Anchor stowage

[Shoalwaters]

I'm a newcomer to trawlers, although not to motor boats. Most trawlers have the characteristic "bowsprit" anchor stowage, although some, like Chris Foster's Rawson 38, have a more conventional arrangement with a bow-roller through the stem. I would appreciate member's views on the various options. I'm particularly interested in strength considerations and how you carry/set two anchors.

Mike


-- Edited by Shoalwaters at 09:19, 2008-06-12

 

[Chris Foster]

I'll be interested to hear what folks say, too. As the windlass discussion shows, I haven't actually anchored this boat yet.

I have actually anchored both Grand Banks and Nordic Tugs (with and without pulpit), and until your question, it never actually occurred to me that there might be a difference.

 

[FF]

We use dual anchor rollers that allow 2 different style anchors to be carried at the ready.

The instalation is offset and mounted all on the Stbd side , to clean port side for canall walls (RH prop) and reduce LOA, a bit.

Danforth 60 , CQR plow 60 , or Bruce 60 , are carried aboard (as primaries) and any 2 can be carried ready to drop. The anchor marker ball clips to whichever is chosen

The short length of the bow rollers is less concern in heavy wind , surges , and the lack of fwd overhang helps at those sometimes unavoidable $$$$+++ O'night parking spots.

FF

-- Edited by FF at 04:26, 2008-06-13

 

[Marin]

The only advantage I can see of a bow pulpit as far as anchoring goes is the ability to deploy and retrieve the anchor without it hitting the hull of the boat as it swings or rotates on the rode, particularly on boats like Grand Banks that don't have a lot of bow rake. A pulpit also makes it easy to stow certain anchor configurations that would otherwise be very difficult to stow on the foredeck.

Depending on the construction of the boat the "roller through the stem" may not be physically possible. Our anchor has a very high vertical shank measurement at near the flukes (see photo). It's conceivable that the average "through the stem" opening on some boats might not be able to accommodate this shank, or the even higher shanks of the heavier versions of this anchor.

Our older GB can accommodate a single anchor on the pulpit. Most newer GBs can accommodate two anchors side by side on the pulpit, each with their own bow roller and "trough." This would be handy if you routinely encountered different types of bottoms that could made the use of a single type of anchor a little iffy in some situations.

We carry a Fortress on the swim step of our boat and its combination rode in a covered milk crate on the aft deck. The Fortress and its rode are sized to be the main anchor of our boat, but the light weight of the Fortress makes it an easy-to-use stern anchor. Should we want to deploy it off the bow it's a simple matter to carry the anchor and its "tub o' rode" up to the foredeck.

We kept the Bruce anchor that we put on the boat as a main anchor when we bought the boat ten years ago but replaced last year. It's doing sterling service as a door stop in our garage now but when we take a longer trip north we might consider taking it with us as a spare. We'd have to rig up some sort of cradle to carry it in, however, as its shape makes it very difficult to stow anywhere other than on a pulpit or a through-stem anchor carrier.


-- Edited by Marin at 02:44, 2008-06-15

 

[FF]

"Depending on the construction of the boat the "roller through the stem" may not be physically possible"


Therefore our retrofit of an offset setup.

No "rule" exact the center is the only place to hang anchor iron.

Today with cheap weldable aluminum pipe the old style single davit could be used to swing the anchor over the rail, with little reason to use a bow pulpit.

FF

-- Edited by FF at 04:53, 2008-06-15

 

[Puffin_NT32]

I just installed a second roller on our Nordic Tug 32. The factory installed Kingston Bruce-style roller is center mounted and carries our primary 35 pound Lewmar Delta on all-chain to the Lofrans Tigres windlass. The windlass is mounted offset to port with the chain gypsy on the centerline. I mounted a smaller Kinston 20" X 3" roller to the port side, inline with the rope capstan on the windlass. In the smaller roller, I carry a 27 pound Simpson Lawrence folding grappling anchor lashed (and folded). I use the folder as a lunch hook or fishing anchor, using half-inch 3-braid rode. I also carry a 22 pound Danforth in the cockpit locker as a spare. For a storm situation (if not on our or commercial mooring or secure marina) I can rig the Danforth with 30' of chain attached to the trip eye of the Delta in a tandom anchor rig.

John B.
Puffin, NT 32
Watch Hill, RI

 

[Shoalwaters]

All good solid information and food for much thought. Please keep 'em coming. Lovely varnishwork Marin. Hope my future trawler doesn't have TOO much of that outside!

Mike

 

[Marin]

Mike---

When you have a boat with a half a rainforest worth of exterior teak trim like ours you learn very quickly that things look much better in photos than they do to the eye.

The attached photo, which is of a boat with REALLY nice varnish, shows another method of dealing with getting the anchor over while avoiding the paintwork. I'm sure many of you have seen these things before, but note the bow roller on the pivoting arm on the foredeck. Underway, this arm lies flat on the deck in the position shown. To anchor, the arm is pivoted forward positioning the bow roller some distance off the side of the boat. A good solution for a flush-deck bow configuration. You still have to deal with storing the anchor someplace of course.* And I suppose this setup could work off the stern of a boat, too, if the boat's configuration supported it, to use with a stern anchor.

