Replacing anchor chain with fixed weight (chum/angel/sentinel, etc)

[Jonathan Stuart]

Hi all,

Page 51 of the Winter edition (No. 217) of the DCA mag has an article about using an anchor weight instead of chain. The theory is simple: when anchoring a small boat in shallow, sheltered water a heavy weight on the anchor warp can replace chain and give the same horizontal pull and some of the same shock absorbing qualities. This avoids dragging chain over the gunwales on a small boat (which doesn't have the anchor fittings of a larger yacht) and also should be easier when sailing short handed.

The author uses this on his Westerly Nimrod, which at 18' and 475KG is surely a similar proposition to a BR/BRe. This approach resonates with me because I generally anchor only for short periods and in <10m water. Replacing chain with more warp plus a good weight should do the trick. Furthermore, having scuba dived, I have soft bags of lead in my garage that I can use so even a knock from the weight wouldn't damage the boat, so you just have the anchor to worry about.

I think I'm going to try this, but has anyone any experience of this approach?

Cheers,

Jonathan

[Graham W]

I thought this was an interesting idea, as was the suggestion to make the weight from a cut-down hardwood-handled 7kg sledgehammer and some shackles. 

[Jonathan Stuart]

Yes, the use of a sledgehammer with a builder's tie inserted in the cut down handle was inventive in the DCA tradition. I think for shallow anchoring this would work fine as long as the warp is long enough (as ever) and there is enough weight. I will experiment with what "enough" is.

[Michael Rogers]

For those of us (well, me anyway) whose modus enavigandum involves one-handed launch-retrieve of a lightweight boat (for reasons, among others, of anno-domini-physique considerations), extra chunks of heaviness aboard don't appeal much. Which is why the Cooper anchor (which I have recently bought - see the recent thread on anchors in 'Technical') does appeal. Haven't had a chance to try it yet. Initially I've got half a fathom of chain on it, but I hope it'll work with lashings of warp only (excuse the rather clumsy pun).

I remember using a mud-weight on a Broads boat, back in whenever: worked very well.

Michael

[Graham W]

A half fathom of chain will not weigh very much.  If however, your cruising area demands four of five metres of the stuff to get a proper hold on the seabed, then you are already carrying more than 7kg of ironmongery aboard.  Replacing this with a compact chum that can be attached after the anchor line has been paid out suddenly becomes more appealing - particularly if you are worried about your varnished gunwales.

[Michael Rogers]

Your logic is unassailable, Graham, and please don't think I'm arguing. I'm very open to whatever works best, and am also aware that my best solution (with about 80kg of boat) may be different from that for you bigger boat boys. And I do recall that the way a mud-weight goes straight down and does its stuff is very practically appealing.

I'll report back.

Michael

[Rob Johnstone]

Vagabond has a light (10lb) anchor and about 5 metres of chain attached to 30 metres of warp. I was a little wary of using this as it seemed very light to me so I have a 7 lb sledge hammer head with a short loop of rope through the hole for the handle to provide more wieght and keep the draw on the anchor more horizontal.  The loop is clipped to the anchor warp with a caribiner type shackle so that the hammer head can slide up and down the warp controlled by a length of line attached to the shackle.
After deploying the anchor I slip the caribiner over the anchor warp and lower the hammer head to the bottom, securing the line to the boat. This arrangement held Vagabond satisfactorily in the bay behind Lundy and the one in the North of Skomer, where there were tidal ranges of about 4 metres.
None the less, I'm taking another 10 m of chain as I head north this summmer!

[Jonathan Stuart]

Thanks Rob, that is a good real life example of anchoring.

On reflection it is easy to over complicate anchor setup and how much chain or chum weight we need, etc. Surely all we need is:

1. An anchor capable of holding a given size/weight of boat, with the sea bed and tidal conditions we are likely to encounter and with a "sensible" range of pull angles from the warp.

2. Enough length of warp and/or chain and/or additional weight to keep the warp pull angle "sensible" while still being able to store and handle the length and weight of warp, chain and/or chum.

The second point answers my question, i.e. a given length of pure warp and a weight will do the job as well as using chain and I'll need to test it to see which is preferable. It is probably easier to be more scientific about point 2 than 1 (judging by the number of claims about the best anchor and attempts at holding tests) and with a fixed set of conditions there are likely to be a number of right answers to 2.

[Graham W]

This weighted anchor line is a simple alternative to chain. http://www.force4.co.uk/4566/Liros-Leaded--Rope-Anchor-Line---30m-x-10mm.html

I use it for my kedge.

[Tony]

I've found that 6m of chain on the business end of 10mm multiplait holds a 5kg Bruce pretty well horizontal on the bottom - and doesn't easily get tangled up in any rocks. I confess that I prefer not to use the chain unless I think I have to - makes a mess of my bright work. However, I always use an anchor angel (dive weights, carabiner and string)  it won't slide down close enough to the anchor to improve its holding angle but , if just dropped over the stern ( when moored bows to) it keeps the anchor rode down, away from passing props and also pulls the boat away from the pontoon while giving you enough slack to pull the boat in again for boarding over the bow.
Incidentally, mooring bows or stern to, Mediterranean  style, means you can get more boats on a given stretch of pontoon, without the need to raft up - always rough on the people on the inside who get all the traffic over their fore deck. And you don't get woken up by squeaky fenders.