and it works great! The digger 2 says it only needs a 2-1 slope with no chain! I find that an incredible advantage especially at shallow sand bars.

Dan

[NoBozo]

Something just occured to me that I had never thought about when trying to describe anchoring to someone who has not done it. REALLY.

Until you have anchored in salt water..OVERNIGHT..in some remote cove on the coast of Maine somewhere....with a 10 foot tide rise and fall...going to sleep at night with one eye open all night....listening to the wind..looking up at the taletale compass over your bunk every 30 minutes....waiting....you have not anchored.

This is not to disparage anyone who anchors on a sandbar in 5 feet of clear water on a sunny afternoon. It's just different. NB

[XCR-700]

Originally Posted by NoBozo

I have long thought that a Slippery anchor would Slip IN eazy....AND Slip OUT easy. Hot Dip Galvanized steel has a kinda rough surface. Stainless and aluminum are both smooth. I like Galvanize. Just my 70 years I guess. NB

PS: Never Poo Poo an old fart..he might just know something.

Well you got 20 years on me, so I'll give you the nod.

Never liked aluminum anchors myself, they just strike me as "wrong",,, but then I still miss the smell of white gas and 2-stroke oil first thing in the morning at the marina, it smelled like FUN!

gh

[XCR-700]

Originally Posted by ishoot308

Hi George;

The biggest advantage I have found with the digger besides it's holding power is the "no chain" recommended part of it. Nothing worse than dragging up 4' or more of chain over your freshly polished boat! I have a digger 1 and it works great! The digger 2 says it only needs a 2-1 slope with no chain! I find that an incredible advantage especially at shallow sand bars.

Dan

The reviews look very good, if the plow anchor from the shed doesn't cut it then that looks like a better idea.

And yes I like the idea of no chain, thats a big advantage to me!!!

THANKS much!

GH

[XCR-700]

Originally Posted by NoBozo

Something just occured to me that I had never thought about when trying to describe anchoring to someone who has not done it. REALLY.

Until you have anchored in salt water..OVERNIGHT..in some remote cove on the coast of Maine somewhere....with a 10 foot tide rise and fall...going to sleep at night with one eye open all night....listening to the wind..looking up at the taletale compass over your bunk every 30 minutes....waiting....you have not anchored.

This is not to disparage anyone who anchors on a sandbar in 5 feet of clear water on a sunny afternoon. It's just different. NB

Yup, NEVER done that and I can tell you right now its not on my bucket list,,,

But again I'll give you the nod, that kind of experience makes a difference. When it comes to boating I'm a believer that a man needs to know his limitations and anchoring overnight and offshore in Maine is mine for sure!!!

I'm happy to be a fair-weather day-boater, and I load mine up on the trailer every night when I'm done and sleep like a baby knowing its safe and sound!

Thanks - George

[tom-sr230]

i have a 23 foot bowrider freshwater lake boat ..
last year i picked up the best anchor i have used ..
it is made by a company called SLIDE
and the style is a FOLDING BOX ANCHOR
i bought it at west marine and now have two..
one for the bow and one for the stern..
it only needs a two to one scope with no chain at all needed
and if the wind or current changes it will flip over and bite within 1 foot
the anchor also folds flat if you would like for easier storage..
i suggest you at least check it out before you purchase a different anchor
it may look scary but i now swear by it..
good luck
TOM

[tom-sr230]

also the box anchor comes in many sizes.. i bought the small size for my boat..

[Belmont Resident]

My wife bought one for when she travels to the ocean. Overkill for the lake and it's a pain to store. If you know how to anchor the good old galvanized anchor sized for the boat with 100ft of line works great. And most boats are set up to hold that style.
I know to each their own and some would rather have to much then not enough but just saying.

[Shortstop]

One idea I've been thinking about is marking my line somehow, so I know how much I have out. I have about 10' of chain then rope. As I release line with the windlass, it's really hard to tell how much I've let out by watching it. Sincie I know depth, it would be great if I could do a quick calc to determine the anchor line length based on the scope I'm going for, and simply release that much line. Instead it's often a guess, backup and look at angle, adjust,...
I've thought about possible colors or threads to mark my line, but not tried anything yet. Any ideas, that worked or didn't work (to avoid)?

