anchoring

[Killick69]

Comments and suggestions are invited. Night Cap has 2 anchors on board, these are
1) Danforth with 35 metres of rope (silver type) and 6 metres of 8mm chain.
2) Plough with 11 metres of rope and 5.2 metres of 10mm chain.

Questions:
Should I keep both anchors on board? If not, which should i keep on board?
Both chains are too short? Should I lengthen them using the couplings available from Bias/Witworths?
What length should each be?
What size and type of rope do you suggest?
Cheers, John

P.S I am reluctant to buy new anchors and complete new chains. Happy to buy and add chain to existing chains and to buy new ropes.

[storm petrel]

My main anchor is a plough with 10m of 8mm short link chain and 50m of 12mm nylon rope. I also have a spare Danforth on board with similar chain and rope. I have not had trouble with my plough anchor but there are other recent threads where Top Haters have replaced their plough anchors with some of the newer varieties such as SARCA or Manson Supreme.

Cheers,
Mark
Storm Petrel

[Troppo]

Main anchor is a plough with 30 metres chain and about the same of rope.

The plough was the back-up anchor when I bought Windchaser. The main anchor was a 20 kg or so bruce claw anchor. It was way too big for me to deploy and was only used by the PO to put the boat unattended in a free anchoring area for a few months.

I have not dragged on the plough despite being pushed around by some squally weather. I just let out more chain.

I know from reading that the plough does not hold as well as some of the newer anchors but greater scope gives greater holding power so I just put out more chain than maybe I would with a new style anchor.

Rather than buy a new style anchor, I will probably buy a danforth type as a backup so I have two sets for anchoring.

[taunto]

Hi all you Hatters ,i woiuld like to have my two penith regarding anchoring . I have put up with plough and danforths for years and thought it was my inabillity to set them they gave me so much trouble but i have met in the last 12 months two crusiers that convinced me that the new type of anchor was the way to go .
The first was a gentelman named Andrew on a yacht called Granny Smith who dropped onto Jervis Bay on his way back from spending time in Bass st looking at the beautiful islands , he sang the praises of the Manson anchor and how he could anchor up where others could not ,second was a friend who ran a charter with a seawind 30 who cursed his plough ,he fittered a Sarka and raved about it so this year i decided to buy a new anchor , its a mine field out there with sales men wanting your hard earned and having no first hand on the subject .
I talked to alot of people and googled a lot before i made my mind up to go with the Sarka , have a look at their web site and the test eqip they have made for comparing anchors . I am so pleased with my new anchor ,it sets super fast it holds like superman and will reset as the wind moves around .
A close friend is about to buy one for his Duncanson29 and another friend bought one for his Compass 28 and he's tickled pink as well . I have made two major purchasses this year for my yacht and if everything i buy in the future is as good as my SARKA then owning a boat would be a lot easyer. Cheers taunto. .....Jervis Bay

[Shaun]

Gday Taunto,
Is it the SARCA, Super SARCA, or SARCA Excel? & what size did you find was right for the TH?

Im still after a new anchor.

cheers

[taunto]

G,day Shaun , i would say that a number 3 with the rollover bar would do a Top Hat just fine but if you look up SARKA'S web site they have a graph that will explain the best anchor for your boat .
I have a confession to make to you and that is i dont have a Top Hat but an Endeavour 28 called Dulcibella i joined this forum when i did an extensive repair to a beauitful Top Hat called Gulliver , I am useing a NO.3 SARKA for my boat which is a ton heaver than yours,a little side note to the holding power of this anchor is, my mate who has a Duncanson 29 raffted up with me in 25knt gusting to 30knt and we were snug as a bugg did not move an inch. The combined weight of both yachts was seven and a half tons .There is a set back with storage, the anchor does not fold so finding some where to store it is just another small problem to over come . Not every where sells these anchors but i bought from Bias Boats and i see that our local B C F carry them as well. cheers taunto

[Phillip]

Morning All,
Just remember that the anchor is only one third of the equation.

The first and heavy part, The Anchor, you are already discussing and as to what type you have/get is I suppose dependant on how deep your pockets are.

The second part which is not being discussed is what you shackle onto the anchor.
The best being all chain, very heavy chain! Most of us will go for a chain size appropriate to our boat size.
The next best is 20m [3x boat length] of chain and then a double braid rope of at least 12mm diameter.
The worst is a short length of chain and then silver rope under 12mm diameter.

The third part you only have a small control over and that comes down to seamanship.
This part is the bottom type on which you are anchoring and it will determine how efficient your anchor combination really is, or how inefficient it is.
The other part of this, also dependant on seamanship, is how deep is the water and how much chain/rope [scope] you put out.
This last item alone will determine how good your anchor is regardless of the type and make!

[bornfreee]

Really depends if you are living on your boat or just using it for day sailing, nothing beats heavy chain and plenty of it, until you have rode out 7okt of wind with fetch to match it, pitch black, lighting all around and a lee shore not far away,it is easy to under estimate the anxiety of being on a boat with under rated anchoring gear.
Trouble is anchor and chain take up considerable room and weighs more than most of us are prepared to have on our small boat, if i had to pick between an engine or good chain and anchor , the chain and anchor would win hands down the Manson Supreme in articles on the net wins hands down over the Sarca, 30ft of chain would be the minimum with 12mm nylon rope and tested shackles to match and really really good chafe protection best of both worlds good holding and easier to recover, and best of all it will fit in that little anchor well that ever one wants to use, but you better have at least one more system made up and ready to deploy preferably with a Fortress light weight super super high holding anchor sitting on the rail at the back because one day you are going to need it.
I carry three anchor systems main one is a Manson plough 45lb with 80 m of chain guess what i have never drifted on this anchor, so far have never used the 80m but what a peace of mind it has given me laying in the bunk with all hell breaking loose out side, the second is a 20lb plough on thirty ft of chain and rope the lunch pick so to speak, then in the bilge is a last resort storm anchor 65lb, 3 piece fisher man anchor made by Swarbrick Brothers of S&S 34 fame a fantastic made anchor each piece weighs around 10 kilo so it can be brought up on the deck put together then deployed on 100m of 14mm nylon something i hate even thinking about what a nightmare in conditions needing it, the bottom line on anchors is the more weight you have on the bottom the more chance of it doing its job. You may think that's over kill, i call it good seaman ship i would rather listen to Hal Roth of 50,000 sea mile fame and Lin & Larry Pardey who have been there and done that then to want to bee"s on the internet

[Phillip]

That sounds great for your 28' Northener Nightingale Bill,

But I wonder if there is enough room on a Top Hat, especially the MK 2 & 3, for all those large anchors?

[bearmcnally]

Uh! What is so hard about anchoring ? I just don't get what the problem is ?

BEAR