Get the correct anchor for bottom conditions

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Tom

Tom

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Today we watched a family drop an anchor in the bay behind the house, and watched them drift across the bay in the wind. They kept motoring back to their starting position and resetting anchor, drifting again multiple times until they finally gave up and left.

I didn't confirm, but suspect that they had the stock Danforth anchor that's provided by boat dealers. The Danforth was originally designed for landing craft that drive towards a sloped beach, drop anchor at the stern, and beach the boat.

Our Delta waterways have a lot of mud on the bottom, and a Danforth doesn't work. Options are a Bruce (or claw) anchor or a Plow (CQR) anchor. Unfortunately, newbie boaters haven't figured out how to match their anchor to the bottom conditions.
 
That's a big part of the problem. I wish that boat dealers wouldn't send new boaters away with Danforth anchors, but that's part of the basic "Coastguard required equipment". IMHO dealers have a responsibility to help educate new boaters on bottom conditions in different parts of the Delta, Bay and Pacific.
 
We got the bright idea on the river one time to use a 2' piece of railroad rail. Worked good until we let it down and current was to strong and swept us down and jerked the cleat off the boat. Lol Hey the anchor held and is still holding.
 
On my last 3 boats I ran a 24KG bruce or equivalent knockoff with a minimum of 100' of chain and then rope rode on top of that.
Many times I have been the only boat that is holding in big wind.
Another benefit of having so much rode was that I could anchor in deeper water and stay away from the crowds.

Sigh, I do miss boating but RV'ing is the closest thing to boating that I can think of.

Have a great evening everyone.

Bob
 
Good setup Bob. We had the chain/rope combo on our last boat, but went all chain on this one. Unfortunately, we don't have sufficient rode to anchor in Monterey Bay where it's 5,000 feet deep in places  :eek:

Some years ago a friend had named his boat 'The Rode'. When he took a day off to go fishing, his secretary used to answer phone calls with "he's on The Rode (road)"  ;D
 
Tom said:
Some years ago a friend had named his boat 'The Rode'. When he took a day off to go fishing, his secretary used to answer phone calls with "he's on The Rode (road)"  ;D
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?The Rode?, I love it!
There are some great boat names out there.
There is a story about a guy who wanted a boat but his wife named Ruth would never agree.
Finally, after years of arguing she gave in but said ?don?t ever expect me to go on that boat.
So, the fellow got his boat and he named her ?Ruthless?

No idea if any truth there but I always got a chuckle out of it.

Happy Fathers Day folks, hope everyone has a great day.

Bob
 
Rode?  ???  At first I thought that was a typo but then I looked it up - it?s a rope!! I think you boat guys make these words up so us landlubbers have no no idea what you?re talking about  ;)
 
An anchor? owned a boat all through the 70s and never did own an anchor or even use one. Too busy waterskiing. ;D
 

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[quote author=Sun2Retire]... I looked it up - it?s a rope!![/quote]
Scott, it can be rope or chain, that attaches to the anchor at one end and the boat at the other. Hopefully, both ends are securely attached when the anchor is deployed.

I think you boat guys make these words up ...
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Nah, BOAT is definitely not a made-up word; Everyone knows it stands for Break Out Another Thousand. That used to be accurate, but I think it should be changed to BOATT - Break Out Another Ten Thousand.
 
[quote author=Tom]Hopefully, both ends are securely attached when the anchor is deployed.[/quote]
When someone deploys an anchor that isn't attached to the boat, it's referred to as 'the bitter end'. I've seen numerous folks do that, but fortunately haven't done it myself. OTOH ...

As a young lad. while camping with my parents in the Lake District of the UK, I hooked up with another camper my age and we rented a row boat to fish one of the lakes. When we got to our first anchor spot, I deployed the anchor (aka threw it overboard), but it wasn't attached to the rode  :-[ We found the local blacksmith and had him manufacture a replacement.
 
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