[jrc]

I marked my line with colored electrical tape. If you go to any hardware store or dollar store they have several colors in a package for cheap.

My chain is 25', then I put a red tape around the line at another 25', the green at the next 25', then blue. Then I repeat R,G,B until I run out of line.

So at the sand bar in waist high water, just let out the chain. At Timber in 15' let out to the red. At 25' go to the green. If it's windy go halfway to the next color.

You don't have to be exact, I measured the line in five foot chunks with my arms. The tape falls off after a few years but it's cheap and easy to replace.

[Dave R]

Originally Posted by Shortstop

One idea I've been thinking about is marking my line somehow, so I know how much I have out. I have about 10' of chain then rope. As I release line with the windlass, it's really hard to tell how much I've let out by watching it. Sincie I know depth, it would be great if I could do a quick calc to determine the anchor line length based on the scope I'm going for, and simply release that much line. Instead it's often a guess, backup and look at angle, adjust,...
I've thought about possible colors or threads to mark my line, but not tried anything yet. Any ideas, that worked or didn't work (to avoid)?

I have not marked mine, but it I did, I'd use these: http://www.anchoring.com/anchor-rode-markers.html. 7 bucks is cheap enough.

[XCR-700]

Originally Posted by tom-sr230

i have a 23 foot bowrider freshwater lake boat ..
last year i picked up the best anchor i have used ..
it is made by a company called SLIDE
and the style is a FOLDING BOX ANCHOR
i bought it at west marine and now have two..
one for the bow and one for the stern..
it only needs a two to one scope with no chain at all needed
and if the wind or current changes it will flip over and bite within 1 foot
the anchor also folds flat if you would like for easier storage..
i suggest you at least check it out before you purchase a different anchor
it may look scary but i now swear by it..
good luck
TOM

Looks interesting, and I like the compact folding aspect, but for the same price as the Digger, it looks like the box anchor may be more purpose built (sand bottom and near calm conditions) Then again, that is the majority of my usage, I'll take a look next time I'm in West Marine.

Thanks!

GH

[fatlazyless]

I have a brite red, 17' aluminum canoe; a 1980 Sea Nympth, that got all beat to high holy crap this past Saturday morning on the rocks out front of my place down at the water's edge. It was all set up for rowing with a sliding seat and outrigger oar locks and used to row reallllll niccccccce but the aluminum canoe will probably be going to the Meredith transfer station unless I can do a half-ways, decent job of smacking out the multiple mega-major dents with a big rubber hammer........ho-ho-ho.......el-smacko!

Sure learned my lesson the hard way when the anchor didn't hold probably because there was not enough line or something and the two foot, Saturday morning, wake waves were able to push it into the rocks for maybe a 30-minute beating before I saw what was happening.........holy-moly!

The only upside is that a decent used 17' aluminum canoe can now be found on craigslist for just two to three hundred dollars. A 17' aluminum canoe set up with a slide seat row-rig and outrigger oar locks makes for a very very efficient and fun rowing machine capable to hold three people all comfy on the three seats plus a doggie and can probably handle anything that Winnipesaukee can dish out plus it requires no yearly $42 registration fee!

Will try to post a photo here of my smashed up, brite red, aluminum canoe..........sob.....sob.....sob......boo-hoo!!!

Next time, will be using a longer anchor line...........anchors a-way!

[Skipper of the Sea Que]

Back in the 1990's I had anchoring problems at the sandbars. I used a fluke style anchor of appropriate weight (an 8 pound then a 13 pound). I had trouble setting anchor and it wouldn't always hold. After some investigation I discovered that all the fluke anchors for sale around the Lake had more of an angle between the shaft and the flukes than ones I could find elsewhere (all 45 degrees between flukes and shaft). I bought a Fluke style with 32 degree angle between shaft and flukes and the difference was amazing. It dug in and held like a dream. If it did pull out (rare) it reset quickly. I have a 6 foot chain on the anchor rode. It worked at the sandbars and in 20- 50 feet of water.

