T&T: "Ideal" anchor rode

[LRZeitlin@aol.com]

This posting is just coincidental with the current spate of hurricane mooring 
comments, but I've finally achieved, what for me, is the perfect anchor rode. 
My boat is usually kept at a mooring. But when bad storms are predicted we 
anchor out at least 1/4 mile from other boats. Most of the storm damage to my 
boat has been caused not by the wind or storm surge but by other boats breaking 
free of their moorings and banging through the anchorage. 

I carry three anchors aboard my Willard, a large Fortress, an ancient CQR and 
a Danforth HT with sharpened flukes. Most of my current cruising is done in 
the Hudson Valley, L.I. Sound, the Jersey shore and the Chesapeake. All have 
mud or clay bottoms where a large fluke area provides the best holding. Hence 
the easy lifting Fortress is the one that gets used most of the time. The 12 lb. 
Danforth HT is used in grassy bottoms   where the sharpened flukes cut 
through matted grass and weeds. Most other anchors just skip over the bottom.

I am a firm believer in the elasticity of nylon loaded to a substantial 
portion of its breaking strength. Stretch prevents the anchor from being jerked out 
by transient wave action. On the other hand, a nylon rope tends to abraid 
fairly easily and, if not kept wet, may actually melt its fibers under extreme 
stress. Polyester line (dacron) is much more resistant to abrasion and strain, 
but has little elasticity. In recent articles, the Dashews advocated a braided 
dacron line as an anchor rode, apparently willing to sacrifice stretch for 
abrasion resistance. For me, chain is out of the question because my boat is not 
big enough to handle 200 lb. of extra weight in the bow.

A few years ago, MIT researchers advocated a composite rode with a dacron 
pennant leading from the bow spliced to a nylon line. The splice, actually formed 
of two interlocking eye splices, was underwater so that the junction would 
always be kept wet. This composite splice melded the abrasion resistance of 
dacron with the elasticity of nylon, offering the best of both worlds. Tests to 
destruction showed that the rode never failed at the splice.

So my "ideal" rode consists of a 100 ft. length of 1/2" dacron 8 strand braid 
(Brait) spliced to 120 feet of 1/2" nylon Brait which in turn is shackled to 
20' of 3/8" chain attached to the Fortress anchor. 

I have not tested this in extreme conditions but we did have a storm with 40 
kt. winds last week and nothing dragged or broke when we were anchored in 20' 
of water. I'll give a further report after hurricane season.

Larry Z


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