 

[2bucks]

My old Chris had the same swing arm roller. It works well except that one is obligated to lift the anchor and stow it each time. An adequate sized anchor tends to get heavy as you are leaning over the bow rail trying to keep from scratching the paint/varnish, keep the chain from scraping across said paint/varnish, and stay on the boat as it dances in the wind. I much prefer the ability to pull the anchor up to the pulpit and slide the pin in to lock it in place.

Refresh my memory, Misty Chris I think is the boat name but the fellows name escapes me. He is one of the principals for the Chris Craft Rendesvous each year.

Ken Buck

 

[Marin]

Ken---

This boat was at the CC rendezvous at Port Orchard last year, but I don't recall the boat's name and I didn't have a chance to talk to the owner. As this was the first CC rendezvous we've ever attended I can't tell you if the boat is a regular at these events. But I assume she is based in Seattle as were most of the other boats at the event. It's a shame they don't make them like this anymore, or at least designs like this anymore. You'd think it would be easy enough to mold fiberglass in these shapes and use modern materials to give the look of the wood but not the maintenance. But most people these days seem to want all-white Euroswoop boats...

 

[FF]

But most people these days seem to want all-white Euroswoop boats...

This week.

FF

 

[rgano]

Yep, gotta have a pulpit on a bow as plumb as my GB.* We kept finding ourselves having to anchor in the reversing flow of the Apalachicola River where we needed two anchors for a Bahama mooring.* With a single bow roller, I was forced to deploy and set the first anchor before hefting the second one into position on the roller.* Sooo, I got a chunk of mahogany and slapped a roller frame on top of it.* Oh, I also split the chain locker in two and added another hawse hole with a spring-loaded stainless hawse cover in the deck to the second half of the locker.

 

[Forkliftt]

Any ideas on a second anchor for my setup? The plow fits great- a Danforth doesn't work. There must be a way to set up a primary anchor and leave the plow for a lunch hook. Any ideas?
Steve

 

[Marin]

I've seen some people with the type of pulpit you have carry a Danforth partially deployed. So the shank is up in the air at an angle with the flukes below the pulpit and the anchor is kept from deploying any farther by a chain hook and a hold-back line. But even in this position the cross-bar (I forget the correct name) of the Danforth could foul the plow anchor next to it.

I have also seen brackets that hold a Danforth-type anchor vertically on a bow or stern rail. The aesthetics of this will depend on the configuration of your boat and what you think looks okay, but the relatively flat Danforth works well in this vertical stowage position.

I can understand the advantage of having two types of anchors when a boater is faced with several types of bottoms, as is the case here in the PNW. It's not uncommon on larger boats with a side-by-side pulpit arrangement in this area to have a Bruce and a CQR, for example, or a Danforth and a Bruce. On a GB-type pulpit with the bow rollers at the end of the pulpit rather than set back as in the photo, a Danforth fits fine.

When faced with sand, mud, gravel, rock, weed, and ooze bottoms as we are here, some anchor types are good for some of them but not necessarily all of them. And some anchors (some of us believe) are good for all of them.

But if the bottoms one normally encounters are suitable for one type of anchor, I've never quite understood the idea of a "lunch hook" as well as a "primary" anchor. Assuming one has a windlass to haul it up, why not just use the one main anchor for everything, short stays as well as overnight or multiple day stays?

We carry a Fortress on the swim step as a stern anchor. It's rode is in a covered milk crate on the aft deck. The Fortress and its rode are sized to be the main anchor for our boat. So if we decide the Fortress would do a better job of holding in a particular situation than our main anchor, its light weight makes it easy to carry forward and deploy off the bow. This works well with our boat's configuration--- it may not be practical on a differently configured boat.

-- Edited by Marin at 20:35, 2008-06-25

 

[FF]

The solution to carrying very dissimilar anchors is to simply have the rollers staggered fore and aft.

Danforth furthest FWD works for us.

Not as pretty as having them in line , but great when deploying the hook of choice .

FF

 

[Keith]

My Danforth and Spade play very nicely together. Right now the Spade is my primary, so it's a tiny bit lower than the Danforth. Pix attached.

 

[Peter B]

Forkliftt wrote:

Any ideas on a second anchor for my setup? The plow fits great- a Danforth doesn't work. There must be a way to set up a primary anchor and leave the plow for a lunch hook. Any ideas?
Steve

Hi forklift, so you're over here too, eh? Hey, the ideal replacement anchor for you with the bow/roller set-up you have there could be the new Sarca Excel. I use a Super Sarca, and love it - wouldn't have anything else, but the roll bar does not work for your type of setup, so they developed the Excel for just this type of bow fitting.* Google it and have a look.

PB


-- Edited by Peter B at 07:15, 2008-06-27

 

[Peter B]

Sorry Forklift - the Excel is so new, it does not appear to have made it to the website yet, I just looked. But is is most like a Delta in over-all shape, but with some unique quick-setting features shared with the Super Sarca, but minus the roll hoop, so it fits your type of set-up perfectly. Worth looking into via a supplier. I saw a demo at the Sanctuary Cove Boat Show, and got a test CD - very impressive indeed.
PB