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Annie Hill wrote: Whew - this is a BIg discussion! Having spent a fair bit of time sailing either without an engine or with an outboard, I've had more than a little practice in this sort of stuff.
A large anchor and its attendant chain can be moved in a dinghy fairly safely. Things that help are:
1 a dinghy with a transom stern
2 a large fairlead, shaped like an anchor roller, that can be attached to said transom
3 the ability to be able to manoeuvre the dinghy directly under the stemhead fitting
4 an eye within easy reach of the rower, to which can be tied a slippery hitch from the anchor, which will be hanging off the dinghy's fairlead.
5 Plenty of rope, ideally floating, attached to the chain.
If all these desiderata are in place, the idea is to lower big anchor into dinghy and follow it with its chain until you reach the rope. Hang anchor over fairlead a-dangle and secure it in place with slippery hitch. Row to desired spot and without (ideally) missing a stroke, let go anchor which will fall and take the chain after it. (Yes, it will all be in a heap, but in truth modern anchors are very forgiving of this sort of abuse.) Row back at top speed to boat and haul in rope and chain until anchor starts to do its thing. All a lot easier with two people.
If the situation is less dire, David's suggestion of a 'baby' anchor, a little light chain and lots of string is great. Haul yourself out of the embarrassing situation and then anchor normally if you wish to. If possible, have a self-tailing winch located on the centre deck (which most pram-hood controlled boats will already have) and a handful of snatch blocks that can be secured to strong points on deck. This way you can effectively haul yourself off in most directions.
Dinghies should most certainly be available at a moment's notice. On 'Iron Bark', Trevor can launch 11ft 2ins 'Lisa' in less than a minute (and indeed, so can I). For coastal sailing, the dinghy is carried on deck the right way up. The launching arrangement took a while to design, but has proved very effective. The painter has an eye spliced into it and the bitter end has a loop. At each transom knee is spliced a grommet (three-strand rope has many advantages). The painter is led through these and then the two eyes held together and shackled on to the main halliard. Two lengths of wood, about 4" x 1" are secured to the pin rails with webbing loops (you will have to adapt this to JR) and have a line to cleat them in place. These go down to the waterline outside the hull and act as skids. Haul on the halliard, shove the dinghy out sideways and lower handsomely until she is against the skids, The halliard can then be lowered at a run, unshackled and the dinghy is ready for use. Of course the oars and rowlocks are always carried inside.
'Badger' had smaller dinghies. One we hoisted ignominiously into the air with her painter and dumped over the side - an after deck stopped water getting in. The sweet little 'Caper', (an excellent dinghy, "Nymph' designed by Phil Bolger) we launched by halliard, but she was so light that the skids were unnecessary. My friends Katie and Maurice, launched 'Nanook's' dinghy by dropping the guard rails on deck. putting protective tubing over the rail and heaving her over. That's how I intend to launch 'Fantail's' dinghy.
Don't know JW's 'Roof rack', but his dinghies have a good reputation.
Alloy dinghies are certainly tough, but IMHO they are a bit antisocial at the dinghy dock where they will beat up every other hard dinghy they meet. In times of stress, they can be a bit hard on the mother ship, too. Even good fendering won't help in very rough conditions where both yacht and dinghy are leaping about. 'Pool noodles' or that grey foam tubing used to insulate pipes, make execellent gunwhale covering, especially wrapped in fabric to keep off the UV.
I agree that an anchor should always be available on the bow roller until you are off soundings - or at least out of anchoring depths, which several of my friends have discovered to be as much as 180 ft!
Is the Hall anchor they same type as used on big ships? Hmm. My preference is for anchors without moving parts - much kinder to hands, yachts and dinghies in moments of stress. A baby Bruce or Manson Supreme will have excellent holding power for its size and be easy to handle with one hand.
My friend Dennis Brown some designs for the sweetest little prams, one of which I hope to build. From about 6 ft to about 8ft. They are essentially 'wood sandwich' and super light - I can easily lift the 6ft version and carry it on my back a considerable distance and I am neither tall nor strong. It is built of the lightest wood you can lay hands on, over moulds. When all the wood is stapled into place, you bog it up and smooth if off and glass the outside. The you (gingerly) lift it off the moulds and fill and fair the inside. You then put a couple of frames inside and fit gunwhales (or gun'l's), by which time it is stiff enough that you can sand and glass the interior. I have the feeling that I have the sequence of events slightly wrong, but you get the idea.
Light dinghies are more vulnerable in some ways, but one the other hand, they don't self-destruct like heavy dinghies and are a lot easier to haul up out of harm's way in a hurry. And to get on an off the boat. Glass and wood are easy to repair, too.
I think it is quite telling how many serious offshore sailors still have solid dinghies. It's more than relative poverty or nostalgia. Lots of voyagers love their inflatables, of course, but most of them treat them like solid dinghies: always inflated and, increasingly, with hard bottoms! But as the really do require an outboard, there are real weight issues here.
Annie
All read, marked, learned and inwardly digested - thank you. I did have in mind a Tortoise, such as you had on Badger but the Roof Rack has a bit more freeboard, built-in buoyancy, and the plans are easier to obtain. Getting a money order for $30 and posting it to America is amazingly tedious compared with buying over the internet.
Yes, the Hall anchor is very like that favoured by the Battleship Vanguard, but smaller. And yes, it will give your hand a nasty nip as soon as look at you, so its days are probably numbered.
Incidentally, I think I may have your cooker! When Alan and Gloria Parsons bought Badger and sold Zuleika Louise, I am told they wanted to keep ZL's oven version of the Taylors cooker so they swopped it for Badgers non-oven version. If this is true, you'll be pleased to know it is still doing sterling service.
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