New Bern, NC
35 05.91 N 077 01.95 W
Secure storage of anchors is difficult. There are many types of boats, and types of anchors. In my opinion, most real life anchor storage arrangements are poorly designed and not seaworthy. To prove my point, I made a photo survey of actual boats here in the New Bern Grand Marina.
Most anchors and most bow rollers have holes to put in a safety pin that secures the anchor when not in use. Looking around, I see that 90% of the time the holes don't align making them useless. Of course not everyone sails offshore and if they don't the safety pin is less necessary. In my opinion, a safety line is better than a safety pin.
Tarwathie's rig, and some of the best and worst examples from my survey are below. At the bottom is a movie of all 71 pictures in my photo survey.
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| Tarwathie |
On Tarwathie, we are stuck with the bowsprit platform constraints. When at sea, I tie a safety line from the hole in our CQR anchor to the base of the staysail. I used to carry our Danforth anchor in a bracket attached to the bow pulpit. The second bow roller is useless for the Danforth. Then I read on the WOA forum that the extra weight of anchor stowage forward and up high costs up to 10 miles per day performance when at sea. Since then, I store my Danforth in the lazarette. As a matter of safety, I always keep the primary anchor ready for rapid use regardless of performance penalties.
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| Terrible. No secure mount at all. |
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| Yikes! |
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| Perfect fit, snug, secure. Must be custom fit to the anchor. |
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| Oh God |
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| Storing Danforth type anchors is hard. |
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| This is the only one I saw with an adequate safety pin installed. |
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| This 37' foot boat uses a tiny anchor the same size as my dinghy anchor. Oh no! |
The movie follows.
Posts
Hi, Dick,
ReplyDeleteAn interesting collection of examples. I wonder how many of those boats get under way with their anchors rigged as they are at the dock.
I suspect that were your survey conducted at Robin's dock, she wouldn't have passed muster. But once we head out, out two CQRs -- all 80 pounds of them -- are lashed through their pin holes to the bowsprit in a manner that allows no movement at all. Using clove hitches, I'm able to release the one I want when I reach an anchorage. So far, no mishaps. But I'm wondering what Robin's handicap would be if we could account for all that steel forward.