At that time I discovered that the 32 degree angle was designed for a sand bottom while the larger angle (45 degrees) was designed for a mud bottom (and was all that was sold around the Lake at the time). The wider angle fluke just didn't work well for me and no one at the marine stores seemed to understand what I was talking about - they ALL carried the 45 degree angle Fluke. Anyway, I bought an 8 pound 32 degree Fluke style kit (came with chain,and line) from West Marine and have been very happy with the anchors (I now have 2). I got rid of the 13 pound mud angled fluke anchor.

In 4-5 feet of water I deploy about 25 to 30 feet of anchor rode, I have marked my anchor line every 10 feet using a "stick to itself" colored electrical tape. Mine is red. At the 10 foot point(s) I un-twist the 3 strand line to get an inch or so of one of the strands. Then wrap the tape around the one strand so it sticks to itself with an extra few inches of tape left - then re-twist or tighten the line and continue to wrap the tape around the line a few times. The tape bonds to itself and stays on. Only lost 1 tape marker over 18 years. The 10 foot markings also help me figure out the distance I need between other boats/rafts when I'm in a no rafting zone.

Here is some reeading for more info:
Mud vs sand: http://myboatsgear.com/mbg/product.asp?prodID=1954
Serious anchoring info: http://www.usps.org/ventura/art-03-1...gmadeeasy.html
THe Fluke style anchor I use: http://www.westmarine.com/webapp/wcs...0#.UBFuTfVnUV8
Similar to the kit I used (but I had an 8 pound anchor with 150 feet of line and 6 foot chain): http://www.westmarine.com/webapp/wcs...9#.UBF86fVnUV8

Hope this is of some help to you.
Good luck.

[AB_Monterey]

Originally Posted by Shortstop

One idea I've been thinking about is marking my line somehow, so I know how much I have out. I have about 10' of chain then rope. As I release line with the windlass, it's really hard to tell how much I've let out by watching it. Sincie I know depth, it would be great if I could do a quick calc to determine the anchor line length based on the scope I'm going for, and simply release that much line. Instead it's often a guess, backup and look at angle, adjust,...
I've thought about possible colors or threads to mark my line, but not tried anything yet. Any ideas, that worked or didn't work (to avoid)?

We tied a knot in the line every 10ft. Pretty easy to know what you've got out.

[Belmont Resident]

Originally Posted by AB_Monterey

We tied a knot in the line every 10ft. Pretty easy to know what you've got out.

I had to check before I posted but it turned out I was correct.
You actually weaken the line by up to 50% when you tie a knot in it.
So tying knots in the anchor line is a very bad idea especially on a bigger boat.

http://www.ropeinc.com/ropetensilestrength.html

[AB_Monterey]

Well, isn't that interesting.

I had no idea!

Thanks for the info.

[jrc]

The safety risk is pretty low unless you have a huge boat and a very small anchor line. Usually, your anchor will pull out long before the line snaps.

But that's also why the old-timers and professional boaters favor a splice over a knot whenever they can, it's much stronger than a knot. The other problem with knots is they are hard to get out. Especially once they have a big load on them.

Obviously, you can't use the knot trick with a windlass. I kind like it for my rear anchor. I wish I could find a way to keep the line from tangling.

[NoBozo]

Something that should be considered: There is a FINE balance between the weight/windage of the boat and the size of the anchor. For example: An extreme condition to illustrate this would be a 14 foot aluminum rowboat using a 22# Danforth.

The boat is very light...the Danforth is Heavy...for That boat, and will NOT SET/Bury. (The weight of the boat... pitching on the anchor (Waves) helps to SET the anchor.) SO: BIG anchor may not be the answer.

On the other extreme: A heavy boat with a TOO Light an anchor will "SET" the anchor Imediately..and then PULL IT OUT. NB

PS: Check "Chapmans". The Bible..