Annie wrote:
Chris wrote:
Serious cruisers think that the new generation anchors are a quantum leap ahead of the CQR, Delta and Bruce.
David, that's terrible news for my financial planning!
But good to know. Thank you.
Anchors and boats are odd: occasionally boat A drags all over the place with one anchor and then happily stays put with another. The owner will swear at the first one and sear by the second one. On the other hand, boat B will be a headache when anchored on the second anchor but always behave herself on the first.
It's the bottom that makes the difference, not the boat. A Bruce will pick up a boulder and hug it, preventing it from digging in. A "plough" will scrape along the surface of a hard sand bottom, when a "scoop" will dig in. A Rocna has been known to get a big clod of sticky mud on it, which prevents digging in after a 180˚ turn of tide. And so it goes on. No anchor is perfect in all bottoms, but the modern scoops have generally got themselves a better reputation than their forerunners.
My own choice is a 10kg Manson Supreme, but to be honest, I still have a very soft spot for a Bruce and I am perfectly happy with my 10 kg Delta (knock-off) for a second anchor, for the 26ft boat I'm building. I have a wee Bruce for a kedge. Admittedly, some kind soul gave me the Delta, which he had carried, unused, on his boat for 20 years! One of the really great things about a smaller boat, is that you can 'over-anchor' the boat and still have easily-handled ground tackle.
So three anchors, all different, two of which might be considered oversize, on a 26ft boat. This is one point that separates serious cruisers from "the rest" - when their insurance policy is their ground tackle, they have several anchors of different types, heavier than the manufacturer's recommendation.
On Fanshi, I intend to have 8mm chain with my 10kg Manson: I saw a 45 footer the other day with the same kit!! Admittedly, that is ludicrous, but there are heaps of boats 10 ft longer than mine where the only difference between their ground tackle and mine is an extra 5 kg on the anchor!
Modern thinking is to use stronger, lighter chain (GR 80) in place of heavier, weaker chain (GR 30 or BBB), but this will mean more roaming about at anchor. When they do use GR 80, they can either carry a greater length of it, or put the weight saved into the anchor, which makes sense - the heavier the anchor, the better it will punch through weed and find the bottom.
Anchors may seem expensive, but you will wish you'd invested a bit more money when you are dragging down onto the rocks. They are not something I would economise on.
Agreed.